By Barby Ingle, Columnist

Even the tiniest spark of hope can get someone through the toughest moments in life – whether the challenges are physical, emotional or spiritual. Sometimes, all it takes is a song to help us feel better about ourselves.

Chronic pain affects one in seven globally, so it’s bound to affect you or someone you know. We need a way to have the voice of pain patients be heard so society will better understand our challenges and provide better support. That’s why the International Pain Foundation (iPain) developed the Music Moves Awareness project.

This month we released a new song and music video to shed some light on the daily challenges faced by the pain community. “Hope Is True” was created in collaboration with some of the brightest talent in the entertainment industry, including Ryan Young, William J. Fuller, The Silhouettes, Lynne Waggoner-Patton, Who is Emileigh Productions, Alex Geringas and Intellectric Media.

All funds raised from iTunes and other outlets through sales of “Hope Is True” will benefit iPain programs and the pain community. iPain is dedicated to shining a light on chronic pain, funding research and helping patients get better access to pain care. As we move forward, iPain will be using music -- particularly this new song -- to educate the world about chronic pain issues and their social, cognitive, physical, emotional, and developmental impact.

The International Pain Foundation recently celebrated its tenth anniversary and the Music Moves Awareness program by hosting a premiere party for “Hope Is True” in downtown Los Angeles. Celebrities who came out in support included Christina Milian, Ally Hilfiger, Rachel Reenstra, After Romeo, Bret Lockett, Chris Caldovino, Gillian Larson, Billy Blanks Jr., Dre Davis, and many others.

It’s all about raising awareness. We have celebrities come to events like this to tweet about it and talk about it -- and then we turn the spotlight on patients and share their stories.

The Music Moves Awareness project is centered on empowering chronic pain patients to live the very best lives they can. We believe music has the power to make lives better and inspire those living with chronic pain to become engaged by being their own best advocate.

All of our educational events are free for the patients to attend. My dad started the foundation because it took three years to get a proper diagnosis for me. We figured if it happened to me, it’s probably happened to other people.

What started as a family project turned into a non-profit foundation. We’ve done pain expos, symposiums, and currently have a webinar series as a part of the Music Moves Awareness initiative. We also get the word out by distributing printed materials and recently launched our new magazine, iPain Living.

iPain supports the idea that chronic pain is a real and complex disease that exists either by itself or can be linked with other medical conditions. As a charity, we campaign for effective pain care through an array of treatment options, many of which are widely inaccessible. Chronic pain is an unrecognized public health crisis with devastating personal and economic impacts. Most importantly, we operate under the belief that allowing people to suffer with unmanaged pain is immoral and unethical.

Over the next 18 months, we’ll be releasing features about chronic pain patients, sharing their stories and putting the spotlight on them. Each patient has a different pain condition, different treatment options that they’re pursuing, and things that are going on in their lives. 

This will help the world learn more about chronic pain and give us all new hope. 

Barby Ingle suffers from Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD) and endometriosis. Barby is a chronic pain educator, patient advocate, and president of the International Pain Foundation. She is also a motivational speaker and best-selling author on pain topics.

More information about Barby can be found on her website.

The information in this column should not be considered as professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. It is for informational purposes only and represents the author’s opinions alone. It does not inherently express or reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of Pain News Network.