"Pain accounts for more than thirty-five million new medical visits and more than seventy million of all visits to physician's offices each year in the United States. Although there is no cure, Understanding Chronic Pain outlines new and effective treatments that focus on the management of pain and improvement in a patient's quality of life." "In the United States approximately ninety million people suffer from chronic pain, with an estimated cost exceeding $125 billion annually in health care, disability compensation, lost productivity, and lost tax revenue." "To provide information about the mechanisms of such suffering and about current treatments, the authors of Understanding Chronic Pain have combined their experiences as teachers, physicians, and therapists."--Jacket.