Ranjan Roy

Series Editor's Foreword

As the Rehabilitation Medicine Library enlarges, I am faced with the plesant problem of avoiding phrases and words I have used to praise my editors and their new volumes. "Unique?" Certainly that adjective applies to this work which will stand as a landmark in rehabilitation. "Deeply involved and intelligent specialists?" No question about it: the editors have chosen some of the top minds in this field and have woven the text skillfully. They themselves are leading thinkers and practitioners in the field of chronic pain and rehabilitation and so their substantial contributions to the chapters add a special dimension. Chronic pain today looms as an epidemic. An integrated approach to rehabilitation of those who are handicapped by it has emerged as a major function of many related professions. No group has more to offer than the multidisciplinary rehabilitation team. In isolation, any one specialist becomes frustrated and impotent to man-age both severe and moderate cases-and even mild cases. This book offers a substantial foundation for improved management of the whole range of I musculoskeletal pain problems. In particular it offers the "lone-ranger" practitioner some guidelines to the most successful approach that I am aware of. The restoration to more useful and productive lives of all patients with debilitating chronic pain problems seen in orthopaedic and general practice and in rehabilitation facilities is our ultimate aim. But first, all health professionals must know what is written in this book if the epidemic of chronic pain is to be brought under good control.

JOHN V. BASMAJIAN, M.D.