Using Spondylitis.org’s Advocacy tool tonight, I drafted and sent an email to my congressional representatives in just 60 seconds to advocate for the passing of the Advancing Research for Chronic Pain Act, bill S.5041, introduced by U.S. Senator Tim Kaine on July 21 with bipartisan cosponsors and support. If passed, the bill would direct the CDC to do the following:
- Utilize available research data to clarify the prevalence and characteristics of chronic pain;
- Identify gaps in the available research data and collect de-identified population data to fill gaps;
- Develop standard definitions and approaches for population research on chronic pain to efficiently promote greater comparability of data; and
- Create a Chronic Pain Information Hub webpage to aggregate and summarize available data, maintain a summary of complete, ongoing, and planned research, and translate findings to recommendations for clinicians and scientists.1
This bill has been presented and failed a few times since 2023, but Senator Kaine has been determined and introduced it again due to the significant needs of chronic pain patients. Per the CDC, 1 in 5 people in the U.S. experience chronic pain from various causes,2 and 7.4% of those people experience a level of high chronic pain that limits their work and life activities.3 Whether you suffer from spondylitis, some other form of chronic pain, or know someone who does, consider taking just 60 seconds to use Spondylitis.org’s simple advocacy tool to enter your name and contact information and it will generate an email for you that will send it directly to your congressional representatives based upon your address (Note: if you do not suffer from spondylitis, simply delete that detail and include the reason why you support better chronic pain data). It’s quick, easy, and can help us get better access to data for chronic pain patients and their providers, which will ultimately lead to a better understanding and research for how to treat chronic pain. Thanks for listening and cheers to better data!
Copyright 2026 David Lister. All Rights Reserved.
- https://www.kaine.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/advancing_research_for_chronic_pain_act_one-pager.pdf ↩︎
- Rikard SM, Strahan AE, Schmit KM, Guy GP Jr.. Chronic Pain Among Adults — United States, 2019–2021. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2023;72:379–385. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7215a1. ↩︎
- Zelaya CE, Dahlhamer JM, Lucas JW, Connor EM. Chronic pain and high-impact chronic pain among U.S. adults, 2019. NCHS Data Brief, no 390. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2020. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db390.htm#Suggested_citation ↩︎
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