Headache and Chronic Pain Syndromes

Headache and Chronic Pain Syndromes provides a case-based approach to state-of-the-art evaluation and treatment of patients with common chronically painful conditions.  Offering strategies for rapidly evaluating and treating pain complaints by body region, this innovative title also provides patient educational handouts that explain the diagnosis and treatment in easy-to-understand language for each condition.  Tools for implementing both medication and non-medication therapies, such as exercises and relaxation techniques, are also included.  Each chapter opens with typical presentations of three to five common patient scenarios, including pediatric, adult, and geriatric patients.  A targeted approach for patient assessment is provided and applied to each scenario, showing how to rapidly identify important clues to distinguish among common diagnoses, including both benign and malignant causes of pain.  Standard treatment regimens are then provided for each patient, along with patient-friendly educational flyers for each common pain condition.  Figures and drawings help provide ready identification of these common chronic pain syndromes.  Headache and Chronic Pain Syndromes offers primary care practitioners, neurologists, and orthopedists an optimal approach to the evaluation, treatment, and follow-up of chronically painful conditions.

• abdomen
• assessment
• care
• chronic pain
• diagnosis
• evaluation
• geriatrics
• language
• management
• pain
• pain management
• patients
• primary care
• syndromes
• treatment

From the reviews:

"Headache and Chronic Pain Syndromes is a handy paperback introduction to chronic pain intended for primary care practitioners. … the book is well written, is relevant to contemporary practice in Australasia and seems based on a wealth of experience. … I think it offers a broad medically-orientated overview of chronic pain and as such would be an excellent practical introduction for anaesthetists and trainees." (P. Slattery, Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Vol. 36 (2), 2008)

"The book is intended for primary care physicians … . is targeted at primary care, neurology, and orthopedics practitioners, and the topics certainly are pertinent to all fields, it is most appropriate for primary care practitioners who prefer a case-based approach to management. … has a role in the library of practitioners who may not deal with pain management on a daily basis and would like a case scenario format. … a valuable contribution to the field of pain management." (Jennifer L Hopp, Doody’s Review Service, March, 2007)

• Pain Institute, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh

  Dawn A. Marcus

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