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Science Quickly

You’ve been lied to about pain—here’s the truth

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.41.4K Ratings

🗓️ 27 March 2026

⏱️ 22 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode of Science Quickly, pain scientist Rachel Zoffness reveals why pain isn’t just a body problem but also a brain‑driven warning system that we’ve been misunderstanding for decades. She and host Kendra Pierre‑Louis unpack wild examples, hidden factors that dial pain up or down and simple, science‑backed practical strategies from Zoffness’s new book Tell Me Where It Hurts that can help you feel better. Recommended Reading: Tell Me Where It Hurts. Rachel Zoffness. Grand Central Publishing, 2026 E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Kendra Pierre-Louis, Fonda Mwangi, Sushmita Pathak and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Jamie Lang and Sophie Haboo have arrived on Disney Plus.

0:04.0

We're having a baby.

0:06.0

We're having a baby.

0:07.0

I've always wanted to be mom.

0:09.0

And we're bringing you on our journey through everything.

0:12.0

I have no idea what we're doing.

0:13.0

Thank you. I have more of an idea.

0:15.0

I think of it like a Tamagotchi.

0:17.0

At the end of all of this...

0:20.0

We're going to have a little baby.

0:21.6

Raising Chelsea, a Hulu original series streaming April 2nd exclusively on Disney Plus.

0:27.2

18 plus subscription required T's and T supply. For Scientific American Science Quickly, I'm Kendra Pira Lewis, in for Rachel Feldman.

0:50.8

From stubbing your toe to dealing with the occasional headache or sore back, to experience pain

0:56.1

is to be human. And for minor aches and pains, the occasional over-the-counter medication is usually

1:01.5

enough. But what happens if the pain we're dealing with isn't a one-off? What happens when that pain

1:06.9

becomes chronic? According to 2023 data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,

1:13.2

roughly a quarter of U.S. adults experience chronic pain. Rachel Zoffness, a pain scientist

1:18.2

and an assistant clinical professor at the University of California, San Francisco, who also teaches

1:23.2

pain science at Sanford University, argues that pain is often misunderstood by the general public

1:28.5

and by doctors. The end result she says in her new book, tell me where it hurts the new science

1:34.4

of pain and how to heal, is that many of us are suffering for more pain than necessary.

1:39.5

I talked with Rachel about our misconceptions around pain and what we can do to reduce

...

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