MUSCULOSKELETAL MATTERS
Bulletin 12
Living well with chronic
pain in later life
Chronic pain is common in older people, and can
be disabling and reduce quality of life.
But… some people with chronic pain describe their
health as good and remain active. Chronic pain
does not interfere with their lives.
“I still like to be physical. I like to keep myself moving
all the time, and I’m finding that, you know, I can’t go
and play football. I can’t go and do a one-hundred-
yard sprint or whatever nowadays, so just a walk
round the fields and back, for a couple of hours is my
alternative. . . . I can carry on walking forever”
Was the difference in extent of interference in
daily life from chronic pain simply because those
with no interference had less pain?
No. Pain with no interference can be a long-
term state, and can involve high levels of pain
medication and widespread pain.
Were there other differences between people
with interfering pain and people whose pain did
not interfere with their lives?
There were some general differences. People who
had pain that did not interfere with their lives
were less likely to report depression or anxiety, be
overweight, or report inadequate income, and they
were younger (see figure).
80
Pain without interference
70
Pain with interference
60
50
METHODS OF THE STUDY*
We surveyed adults aged 50 years and over at 3 time
points: baseline, 3 years and 6 years.
We identified 2 groups of people reporting pain:
1) people who reported pain that interfered with
everyday life at all 3 time points
2) people who reported pain that did not interfere with
everyday life at any of the 3 time points
We then performed statistical analysis, and carried out
interviews to compare the 2 groups.
40
30
There is a lot of interest in looking at the ways
people actively maintain health and overcome
restrictions. This is called ‘salutogenesis’ - the
production of health.
We focus here on the idea of people ‘beating the
odds’ in their experience of living with pain.
20
10
0
Age >65
Overweight Depressed Inadequate
or anxious
income
Do these differences completely explain why for
some people pain does not interfere with life?
No. Some people were unexpectedly ‘beating
the odds’. That is they had features (such as
widespread pain, obesity, older age) associated
with interfering pain, but reported that pain did not
interfere with their lives.
* Full details are in the publications referenced at the end of this bulletin.
These bulletins are designed to provide information for general practitioners, the primary care team, teachers, trainers and policy makers about musculoskeletal problems in practice.