Many experts agree that men are slower to recover, less likely to seek help for pain, and more likely to allow pain to control their lives than women. Additionally, men are less likely to use coping skills, support, and distraction to deal with their pain.
Not surprisingly men seem to have more tolerance for pain. Research in this area yields fascinating results. For example, male experimental animals injected with estrogen, a female hormone, appear to have a lower tolerance for pain – the addition of estrogen appears to lower the pain threshold. Similarly, the presence of testosterone, a male hormone, appears to elevate tolerance for pain in female mice: the animals are simply able to withstand pain better.
Maybe we don’t hear about men with chronic pain as much as women, because women are more likely to have chronic pain. Research shows that the prevalence of any chronic pain condition is 45% among women versus 31% among men.
