Do We Trust Patients in Pain? What Would Happen If We Did?

Abstract

SYNOPSIS: This viewpoint explores clinical and lived experience perspectives of the clinical care environment. Through the lens of trust, we explore what people who have chronic pain experience in the clinical care environment. Trust is integral to the therapeutic relationship, yet most literature only considers whether patients trust clinicians-not if clinicians trust patients. The biomedical metanarrative prioritizes information gathered by clinicians or through tests, which is perceived as "objective," over patients' lived experiences and expertise, which are perceived "subjective." This can lead to implicit biases and judgments about patient behavior that create distrust and missed opportunities for health. What would happen if, instead, clinicians started from a place of trusting people with pain? By trusting patients with pain as honest and knowledgeable experts in their health and well-being, clinicians can learn how to best support health and recovery. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2026;56(1):1-3. Epub 5 November 2025. doi:10.2519/jospt.2025.13725.