Women And Pain

“Pain is pain” some might say, but of course we know that there are varying degrees of pain, as well as different types and durations which all affect our perceptions of pain. What we never expected was to find out that not only does pain vary based on the above reasons but also based on one’s sex. On average, women experience more pain than men. Women tend to experience more recurrent pain, more severe pain, and longer lasting pain than men*. There are conditions that have much higher rates of occurrence specifically in women such as temporomandibular joint disorder, migraine headaches, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome, and osteoarthritis. Chronic pelvic pain, as well as chronic pain in general,affects a higher percentage of women than men, specifically, 70% of the people who suffer from some form of chronic pain are women. But why are women more likely to experience pain, and why more severe pain? This question, unfortunately, does not have a definitive answer, yet…. We are hoping in the near future sufficient research and studies will be conducted to shed more light on the matter, in the meantime, there are a few theories that combine to form the reasoning as it stands now:

• Changes in the immune system cause women to have more inflammatory pain conditions and others like fibromyalgia.
• Differences in hormones – women’s and men’s hormones vary which could explain the higher rates of pain
• Changes in hormones – women tend to go through many hormonal changes throughout their lives, which can affect awareness of pain. A particularly big one is the dip in estrogen prior to menopause, which can cause the onset or heighten the perception of pain from, for example, a chronic pain condition.
• Psychological differences – women are at higher risk for anxiety and depression, both of which are known to worsen pain symptoms in chronic conditions.
• Women may be more aware of pain – since pain is a signal of danger, and natural human reaction to danger is to seek safety