Pain can continue long after an accident

A study published in the March issue of the Archives of Surgery, shows that people who have accidents that result in severe injury can still have pain a year later.

The study, which involved over 3000 patients, found that almost 63% of the patients complained of pain related to their injury 12 months after the trauma. Although the subjects were aged between 18 and 84 years old, prolonged pain was most often reported in subjects who were between age 35 and 44 years of age and least commonly reported in those between 75 to 84 years of age.

A little over 44% complained of painful joints, arms and legs, slightly over 26% complained of painful back), 11.5% had head pain, almost 7% had neck pain, while 4.4% had abdominal pain, almost 4% had chest pain, and almost 3% had facial pain.

The authors of the study suggest that acknowledging this chronic pain issue and focusing on it during the acute pain period may reduce the incidence of chronic pain or at least provide better management.

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