17 JUNE 2021

This week is Men’s Health Week, a week to consider and reflect on men’s health.  For us at Painaustralia, our primary focus is on the impact of pain on men’s wellbeing including their physical and mental health.

We know that men experience pain across all ages and in all walks of life.  Unfortunately for far too many men, Australia’s masculine culture of quiet stoicism and fear of admitting to any weakness acts as a barrier to acknowledging and seeking treatment for their pain. This in turn can have serious adverse effects on all aspects of men’s lives, including relationships, employment, mobility and general quality of life.

Under-treated or undetected pain can result in poorer cognitive performance, reduced quality of life, increased depression and greater functional disability. There may also be more frequent behavioural problems, such as aggression.

Many traditionally male dominated occupations are highly physical in nature and carry a significant risk of injury. Agriculture, mining, construction, forestry and fishing come readily to mind. In occupations such as shearing, despite the best efforts of unions, it is almost expected that the end of a career is not so much marked by reaching a certain age but by when the level of back pain from wrestling with tens of thousands of unhappy sheep over several decades becomes intolerable to continue working. Other industries will have their own pain stories.

A significant number of veterans live with pain from injuries resulting from their service – especially those who have sustained battlefield trauma and injuries, often accompanied by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).  Pain is one of the most common reasons for medical discharge from the armed forces.

Men don’t need to have worked in physically demanding occupations to suffer from injury and pain.

White collar occupations with long hours spent in front of a computer with poor ergonomics can lead to injury and chronic pain – an increasing risk as more of us moved to working from home with the onset of the Covid pandemic.

Reaching the end of your working life does not mean the pain journey has concluded. Indeed, the opposite is often the case. Older men have very high rates of chronic pain. One in three people aged over 65 are living with chronic pain, in residential aged care, 92 per cent of people are taking at least one analgesic medication daily and 80 per cent of people report pain as a problem.

Chronic pain is a serious issue for men living with a disability. One in four people with a profound disability experience severe pain, and two in three people with a spinal cord injury are affected by ongoing pain.

For people with dementia, it is estimated that pain may go undetected in as many as half of those with chronic pain conditions.

The bottom line is that many Australian men experience significant pain and our responses all too often fall well short of what is needed to support these men and address their pain.

If you are a man – or you know a man you can talk to – it is important to understand that there is no need to suffer chronic pain in silence. There are treatment options available, but only to those men who choose to acknowledge their pain, reach out and connect with others.

The chances are that in seeking some support many men will find other men with similar experiences who have been able to receive help. For some men it can be a positive journey, making new friends and perhaps joining a men’s group, learning some new skills and having some fun along the way!

When men give our health professionals a chance to provide appropriate multi-disciplinary care, it can make all the difference in their lives and the lives of their families, friends and colleagues. 

As we look back on this Men’s Health Week – we can all commit to supporting men in moving away from the culture of quiet stoicism. Culture change never happens overnight, but we can begin the change.

Finally, we also need to recognise that for some groups of men, in addition to the almost ubiquitous reluctance to seek help, there will be additional systemic barriers that need to be addressed. This includes those living in regional and remote areas, those from different cultural backgrounds and Indigenous Australians.

Painaustralia has always recognised that we have a critical part to play in ensuring appropriate treatment and support is more readily available to men.  Importantly during this Men’s Health Week we should acknowledge that we can all play a role, whether as individuals, family members, friends or through our professions and advocacy organisations, by reflecting on and doing what we can to improve men’s health.

Carol Bennett, Painaustralia CEO

• Painaustralia website accessed at https://www.painaustralia.org.au/about-pain/who-it-affects-pages-2021/veterans-2021 on 17 June 2021
• Painaustralia website accessed at https://www.painaustralia.org.au/about-pain/who-it-affects-pages-2021/older-people-those-living-with-a-disability-2021 17 June 2021