Do Women Really Have More Chronic Pain?
Over the past decade, research has shown that women have a higher tendency to be diagnosed with chronic pain than men. So does that mean that women are more prone to pain or is it that women just seem to seek out help when they have it?
From my personal experience, women are more proactive than men when it comes to finding solutions to chronic pain. In my private practice, the ratio is very heavily weighted to women: For every man I see, I see 10 women. Although men seem to have a greater tendency to have herniated discs and back issues, women tend to have more sudden onset pain, ranging from mild aches to severe distress like fibromyalgia.
Women also tend to report higher pain levels than men. Are women more sensitive to pain? In my opinion, yes. What is it that causes women to feel more pain than men? Well, some interesting research has to do with female hormones. Women tend to have more radical fluctuations of hormones and certainly we go through menopause, which alters nearly all cellular functions as we age. Studies have shown that the hormone estrogen can help dampen the activity of pain receptors (the sensory receptors that live in your connective tissue) and this can help women tolerate higher levels of pain. So during low-estrogen parts of the menstrual cycle and once you are in menopause, your pain receptors may be more sensitive and send more messages to the brain that result in the signal of pain.
There are other factors too, but let’s get to the point here. Can we help our sensory nerves stop alerting the brain to produce the sensation of pain?
Yes, and the solution may be simpler than you may think! I have been teaching people about cellular dehydration for years. Most people don’t realize that it doesn’t matter where your pain is – your neck, knees, hips, pelvis, low back, hands, feet… the cause of chronic pain begins in the connective tissue system. Just the repetition of daily living causes our connective tissue system to become chronically dehydrated. This tissue is where the majority of your sensory nerves live. Every structure, every cell of your body, relies upon this three-dimensional fluid system to remain stable and function efficiently. When it becomes chronically dehydrated, the result is the sense of pain. If you let the dehydration persist and don’t address it, the pain becomes chronic.
Whether you’re a woman or a man, MELT is here to help you eliminate your symptoms by addressing the cause of your pain directly. To get started, find a MELT instructor near you at https://www.meltmethod.com/finder/. MELT instructors are ready to help you get out of pain once and for all so you can lead a more active, pain-free life. It is possible to live without chronic pain. Let us show you how so you can do it at home and feel fantastic in just 10 minutes a day!