They are all victims of a black hole in the medical system that generates untold human misery and - it was revealed yesterday - costs the economy $34 billion a year.

Chronic pain, for the record, is severe pain that continues day after day for at least three months.

The odds are that you will know somebody who is living with chronic pain - it is estimated that 20 per cent (or one in five) of all Australians will suffer from it at some point in their lives.

There is every chance you are living with someone who has chronic pain or that you suffer from it yourself.

It is a crisis that is getting worse as people live longer and, as a result, get older.

Of the 3.1 million Australians currently living with this issue the majority are women.

Chronic pain can be acquired in many different ways, with injury the most common cause.

It is also a not infrequent consequence of major surgery and a lasting symptom of conditions such as arthritis and other similar disorders.

The real issue is that with modern drugs and treatments pain - if you can find a medical specialist who takes it seriously - is very treatable.

That, however, is the challenge.

On the one hand patients are often reluctant to raise the question of pain management for fear of being dismissed as whingers.

On the other doctors and other medical professionals don’t seem to place enough emphasis on finding out just how much pain their patients are in.

Stop gap treatments rather than effective management plans appear to be the first - and sometimes last - resort.

Before anyone takes issue with that claim consider this: new research has found that less than 10 per cent of people suffering chronic pain are treated effectively.

That’s just not good enough.