A new study from The University of Texas at Arlington reveals a surprising link between state-level welfare policies and the rise in arthritis-related joint pain across the United States.
The findings suggest that where you live—and the social policies in place there—can have a real impact on your experience of chronic pain.
The study was led by Dr. Feinuo Sun, assistant professor of kinesiology at UT Arlington, and was published in The Journal of Pain. It focused on how different state policies, such as minimum wage laws, Medicaid coverage, and education levels, might affect long-term trends in arthritis pain.
Arthritis joint pain has become much more common over the past decade. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 58.5 million Americans now live with arthritis. Between 2011 and 2021, another 4.6 million people reported moderate to severe joint pain.
Unlike previous studies that looked at data from just one year, this research followed people over a 10-year period using information from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. That allowed the researchers to track how joint pain trends developed over time in all 50 states.
One of the major findings was that many states—including Colorado, Texas, Hawaii, Nebraska, Kansas, and North Dakota—saw sharp increases in arthritis-related joint pain. Colorado had the largest jump, with a 26.2% rise. Only four states—Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, and New York—showed a decrease in overall joint pain.
Interestingly, Texas stood out for a different reason. While joint pain increased overall, the difference in pain levels between adults with high and low education levels actually got smaller. This narrowing education gap suggests that pain became more common among people with higher education levels in Texas.
That wasn’t the case in Colorado, where both the overall pain levels and the education gap grew. According to Dr. Sun, this means that people with lower education in Colorado are suffering the most from the rise in joint pain.
The study also showed that Medicaid policies play a big role. States with more generous Medicaid programs—meaning broader coverage, fewer restrictions, and better benefits—tended to have lower levels of joint pain and smaller gaps between education groups.
Medicaid generosity was scored based on four areas: income eligibility, immigrant benefits, how easy it is to sign up, and the types of benefits offered.
Dr. Sun explained that generous Medicaid programs help reduce joint pain, especially for people with less education. These results highlight how supportive state policies can make a meaningful difference in people’s lives and health.
The researchers plan to continue studying how changes in state laws and welfare programs affect public health, especially how individuals experience pain. This could help shape better health policies in the future.
In the end, the study shows that pain isn’t just a medical issue—it’s also deeply connected to where people live and the support systems in place. It reminds us that improving public health means looking at the bigger picture, including economic and social policies.
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The study is published in The Journal of Pain.
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