Pain strikes

Like a lightning bolt out of nowhere, chronic pain paralyzes you and breaks you inside and out. Shattered, you can barely stand in the midst of this thunderstorm; everything around you looks densely gloomy. It is hard to see a way out. The uncertainty and unpredictability that surround chronic pain are represented by a watercolour storm, with a bold pastel bolt of lightning suddenly striking a tree, splitting its branches in half, its broken and charred remnants reminiscent of a person experiencing constant pain.

• Download figure
• Open in new tab

• Copyright © 2023 the College of Family Physicians of Canada