Adapting to uncertainty: living with chronic pain
OA Version
Citation
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: This research is rooted in the conviction that People Living with Chronic Pain (PLWCP) experience high degrees of uncertainty that manipulate daily long-term life plans. Uncertainty provokes multiple responses, including (1) legitimizing one’s experience (2) making sense of one's experience (3) changing one’s ongoing life course. I inquire about the day-to-day experience of PLWCP within the Greater Boston area seeking care in medical institutions applying the biopsychosocial model for care and treatment. Individual illness narratives offer a window into the lived experiences of chronic pain in the face of perpetual uncertainty. METHODS: Methods included autoethnographic journal entries, clinical observations in a local chiropractic care setting, and two in-depth interviews to triangulate data and understand shared relationships.
RESULTS: PLWCP dealt with layered uncertainty as (1) seeking legitimacy, (2), meaning making in the form of Explanatory Models, and (3) adapting to uncertainty. Uncertainty creates a permanent limitation that is ever-present and unpredictable, thus limiting the capabilities of one’s life in compounding ways.
CONCLUSION: PLWCP share experiences of uncertainty that constitute a permanently ‘disabled’ life. Further inquiry and research are needed to uncover and identify the structurally reinforced culture and attitudes that marginalize people living with chronic pain. Further inquiry will identify cultural barriers that limit individuals who are disabled from chronic pain and provide more inclusive support and solutions for those adapting their lives to uncertainty.
Description
2025
License
Attribution 4.0 International