Researchers looked at pain around the world and across the human lifespan, finding steepest rise happens before age 55
Women report suffering more pain than men, a major new global study has found.
That was true for all types of pain the researchers measured, and comes amid continuing concern about the gender pain gap, which means women are less likely to be prescribed the pain relief they need.
Researchers from all over the world carried out “one of the largest harmonization efforts in pain epidemiology to date”. Data was collected from more than 6 million people from 118 countries from 1990 to 2025, and included people from five years old to more than 100.
The research, published in Nature Medicine, looked at how pain, as the leading global cause of disability, was distributed both around the world and across the human lifespan.
I do think women’s pain is under-treated, IUD insertion no pain meds, no anesthesia, a lot of GYN procedures that really hurt are done with no help.
The worst pain I have ever felt, though, is still migraine. Not childbirth (I did those unmedicated) not broken bones, migraine is by far the most intense pain I have ever felt and that is not specific to women, though more common in women.
My tattoo artist said men complain, women don’t. Not that it hurts us less, we just don’t complain. Cultural thing maybe. My husband does complain when his back hurts; I just wait it out. Though if it persisted I’d be more likely to go to the doctor than him.
So maybe some of it is self-inflicted, we don’t tell anyone we are hurting, but for God’s sake, my gynecologist is a woman she should know that shit hurts!
On the other hand, I get migraines, but they’re not even in the top three worst pain I’ve even experienced. The worst I’ve ever experienced is a mystery pelvic pain (yes, I’m also female).
Until I hit menopause I had no idea that the pain level of a migraine could vary, I have them occasionally still (not many with the steady low dose MHT and no cycles), and mostly they are about like a hangover level of headache.
Before menopause, they were uniformly at an 11/10, vomiting, crying and such intense pain I got hallucinations. Like I have no idea how one can hurt that bad without it killing you. In labor, I literally thought “well, not as bad as a migraine anyway”.
Holup. I’m still stuck on migranes being worse than childbirth with no meds. Like something literally tore off your uterus and slowly ripped the skin from your vagina to your butthole. How in the world was a headache worse than that?
I’m a woman with no kids so this is an eye opener, but also never saw birth videos so maybe I’m ignorant of things.
A heavy migraine attack is quite different from a headache. It impacts your whole system, including visual distortions, vomiting, vertigo, sensory sensitivity and mental distress
yeah I did not really understand what a migraine was till my wife was vomiting and like could not walk.
That is not how childbirth works.
What? You mean to tell me you don’t grow a new uterus for each child???
Doesn’t the placenta attach to it or something?
complain, or share their feelings?
most guys I know just state how something feels or what is currently bothering them. not complaining, just sharing information
unless it’s some type of serious headache — that shit is debilitating.
He complains. I would go so far as to say whines, lol. Partly because he can’t work out when hurt and lack of exercise makes anyone irritable. I am strong with pain but an absolute whiny baby when sick, a slight cold and I complain, I hate it so much. He hardly notices it - gets a cold about the same frequency I do (maybe once a year on average?) but it impresses him so little he thinks he gets sick less often than I do.
So it’s not that he complains more, just more about physical pain.
That is because you are a man talking to another man. Not a husband talking to his spouse. How pain is shared between partners is different than how you would talk about it with friends.