16 most painful medical conditions
What is the worst pain in the world? While pain is a deeply personal experience and ranking the most painful medical conditions is highly subjective, experts and patients alike can agree: Certain medical conditions are universally recognized for causing extreme and often debilitating pain.
When healthcare providers ask patients to rate their pain, these conditions — whether acute or chronic — often push past the traditional 1-10 pain scale — with a resounding “11” from pain sufferers. While some causes of severe pain can be treated or cured, other painful conditions require long-term management and specialized care.
Read on to learn which medical conditions often cause the most pain, how doctors treat these conditions and how you can manage the pain to find relief and regain quality of life.
1. Kidney stones
Picture trying to shove a pebble through a straw: Kidney stones are hard stones or crystals that form in the kidneys and typically cause severe pain or spasms while trying to move down the urinary tract from the kidney to the bladder through the thin attached tube, called the ureter. Kidney stone pain from trying to pass one stuck in the urinary tract can bring people to their knees and straight to the emergency room.
Kidney stone symptoms
Usually made of calcium, these hard pellets block the flow of urine, making the kidney swell and causing waves of excruciating pain at the mid-back, abdomen or sides and, for men, pain at the end of their penis. Common symptoms of kidney stones include:
— Sharp pain in the back, side or lower abdomen
— Pain or burning while urinating
— Nausea
— Vomiting
— Fever or chills
How is kidney stone pain treated?
Diagnosing a kidney stone typically requires imaging tests and/or a urinalysis. Once the condition is confirmed, kidney stone treatments may include IV fluid and medication that relaxes the muscles in your ureter to help the stone — and the severe pain — pass. Patients often receive pain-relieving medicines through an IV as part of their treatment.
Stubborn small kidney stones may require shock wave therapy, called lithotripsy, to break them up. Larger or recurring stones may call for more complex treatment methods, like surgery, to remove the stone.
2. Childbirth
Back labor is a specific type of labor pain centered in the lower back, sometimes caused by the baby’s position in the womb. For some women, intense pain in the lower back is an unforgettable aspect of childbirth. This severe pain peaks during contractions and lingers in between, making it more difficult for women to push.
Natural pain relief methods for the mother include:
— Moving away from a back-lying position
— Walking
— Applying counterpressure with a tennis ball
— Applying warm compresses to the back
If these aren’t enough, medical pain relief options include pain medication or an epidural nerve block using local anesthesia to numb the area.
3. Trauma
Pain from acute physical trauma — such as a gunshot wound, car accident injury or invasive medical procedure — can trigger immediate, severe pain that many would rank as the worst pain they’ve experienced. The intensity of pain may be influenced by factors including someone’s pain thresholds, their resilience and the nature of the traumatic event.
Trauma pain symptoms
Trauma can cause sudden and severe pain, provoking a variety of bodily signs.
Common physical symptoms of acute trauma include:
— Increased heart rate
— Sharp, stabbing pain
— Throbbing
— Tingling
— Weakness
— Numbness
— Muscle tension or changes in posture
While these signs all tell the story of intense pain, clinicians must rely on patients to gauge precisely how much pain they’re in to determine the best pain management strategies.
How is trauma pain treated and managed?
Treating trauma requires an individualized approach. Physical trauma typically requires immediate medical attention to stabilize the individual, assess the harm and intervene accordingly. Dealing with trauma can have lasting psychological effects, so getting support from mental health professionals or support groups can be an important component of emotional healing.
4. Shingles
Shingles, also known as herpes zoster, is a painful viral infection caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox. If you’ve had chickenpox, the virus can remain dormant in nerve cells for years and reactivate later in life, causing shingles. The painful medical condition occurs in parts of the body along a nerve pattern, called the dermatome, where the virus resides — often across the trunk.
Shingles symptoms
Shingles can cause severe nerve pain, burning sensations and lasting discomfort — especially when the virus attacks the face or eye. Symptoms of shingles include:
— Nerve pain
— Burning sensation
— Tingling
— Rash
— Fluid-filled blisters
— Scabbing
— Sensitivity to touch
In rare cases, shingles sufferers can develop a chronic condition called post-herpetic neuralgia, with symptoms including deep or burning pain, extreme sensitivity to touch and numbness in the affected area, which can last for years if not addressed promptly. Older adults are especially vulnerable to complications from shingles.
How is shingles treated, and can it be prevented?
Early treatment for shingles can help prevent the transition from acute to chronic pain, says Dr. Asokumar Buvanendran, an anesthesiologist specializing in pain medicine and chair of the Rush University department of anesthesiology with Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
Antiviral medications that shorten the length and severity of illness are available to treat shingles. The earlier you start treatment, the better, as they’re more effective at treating the symptoms when you start taking them immediately after a rash appears.
Who should get the shingles vaccine?
Older adults are particularly vulnerable to getting shingles, likely due to a weakening immune system as they age. Luckily, you can take steps to protect yourself and prevent shingles. Healthy adults ages 50 and older should get two doses of Shingrix — the only shingles vaccine available in the U.S. — spaced two to six months apart, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
5. Trigeminal neuralgia
Trigeminal neuralgia is a chronic nerve pain disorder that causes sudden, excruciating facial pain.
Even seemingly harmless activities, such as talking, chewing, wearing a mask or washing your face, can trigger intense pain episodes, explains Dr. Maggie Waung, a Jan and Maria Manetti Shrem Endowed Professor and physician at the General Neurology and Trigeminal Neuralgia Clinics, director of the neurology complex diagnosis clinic at University of California–San Francisco, division chief of general neurology, and an associate professor of neurology within the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences.
Because the involved nerves are compromised, “even a light wind blowing on your face can trigger this brief, often electric shock-like pain,” Waung adds.
To avoid triggering painful symptoms, people with trigeminal neuralgia may take extreme measures, such as limiting movement, avoiding basic hygiene like brushing their teeth, minimizing chewing or staying indoors.
Trigeminal neuralgia causes
Reasons for trigeminal neuralgia include:
— Compression of the trigeminal nerve by an artery in the brain, called neurovascular compression
— Facial trauma
— Nerve compression from a tumor
Patients with multiple sclerosis have a 20-fold increased risk of developing trigeminal neuralgia. It affects up to 5% of patients with MS and often affects older people, according to a 2019 study.
Oftentimes, however, the cause is unknown or idiopathic.
Trigeminal neuralgia symptoms
The trigeminal nerve carries sensory information from the face via three branches — above the eyebrow, along the cheek and at the chin level. Trigeminal neuralgia interrupts that nerve flow, causing symptoms such as:
— Sudden facial pain — often described as an “electric shock-like” jolt
— Localized pain, usually on just one side of the face
— Painful episodes lasting seconds to several minutes
Trigeminal neuralgia treatment
Certain treatments can ease or even cure trigeminal neuralgia pain, depending on the cause:
— Medication. Carbamazepine (Tegretol), which is also an anti-seizure medication, is the only treatment approved explicitly for trigeminal neuralgia pain by the Food and Drug Administration. Carbamazepine acts on sodium channels in the cells to prevent pain-related nerves from firing. Other anti-seizure drugs, like oxcarbazepine (Trileptal), gabapentin and phenytoin (Dilantin), are also effective for some patients.
— Surgery. Microvascular decompression involves an invasive surgical procedure to gently separate the blood vessel from where it’s pressing on the trigeminal nerve in the brain.
— High-dose radiation. Gamma knife radiosurgery directs high-dose radiation to the trigeminal nerve root. This minimally invasive option helps numb the nerve so it’s not continually sending pain signals.
“We always start off with medications,” Waung says. “When people aren’t doing well on medications, we’ll consider surgical options.”
Before considering surgery, patients are first thoroughly evaluated to determine if they’re appropriate candidates, particularly for more invasive procedures.
6. Post-surgery pain and recovery
No surprise here: Recovering from surgery can be painful. Postoperative pain is a normal part of recovery after surgery, but some procedures cause significantly more pain than others.
Knee replacement surgery would rank near the top of the list because it requires cutting through bone, Buvanendran says, whereas the aftermath of hip replacement doesn’t seem to hurt as much. Lung surgery, however, brings postoperative pain to the involved muscles with every breath, he adds.
Head and neck surgeries are also known to produce high levels of postsurgical pain.
Is there a way to reduce postoperative pain?
A June 2022 study published in JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery explored whether virtual reality sessions may be a viable tool for reducing pain and opioid use in patients recovering from head and neck surgery. About three days after surgery, the innovative study randomly assigned patients to use a headset for a 3D, immersive VR game-playing experience or to a control group whose members each used a hand-held smartphone device. Patients in the VR group had significantly lower pain scores and required less opioid use than patients who didn’t experience the immersive VR intervention, highlighting how nonpharmaceutical interventions can potentially complement traditional pain management techniques.
Pre-surgery preparation can also help improve your recovery, such as maintaining a healthy weight and quitting smoking.
7. Back pain or injury
Back pain, whether acute or chronic, affects millions and can be debilitating for many. Back pain is extremely common, affecting up to 80% of people at some point in their lives.
The most painful back pain often involves nerve compression or irritation, such as from a herniated disc, spinal stenosis or spondylolisthesis, causing sharp, burning, or shooting pain (like sciatica) that can radiate down the legs
What causes back pain?
Some suffering from back pain experience a constant, dull ache, whereas others may have sudden, recurrent sharp pains. As a source of agonizing back pain, an acute disc herniation — possibly caused by heavy lifting — is all too common.
Your disc protrudes, bulges and pushes on the nerve, causing severe pain to travel down your legs, Buvanendran explains.
Severe sciatica, caused by irritation or inflammation of the sciatic nerve, which extends from the lower back down the leg, is often caused when the nerve root in the lower back is compressed.
Spinal stenosis is especially common among older adults. However, back pain often doesn’t have a clear or specific cause — in many cases, especially with chronic back pain, there’s no identifiable injury or underlying condition; rather, it may result from poor posture, muscle strain, sedentary habits or even stress.
Back pain treatment
Treatment for back pain may include:
— Pharmacologic interventions, such as pain medication, anti-inflammatories or muscle relaxants
— Physical therapy or massage therapy
— Heat or ice therapy
— Resting and avoiding heavy lifting
It’s important to talk to your doctor to discuss your pain and treatment options, particularly if you’re experiencing persistent, chronic back pain for more than a few weeks. Your doctor may perform tests to rule out serious medical conditions, such as a tumor or infection, before starting with more conservative treatment options or surgery, if necessary.
8. Major joint osteoarthritis
When osteoarthritis invades your hips, knees or shoulders, every movement causes joint pain. Major joint osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint disease that primarily affects the cartilage in your joints.
Major joint osteoarthritis symptoms
The breakdown and loss of cartilage, the connective tissue that protects and cushions your bones and joints, can lead to severe pain, stiffness and reduced flexibility in the affected joints. As joint cartilage wears out, bone rubbing on bone sounds bad and feels worse.
Major joint osteoarthritis symptoms
Symptoms of major joint osteoarthritis include:
— Persistent joint pain
— Stiffness, especially after being sedentary
— Joint swelling
— Grating or crackling sensation with movement
— Changes to your bone or joint structure
— Difficulty performing daily activities
When osteoarthritis pain makes it difficult for people to even move, it puts them at risk for other serious medical conditions, like heart disease. Pain and immobility can also contribute to mental health issues, such as anxiety and depression.
Major joint osteoarthritis treatment
Treatment options can help manage pain and slow progression to improve joint function, including:
— Over-the-counter or prescription pain medications
— Physical therapy exercises
— Assistive support devices like canes or braces
— Corticosteroid injections
— Lifestyle interventions, like maintaining a healthy body weight to reduce stress on joints and incorporating low-impact activities, such as swimming
— Surgical options, in severe cases
9. Painful types of headaches: cluster, spinal and migraine
Headaches are painful in general, but certain types are considered among the most excruciating: cluster headaches, spinal headaches and migraines.
Cluster headaches
Cluster headaches are intensely painful and often awaken sufferers in the middle of the night with stabbing, searing or burning pain on one side of the head or facial pain around the eye or at the temple. The cause of cluster headaches is uncertain, but they may be related to the release of inflammatory chemicals, like histamine, that are produced by the body.
Cluster periods, in which people often have daily or more frequent headaches, typically last from several weeks to months, often during certain seasons.
Treating or preventing cluster headaches may consist of:
— Avoiding individual triggers, such as alcohol use, cigarette smoking, bright lights and high altitudes
— Taking daily medicines to relax blood vessels (verapamil), reduce inflammation (steroids like prednisone) or promote the balance of specific brain chemicals (lithium carbonate)
— Administering high-dose oxygen therapy, which may stop a cluster headache attack in progress
Spinal headaches
Though rare, the majority of spinal headaches result from a tear or puncture made during a spinal tap (lumbar puncture) procedure or epidural procedure. These are not accidental punctures — it’s actually part of the spinal tap procedure. However, leaking of fluid from around the spinal cord can cause a severe spinal headache, Buvanendran explains.
Symptoms of a spinal headache can include:
— Severe headache that worsens when sitting upright
— Nausea
— Dizziness
— Severe light sensitivity
— Neck stiffness
Doctors sometimes treat spinal headaches with blood patches from the patient’s own blood to plug the leakage site. With an epidural blood patch, the doctor typically draws blood from the patient and injects it back into the spinal tap site in a small quantity.
Migraines
Migraines can knock people out for days, and though some people can pin migraine attacks to a particular cause, like their menstrual cycle, for others, they strike at unpredictable times.
Symptoms of a migraine include:
Throbbing or pulsing pain on one side of the head
— Increased sensitivity to light, noise and smells
— Nausea
— Vomiting
Even once migraine symptoms resolve, people often feel exhausted or weak for a day or a few days following a migraine. For this and other pain conditions, a balanced approach using a variety of therapies, which will depend on the condition and patient, is best.
Migraine treatments may include:
— Over-the-counter or prescription migraine medications to help prevent migraines
— Complementary and alternative medicine therapies, such as acupuncture
— Cognitive behavioral therapy
— Lifestyle changes, including maintaining a regular sleep schedule and practicing stress management techniques
For each individual, the goal is to reduce pain and suffering and improve their quality of life.
10. Complex regional pain syndrome
Complex regional pain syndrome is a rare but severely painful condition that often develops after an arm or leg injury — usually from fractures, surgery, sprains or immobilization. It involves ongoing, excruciating chronic pain and inflammation from trauma to the peripheral nerves.
Complex regional pain syndrome symptoms
CRPS symptoms may include:
— Prolonged pain, burning or throbbing
— Changes in skin color
— Body temperature changes
— Swelling below the site of injury
— Reduced mobility
Complex regional pain syndrome treatment
A CRPS diagnosis can be complicated, especially when CRPS develops without a known cause. Oftentimes, neurologists or orthopedists must weigh in. Nerve conduction studies, ultrasound, MRI or advanced bone scans using dye may reveal underlying bone nerve damage or bone abnormalities.
While there’s no known cure for CRPS, a combination of treatment options can help manage painful symptoms, including:
— Medications, such as pain medications, corticosteroids for inflammation or nerve blocks
— Physical and occupational therapy
11. Sickle cell disease
Sickle cell disease is a genetic blood disorder that is estimated to affect more than 100,000 people in the U.S. and 20 million people globally. While it’s considered a rare disorder, sickle cell disease is well-known for the pain it causes.
The inherited condition affects red blood cell formation. In a sickle cell crisis, the usually flexible and disc-shaped blood cells become stiff and crescent-shaped. Blood can’t flow smoothly, which reduces the delivery of needed oxygen to the body’s cells, causing pain. Pain management is an ongoing challenge for people with sickle cell disease.
Sickle cell disease symptoms
Symptoms of sickle cell disease include:
— Anemia
— Acute pain
— Acute chest syndrome
— Day-to-day discomfort
— Swollen hands and feet
Sickle cell disease treatment
Clinical management of a pain crisis typically includes the administration of IV fluids and pain-reducing medication. In severe cases, patients are hospitalized to manage the sickle cell pain.
12. Endometriosis
Endometriosis is a chronic condition that occurs when tissue similar to the uterine lining grows outside a woman’s uterus — commonly on the ovaries, fallopian tubes and pelvic tissue. As with normal uterine tissue, this displaced tissue responds to hormonal changes during the menstrual cycle, causing inflammation, scarring and severe pelvic pain. Cysts, irritation, scar tissue and adhesions — abnormal bands of tissue that can make pelvic organs stick or adhere to one another — may also result.
Endometriosis symptoms
While some people with endometriosis may experience no symptoms, others experience:
— Severe menstrual cramps
— Pain or discomfort during or after sex
— Pain when urinating or defecating
— Chronic pelvic pain, ranging from dull and achy to sharp and stabbing
— Heavy bleeding during or between menstrual periods
— Infertility or difficulty getting pregnant
— Bloating, nausea, fatigue
Endometriosis pain can be debilitating for some.
Endometriosis treatment
Getting an accurate diagnosis of endometriosis from an OB-GYN can be challenging. Symptoms of endometriosis often mimic other conditions, and there really aren’t any accurate screening tools or tests to identify those with the chronic disease other than surgery. A minimally invasive surgical procedure called a laparoscopy can be used to diagnose someone with endometriosis definitively.
In combination with general pain relief methods, hormone therapies, surgery and pelvic floor physical therapy may help with endometriosis pain relief.
13. Bone cancer or bone metastasis
Bone pain from cancer can come directly from primary bone cancer itself or from bone metastasis, where cancer spreads to the bone from the original disease site in the body. Breast, prostate, lung and kidney tumors are among the most common to spread to the bone.
Treatment for bone cancer pain
Treatment for cancer bone pain involves a variety of methods to address pain at the source:
— Orthopedic surgery for weakened bones
— Radiation therapy to destroy cancer cells
— Medications for pain, such as anti-inflammatories and steroids
— Physical therapy
— Palliative care and supportive measures, such as acupuncture, acupressure, relaxation techniques or massage
14. Fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia is a disorder characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain accompanied by fatigue, sleep, memory and mood issues. The pain is often described as a constant, deep ache.
Fibromyalgia affects an estimated 2% of people in the U.S., according to the National Fibromyalgia Association, and about 80% of people with the disorder are women. The brains of people with fibromyalgia amplify pain signals, which can cause constant and sometimes severe pain in the muscles even when there’s no apparent injury. The part of the brain that detects pain becomes “hijacked” over time. The disorder can be painfully debilitating.
There’s no cure for fibromyalgia, and medication can only do so much to mitigate the chronic pain it causes. Developing a daily routine of light stretching, like gentle yoga, can help mitigate fibromyalgia pain and improve function. Studies show massage therapy can help too.
15. Pancreatitis
Pancreatitis is an inflammation of the pancreas, which is a gland located deep in the abdomen. The pain is often intense and associated with fever, nausea or vomiting. The pain can be unrelenting in the upper abdomen that often radiates to the back or shoulders.
Treatments for acute pancreatitis typically focus on IV fluids, pain relief, a low-fat diet (sometimes with fasting) and addressing underlying issues like removing gallstones or abstaining from alcohol.
16. Severe interstitial cystitis
Interstitial cystitis, also known as painful bladder syndrome, causes chronic pelvic pain, bladder pressure and increased urinary frequency. Pain typically worsens as the bladder fills and eases temporarily after urinating. It has no known cause. IC can dominate patients’ lives, affecting everything from their sleep schedules to their career choices to their sex lives.
Interstitial cystitis is a chronic illness that may affect anywhere from 4 to 12 million people in the U.S., most of them women, according to the Interstitial Cystitis Association. Estimates vary widely in part because the nondescript symptoms of IC — namely, pelvic-area pain — are also symptoms of many other conditions, says Dr. Daniel Elliot, a urologic surgeon at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. “You can have pain with urination that can be due to a bladder infection, it could be due to bladder stones, it could be due to bladder tumors — and it also can be interstitial cystitis.”
Symptoms can also be caused by a history of pelvic trauma, sexual abuse or pelvic mesh use, a urinary tract infection or an overactive bladder.
It can be triggered by stress or eating or drinking something irritating.
While IC has no cure yet, proper treatments can help patients cope with symptoms, though what works for one patient doesn’t always work for another. In order to ensure appropriate treatment, you first need to make sure you have an accurate diagnosis by a urologist or gynecologist who has experience working with IC patients.
Treatment options for IC range from first-line therapies like stress-management techniques to rare, last-resort procedures like bladder augmentation or removal.
The emotional impact of pain
Much like how a migraine can leave someone exhausted and weak for days, many conditions in which someone is prone to experiencing long-lasting or unpredictable pain can have significant emotional consequences.
Unfortunately, unpredictable pain conditions can limit the ability to function and can even keep some people from working.
“The most frustrating thing about it is there’s not often a sense of control,” Waung says.
With the complex emotions that often accompany physical discomfort, treatment may include addressing the emotional toll that pain can take on daily life.
Acceptance and commitment therapy, also referred to as ACT, is a therapeutic approach sometimes used by pain management professionals that emphasizes acceptance of difficult feelings or circumstances rather than fighting or avoiding negative thoughts. The psychotherapy technique is a form of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy that aims to help patients develop new ways of thinking and respond to challenges accordingly.
Effective pain management and treatment strategies
Pain should be manageable, so don’t give up on finding relief from chronic pain. In some cases of hard-to-treat pain, a pain management specialist might be able to offer therapies beyond what’s available from your primary care provider.
Though patients may feel despondent when living in pain daily, it’s essential to communicate with your doctor and seek a definitive diagnosis and effective pain treatment.
Beyond pharmacological and surgical interventions, pain management often incorporates behavioral change strategies.
A systematic review of 60 studies encompassing nearly 6,500 participants evaluated mind-body therapies — such as meditation, hypnosis, relaxation, guided imagery and cognitive behavioral therapy — for intense pain conditions for which people were being treated with opioids. Mind-body therapies were associated with improved pain and reduced opioid use, according to the findings.
Additionally, in this day and age, more advanced technology and ongoing research continue to open up new possibilities.
“Severe acute pain can lead to development of chronic pain,” Buvanendran says.
How do you prevent that acute-to-chronic pain transition? The answer may be on the horizon. Buvanendran with Rush University Medical Center is part of a National Institutes of Health-funded nationwide research initiative called the Acute to Chronic Pain Signatures project, or A2CPS, that aims to better understand the connection between acute and chronic pain. Findings could help guide chronic pain prevention strategies in the future.
Acute vs. chronic pain
Sorting out different types of pain can be helpful when considering how to relieve it. How long pain lasts, where it arises and how it feels are some of the ways pain is classified. Acute pain and chronic pain are the two major ways pain is described.
Acute pain
Anything from everyday aches and pains to intense pain following a dental extraction or surgical procedure are examples of acute pain.
You twist your ankle, cut your finger, slip and fall, or suddenly experience more severe pain in your back, chest or abdomen that sends you to the emergency room. When you feel that pain, your brain is trying to tell you something. Some kind of tissue injury has occurred. Without proper attention, rest or further treatment, things could get worse. In this case, pain, although uncomfortable, is a helpful warning sign.
Acute pain is short-term by definition — resolved within 30 days but often much sooner — and it tends to respond well to treatment.
Chronic pain
Chronic pain is different.
“In the decades I’ve spent caring for patients who experience chronic pain, especially after the initial injury/condition causing it has apparently healed, I have heard the phenomenon of pain described as a kind of ‘lonely prison’ or ‘isolating torture chamber,'” says Dr. Vernon Williams, a sports neurologist and founding director of the Center for Sports Neurology and Pain Medicine at Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Institute in Los Angeles. “Often, to loved ones and friends, the outward “appearance” of the individual rarely reflects the severity of the inner havoc the pain is wreaking.
It makes life miserable for a lot of people. According to the National Academy of Medicine’s Relieving Pain in America Report, about 100 million Americans suffer from chronic pain. A simple definition of chronic pain is that it’s any pain lasting more than 12 weeks. But duration is only part of what sets chronic pain apart.
Chronic pain affects the whole body and so there are whole systems that are also affected. Hormonal and metabolic changes arising from pain can cause significant consequences and lasting damage.
“As a neurologist specializing in the care and treatment of people who experience chronic pain, I can tell you that pain is very real for the person experiencing it. Pain is not an electrical signal transmitted to the brain from an area of injury or damage. Pain is the emotional experience associated with the signal. And the signal doesn’t become pain until it’s processed and experienced in the brain as unpleasant in some emotional context. The emotional context is critical,” explains Vernon.
16 most painful medical conditions
These acute or chronic conditions can cause severe pain and rank high on a pain scale:
— Kidney stones
— Childbirth
— Trauma
— Shingles
— Trigeminal neuralgia
— Post-surgery pain and recovery
— Back pain or injury
— Major joint osteoarthritis
— Headaches
— Complex regional pain syndrome
— Sickle cell disease
— Endometriosis
— Bone cancer or bone metastasis
— Fibromyalgia
— Pancreatitis
— Interstitial cystitis
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Ranking the 16 Most Painful Medical Conditions originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 07/21/26: This story was published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.
