Although there is no cure, Understanding Chronic Pain outlines new and effective treatments that focus on the management of pain and improvement in a patient's quality of life."

Imagine an orchestra in your brain. It plays all kinds of harmonious melodies, then pain comes along and the different sections of the orchestra are reduced to a few pain tunes. All pain is real. And for many people it is a debilitating part of everyday life. It is now known that understanding more about why things hurt can actually help people to overcome their pain. Recent advances in fields such as neurophysiology, brain imaging, immunology, psychology and cellular biology have provided an explanatory platform from which to explore pain. In everyday language accompanied by quirky illustrations, Explain Pain discusses how pain responses are produced by the brain: how responses to injury from the autonomic motor and immune systems in your body contribute to pain, and why pain can persist after tissues have had plenty of time to heal. Explain Pain aims to give clinicians and people in pain the power to challenge pain and to consider new models for viewing what happens during pain. Once they have learnt about the processes involved they can follow a scientific route to recovery. The Authors: Dr Lorimer Moseley is Professor of Clinical Neurosciences and the Inaugural Chair in Physiotherapy at the University of South Australia, Adelaide, where he leads research groups at Body in Mind as well as with Neuroscience Research Australia in Sydney. Dr David Butler is an international freelance educator, author and director of the Neuro Orthopaedic Institute, based in Adelaide, Australia. Both authors continue to publish and present widely.

Chronic pain costs the nation up to $635 billion each year in medical treatment and lost productivity. The 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act required the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to enlist the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in examining pain as a public health problem. In this report, the IOM offers a blueprint for action in transforming prevention, care, education, and research, with the goal of providing relief for people with pain in America. To reach the vast multitude of people with various types of pain, the nation must adopt a population-level prevention and management strategy. The IOM recommends that HHS develop a comprehensive plan with specific goals, actions, and timeframes. Better data are needed to help shape efforts, especially on the groups of people currently underdiagnosed and undertreated, and the IOM encourages federal and state agencies and private organizations to accelerate the collection of data on pain incidence, prevalence, and treatments. Because pain varies from patient to patient, healthcare providers should increasingly aim at tailoring pain care to each person's experience, and self-management of pain should be promoted. In addition, because there are major gaps in knowledge about pain across health care and society alike, the IOM recommends that federal agencies and other stakeholders redesign education programs to bridge these gaps. Pain is a major driver for visits to physicians, a major reason for taking medications, a major cause of disability, and a key factor in quality of life and productivity. Given the burden of pain in human lives, dollars, and social consequences, relieving pain should be a national priority.

An expert explores the biological and emotional nature of pain: why it hurts and why some pain is good and some pain is bad. If you touch something hot, it hurts. You snatch your hand away from the hot thing immediately. Obviously. But what is really happening, biologically—and emotionally? In Understanding Pain, Fernando Cervero explores the mechanisms and the meaning of pain. When you touch something hot, your brain triggers a reflex action that causes you to withdraw your hand, protecting you from injury. That kind of pain, Cervero explains, is actually good for us; it acts as an alarm that warns us of danger and keeps us away from harm. But, Cervero tells us, not all pain is good for you. There is another kind of pain that is more like a curse: chronic pain that is not related to injury. This is the kind of pain that fills pain clinics and makes life miserable. Cervero describes current research into the mysteries of chronic pain and efforts to develop more effective treatments. Cervero reminds us that pain is the most common reason for people to seek medical attention, but that it remains a biological enigma. It is protective, but not always. Its effects are not only sensory but also emotional. There is no way to measure it objectively, no test that comes back positive for pain; the only way a medical professional can gauge pain is by listening to the patient's description of it. The idea of pain as a test of character or a punishment to be borne is changing; prevention and treatment of pain are increasingly important to researchers, clinicians, and patients. Cervero's account brings us closer to understanding the meaning of pain.

This much anticipated collection of stories, written by Oxford University Fellow and Pain Scientist, Dr GL Moseley, provides an entertaining and informative way to understand modern pain biology. Described by critics as 'a gem' and by clinicians as 'entertaining and educative', Painful Yarns is a unique book. The stories, some of his travels in outback Australia, some of experiences growing up, are great yarns. At the end of each story, there is a section "so what has this got to do with pain?" in which Lorimer uses the story as a metaphor for some aspect of pain biology. The level of the pain education is appropriate for patients and health professionals. The entertainment is good for everyone. You don't have to be interested in pain to get something from this book and a laugh or two!

An in-depth analysis of complex clinical situations involving multiple concurrent diseases, this book reviews the clinical presentation and management of interactions among medical conditions, including myofascial pain, headache, fibromyalgia, visceral pain, hypertension, diabetes, osteoarthritis, low back pain, obesity, depression, and anxiety. This is a must-have volume for clinicians who treat chronic pain patients, general practitioners, clinical psychologists, medical students, nurses, and clinical investigators.

People who suffer from chronic pain are typically found to be more anxious and fearful of pain than those who do not. Recent evidence has shown that the fear itself serves as a mechanism through which chronic pain is maintained over time. Even once the muscle or tissue damage is healed, a fear of further pain can lead to avoidance behaviour, which over time, leads to deconditioning (e.g. decreased mobility, weight gain). This in turn leads to further pain experiences, negative expectancies, and strengthened avoidance. It is the reciprocal relationship between fear and avoidance that is thought to be responsible for maintaining pain behaviour and disability. With fear of pain known to cause significant suffering and functional disability, there is a need for a greater understanding of this condition. This is the first book to explore this topic. It starts by introducing the current theoretical positions regarding pain-related fear and anxiety along with relevant empirical findings. It then provides comprehensive coverage of assessment issues and treatment strategies. Finally, the book suggests further areas for investigation. Pain-related fear and anxiety are now receiving considerable attention, and efficient and effective treatments are fast becoming available. This book will help guide and extend our understanding of a condition that has been shown to be associated with substantial suffering and disability.