German Pain League

The Deutsche Schmerzliga e.V. (German Pain League) is a registered self-help association for people living with chronic pain in Germany. Founded in 1990 in Frankfurt am Main, it has grown into the country's largest patient organization focused on chronic pain, with around 3,000 members organized in roughly 70 regional self-help groups as of 2025. Its stated mission is to improve the quality of life of people with chronic pain by optimizing their medical care and creating accessible points of contact for those affected. The organization provides information, counseling, and self-help support, handling more than 25,000 inquiries each year from patients and their relatives. It publishes a patient magazine, maintains a members' magazine, and organizes patient forums at the German Pain Day (Deutscher Schmerztag). It also engages in advocacy, calling for pain medicine to be a mandatory subject in medical education, for a recognized specialty in pain therapy, for stronger pain research, and for interdisciplinary, tiered care structures including pain centers. The Deutsche Schmerzliga is headquartered in Frankfurt am Main and operates through a small office of three full-time and two volunteer staff. Its annual budget exceeds 170,000 euros, with about a quarter coming from donations by pharmaceutical companies, including GSK. It has been led since 2013 by president Michael A. Überall, a pediatrician and director of the Institute for Neurosciences, Algesiology and Pediatrics in Nuremberg. From 1997 to 2011, physician and actress Marianne Koch served as president and was later named honorary president. In recent years the organization has faced criticism over the DGS-PraxisRegister Schmerz, an online pain registry it operates together with the German Society for Pain Medicine (DGS) and the private firm O.Meany MDPM GmbH. A 2025 data protection report criticized the registry's transparency and warned that patient data could serve questionable analyses for the pharmaceutical industry.

The Deutsche Schmerzliga e.V. was founded in 1990 in Frankfurt am Main. Among its founding members were Frankfurt publisher Peter Hoffmann, who was elected first chairman at the founding meeting, and Frankfurt teacher Brigitta Gibson, herself a pain patient, who had founded a local self-help group in 1989 that became the nucleus of the organization. In 1991 the Deutsche Schmerzliga was a co-organizer of the German Pain Day (Deutscher Schmerztag) in Frankfurt, initiated, organized and conducted by pmi Verlag. Since then, a patient forum has been held at every German Pain Day, where key new findings in pain medicine are presented in generally understandable terms by experts. In 1997, Marianne Koch became president of the Deutsche Schmerzliga. The physician and actress held this office until 2011 and was subsequently named honorary president. By 1998 the league already had 1,000 members and 42 regional self-help groups, and it began to provide financial support to the regional groups. On the occasion of the German Pain Day on 24 February 1999, the patient magazine appeared for the first time. Four years later, President Marianne Koch received the honorary award of the German Pain Prize at the German Pain Day 2003. Membership grew to over 5,000 members and 102 self-help groups by 2010. By 2022, membership had fallen to 4,000 people while the number of organized self-help groups decreased to 100. In 2025 there were 3,000 members organized in 70 regional groups. In 2013, pediatrician Michael A. Überall was elected president for the first time; the current director of the Institute for Neurosciences, Algesiology and Pediatrics in Nuremberg still heads the organization. The organization is headquartered in Frankfurt am Main. Its office employs three full-time and two volunteer staff. Its work is supported, among other things, by donations from pharmaceutical companies, for example GSK (formerly GlaxoSmithKline). The association's annual budget is more than 170,000 euros, about a quarter of which comes from donations from commercial enterprises. The Deutsche Schmerzliga receives more than 25,000 inquiries annually from affected individuals and their relatives. In addition to help for self-help, they are provided with medical and social-law support. The organization aims to improve the quality of life of people with chronic pain by optimizing their medical situation and creating contact points for those affected, and to generate attention and acceptance for the situation of pain patients. Its concrete demands include: diagnostics and therapy of acute and chronic pain must be included as a mandatory subject in the licensing regulations for physicians; establishment of a qualification as a "specialist in pain therapy"; pain research must be an elementary component of health research; tiered care and defined treatment pathways for pain patients and clear interfaces must be established in the health care system; chronic pain must be treated interdisciplinarily, requiring pain centers where different disciplines work together; and the political, economic and structural framework conditions of the health care system must be changed to enable appropriate treatment of pain patients. Since mid-2016, the Deutsche Schmerzliga has operated the online "DGS-PraxisRegister Schmerz" (iDocLive / mein-schmerz.de) together with the German Society for Pain Medicine (DGS) and in cooperation with the private company O.Meany MDPM GmbH. In 2025, a data protection report revealed deficiencies in the DGS pain registry and criticized its lack of transparency. The Netzwerk Datenschutzexpertise sharply criticized the PraxisRegister Schmerz and warned that data would serve intransparent, questionable analyses by the pharmaceutical industry. It also said that the registry's information to patients and physicians about the actual use of data was intransparent and that disclosure of exact practices was refused by those responsible, and that it was unclear whether, to whom and under what circumstances the data might be sold.

• 2025

  3,000 members in 70 regional groups; data protection report criticizes the DGS pain registry.

• 2022

  Membership falls to 4,000; self-help groups decrease to 100.

• 2016

  Begins operating the online DGS-PraxisRegister Schmerz with DGS and O.Meany MDPM GmbH.

• 2013

  Michael A. Überall elected president.

• 2010

  Membership exceeds 5,000 with 102 self-help groups.

• 2003

  President Marianne Koch receives the honorary award of the German Pain Prize.

• 1999

  Patient magazine first published on the occasion of German Pain Day on 24 February.

• 1998

  League reaches 1,000 members and 42 regional self-help groups; begins financial support of regional groups.

• 1997

  Marianne Koch becomes president (until 2011).

• 1991

  Co-organizer of the German Pain Day in Frankfurt; patient forum held at every German Pain Day since.

• 1990

  Deutsche Schmerzliga founded in Frankfurt am Main; Peter Hoffmann elected first chairman.

• 1989

  Brigitta Gibson founds a local self-help group in Frankfurt, the nucleus of the later Deutsche Schmerzliga.

Germany's largest patient organization for chronic pain, combining self-help, information, and political advocacy.

• Patient magazine

  Published since 1999, providing information for pain patients.

• Members' magazine

  Magazine for members, available in the members' area.

• Regional self-help groups

  Around 70 groups under the umbrella of the Deutsche Schmerzliga.

• Patient forums at German Pain Day

  Experts present new findings in pain medicine in understandable terms.

• DGS-PraxisRegister Schmerz (iDocLive / mein-schmerz.de)

  Online pain registry operated with DGS and O.Meany MDPM GmbH since 2016.

1. 1Deutsche Schmerzliga e.V. – official websiteschmerzliga.de
2. 2German Pain League – Wikidatawikidata.org
3. 3Deutsche Schmerzliga – Wikipedia (German)de.wikipedia.org