A.S.A.P.'s Rally
~ First ever March Against Pain
At the U.S. Capitol - June 13, 1998
The gathering, sponsored by the American Society for Action on Pain (ASAP), and the National Foundation for the Treatment of Pain, marked the first organized demonstration of pain sufferers from around the country.
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Chronic pain affects an estimated 80 million Americans and is the third leading cause of physical impairment in the United States following cancer and heart disease.
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Back pain affects one in four Americans and is the most common form of physical disability.
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An estimated 80 percent of all Americans will suffer from back pain at some point in their lives. Problems can range from minor aggravating aches to severe debilitating pain.
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Back pain is the second leading cause of work absenteeism.
- American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
 THE
STRUGGLE OVER PAIN "When I think of pain - of anxiety
that gnaws like fire and loneliness that spreads out like a desert, and the
heartbreaking routine of monotonous misery, or again of dull aches that blacken
our whole landscape or sudden nauseating pains that knock a man's heart out
at one blow . . . it "quite o'ercrows my spirit." If I knew any way of escape I would crawl through sewers to find it. But what is the good of telling you about my feelings? You know them already, they are the same as yours. . . . Pain hurts. That is what the word means.
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