Troubled bodies – troubled men: a narrative analysis of men’s stories of chronic muscle pain

Abstract

Purpose: To examine how men present themselves as patients with chronic pain and how the men’s subjective experience of pain interplay with dominant norms of masculinity. Method: The material consists of qualitative interviews with 10 Norwegian men on rehabilitation from chronic neck pain. The data is subjected to narrative analysis combined with a gender-sensitive perspective. Findings: The men’s accounts of chronic pain were narrated as a series of events, displaying physical impairments and demanding work and troubled private affairs. Through rich descriptions of presumably objective facts, like heredity, physical injury and the character of the men’s work, and comparatively little information about the men’s personal experiences of pain and distress, a rational and self-controlled masculinity is displayed. However, extrapolation of the analysis also brought out how human suffering, such as chronic headaches, the losing of control and of oneself, is narrated in the men’s stories. Conclusion: Men’s stories of chronic muscle pain display a subtle balance between following dominant norms of masculinity, such as being rational and in self-control, and a need to express vulnerability as human beings. We argue that health care professionals should be sensitive to the dynamics of subjectivities and cultural norms of gender within patients’ illness stories.

Implications for Rehabilitation

• Stories of chronic muscle pain are individually constructed and culturally formed at the same time.

• Men’s stories of chronic pain display a subtle balance between rational reasoning and the exercise of self-control, adhering to dominant norms of masculinity and a human need to express subjective experiences of suffering and vulnerability.

• Health care professionals should be sensitive to how the role of gender in men’s presentation of chronic pain may contribute to keeping subjective experiences concealed.

Keywords::

• Chronic muscle pain
• gender
• masculinity
• Norway

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank the following for their contribution they have made to this study: The Norwegian Fund for Post-Graduate Training in Physiotherapy, for financial support of our project; the informants, for allowing us into their lives and for their permission to write about them and the physiotherapists, for their assistance to recruit informants. Also, thanks to associate professor Hilde Bondevik for helpful comments on this paper.

Declaration of Interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest.