Women More Sensitive to Pain Than Men

healthday.com ^

[chance33_98]

Women More Sensitive to Pain Than Men

But study didn't find any racial differences in pain thresholds

THURSDAY, April 1 (HealthDayNews) -- Blacks and whites have about the same sensitivity to pain, but women appear to be more sensitive to it than men.

That's what Duke University researchers report in the April issue of the Journal of Pain.

"Many pain medications are addictive and have unpleasant side effects, so it's important for physicians to be able to understand exactly how much pain their patients are experiencing," lead researcher and psychologist Dr. Tavis Campbell said in a prepared statement.

He conducted the study while at Duke; he's now at the University of Calgary in Canada.

"This research supports well-established findings of slightly higher sensitivity to pain among women compared to men, but revealed no difference between whites and African-Americans," Campbell said.

Previous research and anecdotal evidence have suggested blacks are more sensitive to pain than whites. Campbell suggested pain assessment procedures may be responsible for such racial differences in pain sensitivity.

His study included 76 men and 59 women aged 25 to 45; 72 were black, the rest white. A blood pressure cuff was inflated on the arm of each study participant and left inflated for several minutes. That created an aching sensation. The participants rated their pain according to standard pain rating scales, which gauge both the intensity and the unpleasantness of the pain.

[Miss Marple]

This is the most bogus study I have ever read. Tell me that men deal with cramps and labor pains. Women that I know work every day with chronic pain...arthritis, fibroneuralgia, pinched nerves, etc.

Men with similar conditions call in sick or are on disability.

[Shepster]

Wow what a revelation!! I also heard we landed on the moon!!

[Support Free Republic]

Rank	Location	Receipts	Donors/Avg		Freepers/Avg		Monthlies
39	Arizona	10.00	1	10.00			145.50	12

Thanks for donating to Free Republic!

Move your locale up the leaderboard!

[LurkedLongEnough]

This post really hurts me.

[Drango]

I can tell you my wife gets real sensitive about every 28 days.

[Dog Gone]

I agree with you. I don't believe this at all.

[Shepster]

So all men with similar conditions call in sick or are on disability? Gimmie a break?

[sonserae]

This absolutely must be an April Fool's joke....can't imagine men being able to stand menstrual cramps and labor pains. Every guy I've known has been a big baby when it comes to pain. They get a little sniffle in their nose and have to lay in bed all day being mothered. Women just endure on, embracing the pain as they get their work done.

[nmh]

Are women more emotional and also show this in pain tolerance?

[JmyBryan]

There is no question of this in my household.

[Miss Marple]

My husband doesn't have a pain threshold. He has a DISCOMFORT threshold. He can't stand to be hot, hungry, or itchy, let alone in pain. For tooth extractions, he had to be on hydrocodone.

I had the same tooth extractions and needed not 25% of the medication he needed.

I had both my children with NO anesthetic.

Ask almost any woman on this forum. You will find that the big babies on pain are their husbands/boyfriends.

I don't have a "study", but I know what I know.

[gg188]

http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1092103/posts

[Senator Pardek]

Tell me that men deal with cramps...

Believe me - we do. Why? Because we want to be with that special woman after her cramps are gone.

[Miss Marple]

And, when you get the flu or a cold, do you whine and demand pampering? Do you go to work without complaining?

I doubt it.

One time I was in the emergency room with heart races, and my husband asked the nurses if they had any cold medicine for him.

Case closed.

[billorites]

"Eww!
I broke a nail!"

[Buggman]

They get a little sniffle in their nose and have to lay in bed all day being mothered.

It's called a good excuse. ;)

[ArrogantBustard]

I don't have a "study", but I know what I know.

"Don't confuse me with the facts, my mind is already made up"

... There there, sweetie ... we'll make those nasty ol' facts just go away.

[Miss Marple]

Breaking a nail hasn't anything to do with pain. It PO's women because they have an ugly, broken nail which they will have to have fixed at the salon.

[Miss Marple]

Demonstrate your opinion with some anecdotal evidence. I have.

In addition, I do remember Ashley Montague's book, The Natural Superiority of Women.