SANDPOINT — Back pain is the leading cause of disability, according to the National Institute of Health, and is one form of chronic pain that affects millions of Americans each day. 

Chronic pain is defined as any pain lasting longer than three months. For someone like Tim Harless, a United States Marine Corps veteran, there is little reprieve from the pain.

"I've been going down this pain path for 15 years," said 67-year-old Harless, adding that he has nerve damage. "I can't feel my feet; I'm on pins and needles ... (The doctors) did stop it from getting worse, but they can't do anything for my pain."

September is Pain Awareness Month, so Mayor Shelby Rognstad read a proclamation during last week's City Council meeting and presented it to Harless. According to the proclamation, chronic pain is a "costly and growing problem" throughout the United States, and thousands of Idahoans suffer from chronic pain caused by injuries, diseases and disorders — more than from cancer, heart diseases and diabetes combined.

Harless is a group leader for the American Chronic Pain Association, which has offered peer support and education in pain management skills since 1980. Harless said his focus is to get the name of the ACPA out, as well as let people know it is Pain Awareness Month.

"My whole goal is to get the word out into the five northern counties, specifically with the (agricultural) community, because it is a vastly underserved community," Harless said. "The population typically doesn't have health insurance, and if they are a rancher or a farmer, they have to get up and go to work regardless of whether they are in pain or not."

Part of the problem, Harless said, is if they are running heavy machinery, they can't do it "under a cloud of opiates." The ACPA is designed to help people go from being patients, back to being people, he said. For that reason, the ACPA has a 10-step program — "From Patient to Person." The steps include accepting the pain, setting priorities and goals, exercising and learning to relax.

"We show people ways of getting out of that patient mode and being your own advocate," Harless said.

Music and art, he said, are examples of diversionary tactics people can use to take their mind off the pain, if even for a few minutes. Doctors will prescribe medications and take care of the medical part, but that is not the purpose of the ACPA, Harless said.

"We are here to help you with your journey," he said.

The ACPA has several programs available, including the ten-step program, a program specifically for veterans and one for the families of those in pain, because everyone needs a strong support system as well.

Information: theacpa.org

Mary Malone can be reached by email at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.