Women's Health
The pain gap
Scientists are still teasing out why women deal with more chronic pain than men. In the meantime, here's how to find the help you need.
- Reviewed by Toni Golen, MD, Editor in Chief, Harvard Women's Health Watch; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing; Contributor, and
- Hope Ricciotti, MD, Editor at Large, Harvard Women's Health Watch
When you're hurting, you want to know why — especially when pain returns day after day. So the frustration is real when a diagnosis is elusive, piling on to a cryptic but persistent gender gap in chronic pain.
The lopsided prevalence of chronic pain between the sexes has long been recognized. Women deal with the problem at rates 6% higher than in men. That's true for back, hip, and knee pain; migraine headaches; arthritis; lupus; and fibromyalgia, among other problems. And some chronic pain conditions strike only women, such as endometriosis; the bladder condition interstitial cystitis; vulvodynia (which affects the vulva); and pelvic girdle syndrome, which involves pain around the pelvic joints and lower back.
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About the Author
Maureen Salamon, Executive Editor, Harvard Women's Health Watch
About the Reviewers
Toni Golen, MD, Editor in Chief, Harvard Women's Health Watch; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing; Contributor
Hope Ricciotti, MD, Editor at Large, Harvard Women's Health Watch
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