BOSTON , Massachusetts ( CNN ) -- Timothy Connick was in agony for six years . In bed at night , it felt as if a pair of scissors was sticking out of his foot . `` I turn over , and it 's just like they 're getting jammed in more . '' Timothy Connick got relief from chronic pain through a peripheral nerve stimulator implanted above his hip . Connick , 52 from Lynn , Massachusetts , injured his foot falling from a loading dock at work 11 years ago . `` I fell about seven feet onto the concrete and smashed my heel . It started hurting that moment and kept hurting for six years after that . '' Connick is among millions . As many as one in three American adults suffer from chronic pain , according to the American Chronic Pain Association . The organization defines chronic pain as `` pain that continues a month or more beyond the usual recovery period for an injury or illness or that goes on for months or years because of a chronic condition . '' It 's usually not constant , the group says , but can disrupt the sufferer 's life . Over the years , Connick consulted multiple doctors and tried two dozen medications for pain management , but nothing eased the pain and the resulting depression . `` It was pretty much a no-win situation as long as that pain was going to be there , '' he recalls . He was eventually referred to neurologist Anne Louise Oaklander , director of the nerve injury unit at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston . `` Pain is the No . 1 reason why patients seek medical care , but until recently it has n't been part of the medical school curriculum , '' she says . `` Many physicians and nurses feel uncomfortable and unqualified to treat these patients . '' Oaklander sees many patients whom she describes as `` bouncing around the health care system '' for years with no firm diagnosis . She divides chronic pain sufferers into two groups . `` One is the group that has an ongoing cause of their pain , '' she says . `` The classic example of that is patients with arthritis . They have pain in their joints every day . '' Much more difficult , she says , is the second group : `` Patients who have chronic pain without an obvious cause of tissue injury . '' Connick falls in the second category , Oaklander says , noting that X-rays show broken bones , but not nerve damage . `` It was only many years later when he was examined by a neurologist that his underlying nerve injury was identified and able to be treated , '' she said . Health Minute : The struggle of managing chronic pain » . Oaklander says pain medications can help most patients , but there are other options . For instance , she says , if the pain is related to an orthopedic problem , physical therapy may be the best choice . In Connick 's case , relief came through surgery to implant a peripheral nerve stimulator above his hip . Based on pacemaker technology , the stimulator is placed under the skin and works by giving off benign pulses that override pain signals to the brain , Oaklander explains . She cautions that minor surgery is involved , and the device works in only about half the patients who get it . For Connick , it made all the difference . `` The day they put it in and I turned it on , I was up seven flights of stairs before they stopped me . Everything that I had n't been able to do and everything that made me happy was back available to me again and I knew it right away . '' These days , Connick is back at work loading trucks . He 's on his feet all day and does n't complain about any pain . Oaklander concludes : `` If you have chronic pain , do n't take no for an answer ... .I think it 's important for chronic pain patients to keep a sense of purpose , optimism and hope despite the indignities that many are subjected to . '' E-mail to a friend . Judy Fortin is a correspondent with CNN Medical News . Linda Ciampa of Accent Health contributed to this report .
As many as one in three American adults suffer from chronic pain . Chronic pain continues a month or more beyond usual recovery period . Expert : Pain is the top reason patients seek medical care .