What is it about?

It is clear our social relationships affect how we experience chronic pain. When the COVID-19 lockdowns occurred our ability to socialise changed as rules were placed on who we could interact with in person. This paper examines how these changes to our social abilities as a result of COVID-19 affected chronic pain experiences.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

Our findings highlighted that by increasing people with chronic' s pain satisfaction with their socialising abilities, we may be able to decrease the intensity of their pain. This is particularly important within the current digital age where we are able to socialise in more ways than ever before. For example, through video calls and text messages.

Perspectives

This research was conducted at a very difficult time when the world was turned on its head; we thank the participants for providing insight into these difficult experiences. Whilst there are currently no lockdowns, we hope this research can be applied for continuing progress in improving pain management for all by highlighting the importance of socialising for decreasing pain intensity.

Bethany Donaghy
Liverpool John Moores University

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Social distancing with chronic pain during COVID-19: A cross-sectional correlational analysis, PLoS ONE, November 2022, PLOS,
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0275680.
You can read the full text:

Read
Open access logo

Resources

Contributors

The following have contributed to this page