Pain posting

The previously mentioned pandemic jump in pain is clearly visible, with significantly higher levels remaining until 2021. But by the middle of that year, pain mentions were receding and eventually reached a new plateau in 2022.

While pain reports aren’t as high as they have been, they’re still not down to pre-pandemic levels. When we look at the January to November period, 2022 levels are down 10% compared to 2020 but remain 23% higher than in 2019.

That’s a lot of extra pain. But what types of pain are driving these posts?

Head pain, which includes headaches and migraines, tops the list by a huge margin. In fact, it’s cited more than the other six types combined. This was the case in our last analysis, too.

But we all know headaches are very common, so it’s little surprise it’s the most cited issue. To dig a little deeper, let’s compare 2021’s numbers to 2022’s.

Hip pain has seen the only year-on-year increase, going up by 3%. On the other hand, head pain reports are down by 11% which amounts to 200k fewer people reporting headaches. That’s an improvement you can’t ignore.

Overall it’s good to see reports of being in pain are down nearly across the board year-on-year. But when we zoom out even further, comparing levels to January 2019, we can see it’s more of a mixed bag.

As we already knew, pain mentions are above their pre-pandemic levels, but it’s shocking to see just how much more some types of pain are being experienced.

Wrist pain saw the largest increase in reports during the height of the pandemic, and has the largest increase compared to January 2019 levels than any other pain type. While there are many reasons for wrist pain, one of the big contributing factors may have been the mass switch from office working to home working.

It’s incredibly easy to damage your wrist while working at a desk. Bad posture, equipment in the wrong position, and unsuitable mice and keyboards will all quickly wreak havoc on your wrists. With millions going from workstations that met health and safety standards to cobbling together a place to work at home, it’s no surprise wrist complaints skyrocketed.

The fact levels have remained high is concerning. We can’t give specific medical advice, but we can say that if your wrist is hurting regularly, don’t ignore it!

Whatever the causes and reasons, we can be thankful things have improved since 2020, and hope 2023 is at least a little less painful.

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The Brandwatch Bulletin team