Pain: Treatments for Chronic

Chronic pain is a prevalent health problem that many contend is undertreated in most societies. According to the World Health Organization, the prevalence of chronic pain is between 20 to 30% of the population worldwide, including over 50 million Americans. The most commonly reported chronic pain problems are low back pain, headaches, and joint pain. Chronic pain is defined as pain that has persisted for three or more months. As opposed to acute pain, where the cause of pain is usually evident, the cause of chronic pain in many people is elusive. Even in diseases where an underlying source of pain can be easily identified, such as osteoarthritis, there is often little association between the degree of joint degeneration and the intensity of pain reported ...