If You Feel Achy After Reading This, We'll Hope It Doesn't Prove Chronic

“Pleasure is oft a visitant,” wrote the poet Keats, “but pain/Clings cruelly to us.” He had a point. A special section in “Health United States, 2006,” a voluminous study released this month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says millions of adults suffer from chronic pain.

Twenty-six percent of Americans age 20 and over reported suffering pain that lasted more than 24 hours during the month before being interviewed. A follow-up question asked these people how long the pain had persisted.