Older people really are Generation Stiff Upper Lip

THEY are the generation known for their stuff upper lip.

Now a study has proven that older people really are made of tougher stuff, and are better at dealing with pain.

Doctors found that after a major operation, how much people complain about their pain falls steadily with age.

The study of 2,390 patients who had undergone knee replacements found people in their twenties said they were in the worst pain, while those aged 90 – the maximum age studied – complained the least.

When asked to rate their pain out of ten the day after surgery, those in their twenties put it above seven. This fell to 6.5 for people in their forties, and below six for those in their seventies, eighties and nineties.

But the team from Germany’s Jena University Hospital said at the Euroanaesthesia meeting in Geneva that all age groups probably suffered similar levels of pain, based on their loss of physical movement.