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Healing our Biggest Health Problem
Oxford University Press
February 2014
On Sale: January 30, 2014
464 pages
ISBN: 0199837201
EAN: 9780199837205
Kindle: B00HO6WTCA
Hardcover / e-Book
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Self-Help | Non-Fiction
Out of 238 million American adults, 100 million live in
chronic pain. And yet the press has paid more attention to
the abuses of pain medications than the astoundingly
widespread condition they are intended to treat. Ethically,
the failure to manage pain better is tantamount to torture.
When chronic pain is inadequately treated, it undermines
the body and mind. Indeed, the risk of suicide for people in
chronic pain is twice that of other people. Far more than
just a symptom, writes author Judy Foreman, chronic pain can
be a disease in its own right -- the biggest health problem
facing America today.
Published in partnership with
the International Association for the Study of Pain, A
Nation in Pain offers a sweeping, deeply researched
account of the chronic pain crisis, from neurobiology to
public policy, and presents to practical solutions that are
within our grasp today. Drawing on both her personal
experience with chronic pain and her background as an
award-winning health journalist, she guides us through
recent scientific discoveries, including genetic
susceptibility to pain; gender disparities in pain
conditions and treatments, perhaps linked to estrogen; the
problem of undertreated pain in children; the emerging role
of the immune system in pain; advances in traditional
treatments such as surgery and drugs; and fair-minded
assessments of the effectiveness of alternative remedies,
including marijuana, acupuncture, massage, and chiropractic
care. For many people, the real magic bullet, Foreman
writes, is exercise. Though many patients fear it will
increase their discomfort, studies show it consistently
produces improvement, often dramatic. She also explores the
destructive "opioid wars," which have led to a misguided
demonization of prescription painkillers.
Foreman
presents a far-reaching but sensible plan of action, ranging
from enhancing pain education in medical schools to reforms
of federal policies across the board. For doctors,
scientists, policy makers, and especially patients, A
Nation in Pain is essential reading.
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