Gerard Rennick (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I want to acknowledge people suffering from chronic pain. Chronic pain is extremely debilitating, and difficult to understand for people who have never experienced it. Chronic pain is common in Australia. One in five Australians aged 45 and over are living with persistent, ongoing pain. This pain can be disabling and stressful, making it hard for a person to work and do the things they enjoy.

In 2018, chronic pain cost an estimated $139 billion, mostly through reduced quality of life and productivity losses. Chronic pain is pain that lasts beyond normal healing time after injury or illness—generally, three to six months. It is a common and complex condition, and the pain experienced can be anything from mild to severe. The defining characteristic of chronic pain is that it is ongoing and experienced on most days of the week.

Chronic pain can result from injury; surgery; musculoskeletal conditions, such as arthritis; or from other medical conditions such as cancer; nerve damage, especially sciatic pain; endometriosis or migraines. In some cases, there may be no apparent physical causes.

Chronic pain can affect the person's use of health care and their ability to work, exercise and socialise. People with chronic pain are more likely than those without chronic pain to experience mental health conditions, including depression and anxiety, sleep disturbance and fatigue.