Chronic pain is a complex and challenging condition that can significantly hinder a person’s daily life. Phillip Ivins has been working in mining and construction his whole life and has seen firsthand the prevalence of chronic pain, and how devasting its impact can be.
“I’m 68, not young, but I’ve been lucky as I am still as fit as a fiddle and still working, but there are a lot out there that aren’t. Apart from a few years where I worked in management I’ve been on the tools that whole time, so I’ve seen what people are going through,” shared Phillip.
Phillip decided to use that experience and what he saw as the topic for his Masters’ thesis.
“I started researching and found that 3.4 million Australians in the aging workforce bracket – between ages 45 and 65 – are suffering from chronic pain. Putting that together with what I had seen throughout my career I knew that there was something here that urgently needed to be investigated.”
Chronic pain is described as pain that persists for more than three months beyond the usual recovery period for an injury or illness and can occur anywhere in the body.
For those working in industries such as mining and construction, which often comes with extended working hours, shift work and physically demanding manual labour, there is a greater risk of injury and physical decline leading to chronic pain.
In addition, due to chronic pain being underreported, there are a lot of people suffering in silence.
“One of the most critical things I found is that this demographic doesn’t say anything about their pain, they don’t reach out for help, mostly because they fear that they’re going to be pushed on. What’s troubling is that attitude is not always unfounded.”
Phillip said that because people often persist through the pain, masking their health issues and the emotional toll that comes with it, it also means that they are inhibiting their recovery and treatment options.
“What we need to do is acknowledge and address the underlying factors contributing to their pain and explore alternative pain and organisational management methods to ensure their overall well-being and productivity in the workplace.
“Unfortunately finding meaningful work in mining and construction to accommodate individual coping strategies can be difficult so it is crucial that we have supportive workplace policies and practices for promoting the well-being and retention of employees with chronic pain.”
Phillip said that when interviewing people for his thesis one of the biggest discoveries he found was a lack of trust between employees and employers.
“People don’t feel they can trust anyone other than the mates that they work with because they know they’re not going to run off and tell management.
“One of the critical factors in sustaining productive employment is having a supportive employer who understands and accommodates the needs of employees with pain conditions.
“40% of early retirements are due to chronic pain issues and businesses of all sizes are affected by worker absenteeism, interim staffing, lost productivity, and retraining.”
Addressing the issue of chronic pain is not just beneficial for those suffering from it, but for all Australians.
“Studies have shown that there are significant financial costs and detrimental impacts of chronic pain, on the health system, on the economy, and on the Australian community.
“We need to identify the gaps in current support systems that can inform policy changes and better support mechanisms that will make inroads into making real change.
“We need businesses, healthcare providers, policymakers, and individuals to collaborate in addressing this issue.
“Additionally, we need to prioritise funding for research into the ageing workforce suffering from chronic pain and the development of new treatments and interventions that may ultimately improve the quality of their lives.”
