Expert Guide to Pain Management

Chronic pain is highly prevalent and extraordinarily complex. Surveys suggest that approximately one-third of Americans experience frequent or persistent pain. Pain may be associated with progressive or static injury to virtually any tissue, or occur in the absence of an explanatory lesion. Pain may or may not be accompanied by physical impairments, or by disturbances in mood or social functioning. Some patients are significantly disabled by their pain, whereas others function well. Chronic pain is, in fact, many diseases, and its magnitude and complexity challenge every level of the health care system. To provide competent pain assessment and management to the millions who need help, physicians must make the study of pain a component of best practice in all primary care settings. Expert Guide to Pain Management supplies the latest research and treatment strategies required by health care providers in this sometimes controversial area. Topics include the pathophysiology of chronic pain, headache, osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia, pharmacological and injection-based therapies, motivating behavior change, complementary and alternative medicine, addiction, and disability management.