Alaska Arthritis Program

Gov. Frank Murkowski has proclaimed September as
Alaska Pain Awareness Month.

The American Chronic Pain Association estimates that one in three Americans, or approximately 50 million people, suffer from some type of chronic pain. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health estimates that pain costs about $100 billion annually in lost workdays, medical expenses, and related costs. Unrelieved pain touches every part of the life of the person with pain and affects the family as well.

Chronic pain comes from a variety of causes. Work-related and sport-related injuries may start out as acute pain injuries that develop into chronic pain syndromes. Adults may develop pain related to variety of diseases including: osteo-arthritis, cardio-vascular or lung disease, multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, lupus, scleroderma, back pain, headaches, and cancer. Some children in Alaska suffer from the pain of Juvenile Arthritis, Diabetes, Muscular Dystrophy, cancer, and other diseases.

A few things you can do to manage your pain more successfully are highlighted in this recent article in the Senior Voice of Alaska.

There are events happening to highlight pain awareness in the month of September.

The Alaska Arthritis Program and CDC’s health communication campaign, “Physical Activity: The Arthritis Pain Reliever” is a great campaign to design a arthritis pain awareness event your community around.

Here are some links to programs that have more information about pain awareness and management for your information.

Click below to link to Volume 13-2005 of the Purdue Pharma E-Newsletter