Millions of people have unexplained chronic pain. Can scientists help?
Our podcast on science and technology. This week, we investigate the challenge of understanding and treating unexplained, long-term chronic pain
Chronic pain is thought to affect around a third of people. For one in ten of these, the pain is severe enough to be disabling—making it the leading cause of disability worldwide. Some forms of chronic pain are particularly mysterious—with clinicians unable to treat the pain, nor understand its causal mechanisms—presenting a huge challenge for societies. How can this burden be eased, for both healthcare systems and the individuals living with pain? Runtime: 43 min
Host: Alok Jha, The Economist’s science and technology editor, with Gilead Amit, our science correspondent. Contributors: Catherine Charlwood, who lives with chronic pain; Francis Keefe, director of the Pain Prevention and Treatment Research Program at Duke University; Matt Evans, a clinical lecturer at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and Imperial College London; Jan Vollert, a pain researcher at the University of Exeter.
Sign up for Economist Podcasts+ now and get 50% off your subscription with our limited time offer. You will not be charged until Economist Podcasts+ launches.
If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription.
For more information about Economist Podcasts+, including how to get access, please visit our FAQs page.
Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify
More from Podcasts
What is the best way to treat severe mental illness?
Our weekly podcast on democracy in America. This week, we look at the expansion of involuntary treatment in mental health care
The kibbutz that fought back when Hamas came
Also on the daily podcast: the world’s most indebted oil company and the return of 2D games
With Sam Bankman-Fried in the dock, does crypto have a future?
Our podcast on markets, the economy and business. This week, the first in a two-part series tracking the rise and fall of crypto—and asking what comes next