Chapters on pain definition and assessment, basic mechanisms, and epidemiology provide a foundation for a detailed discussion of the most common pain syndromes. The identification and treatment of specific syndromes are highlighted in separate chapters on headache, neuropathic pain, low back pain, fibromyalgia and myofascial pain, arthritis and cancer pain. An entire section devoted to therapeutics provides current information about a broad spectrum of analgesic approaches, including drug therapy, anesthetic techniques, surgery, physiatric modalities, and psychologic interventions.