The driving force for this book comes from our patients, rarely those who complied with our therapies, but particularly those who only partly responded, those who received complete pain relief as a marvel, and those who were so consumed with anger that major barriers had to be broken down before healing could begin. In practicing pain therapy questions inevitably arise for which we have no easy answers, but over time it is possible to plan research to investigate and test theories. This book is written not to extol the science per se but rather to seek to identify where further exploration is warranted, because we have no simple answers and the breadth of factors that influence pain sensations and therapies is great.

The original publishers with whom we entered into a contract were Greenwich Medical, well known for their concise cutting edge anaesthesia textbooks. We concurred with this format, expecting a low cost no frills approach. Nevertheless we have attempted to provide the information needed to reach a postgraduate diploma standard. We hope that the breadth of subjects distilled into this small volume will be a treasured resource for pain management teams.

As far as possible we have attempted to format each chapter into an overall style. Some authors have resisted, you the readers are our judges.