How do people ease their pain? A population-based study.
We investigated how a general population treat their pain and determined factors affecting use of different pain management strategies. From the respondents of a cross-sectional postal survey we selected those who had experienced pain during the past 7 days (n = 3641) and analyzed how they had tried to manage their pain during the past 6 months. The most common pain management strategies were use of over-the-counter medicines (53% of 3641 respondents), physical exercise (52%), prescription medicines (35%), and visiting a physician (33%). The location of pain was related to which pain management strategy was chosen. Use of multiple (>4) treatments was related to prolonged pain, having several (>3) painful locations, high intensity and frequency of pain.


CONCLUSIONS
This study indicates that people with pain are active in trying different treatments. Self-care strategies, especially over-the-counter medicines and physical exercise, are common ways to manage pain at the population level.
Turunen
Juha H O
JH
Department of Social Pharmacy, University of Kuopio, Kuopio, Findland. juha.turunen@uku.fi
Mäntyselkä
Pekka T
PT
Kumpusalo
Esko A
EA
Ahonen
Riitta S
RS
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000700:Analgesics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D029001:Herbal Medicine; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D004366:Nonprescription Drugs / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D010146:Pain / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D000700:Analgesics; D004366:Nonprescription Drugs