Hospitals and Healthcare

Bad press around opioids has resulted in a reluctance to prescribe the drugs, even for terminally ill patients in chronic pain, like me.

New research shows the way a person with chronic pain responds to limitations to the activities or goals they value can impact their mental wellbeing – even more so than their pain levels.

New research by the University of Sydney reveals chronic pain is strongly linked to dying prematurely and suggests that our go-to course of care may be adding to the problem.

As doctors and patients worry about the effects of painkillers, therapists are finding they can be a powerful salve for suffering.

Working out may seem like the last thing someone in pain wants to do. But it can bring relief.

An unexpected therapy shows results.

Dean Earls was finding it so hard to access treatment for his chronic pain, he left his hometown. Doctors say his situation paints a portrait of what millions of Australians experience trying to get help.

Life without pain might seem like a blessing. But pain plays an important role in protecting our bodies from further damage.

We’ve come a long way from the days when surgeons were taught that infants’ nervous systems were too undeveloped to feel pain.

Some days Michael Ackroyd feels like his 'head is going to break open', and he says more should be done for sufferers of chronic pain.

‘Sensitisation’ can affect anyone, but some people may be more prone to it than others due to genetic factors, environmental factors or previous experiences.

Science is revealing that pain is a protector, not a detector. Understanding this is the first step towards managing it, says doctor and author Monty Lyman

The U.S. health care system can be difficult for anyone to navigate — even more so if you’re a Black woman. So one writer spent a decade building her own care.

A science writer investigates the 30-year-old claims of an iconoclastic doctor who said chronic pain was mostly mental.

The language you use could make a difference on the pain you feel.

As part of my breast biopsy, I had to be strapped to a machine. The pain was so intense I would have gnawed off my own breast to never feel such pain again.

Chronic pain is everyone's problem. It's costly, debilitating and, according to new statistics, increasingly common. Reversing the trend is achieveable but far from easy.

When Bayer pharmaceuticals launched its new painkiller, Heroin, in 1895 as an over-the-counter medication, it was promoted as a safer alternative to morphine. We're still dealing with the consequences, says Dr Jennifer Stevens.

This woman is one of the first people in the world to undergo virtual reality therapy while undergoing a medical procedure.

People who use painkillers for non-medical reasons often justify it as a form of self-medication for legitimate medical diagnoses such as depression, anxiety and stress.