Sumbitted by Wilson Banwell

David Aboussafy, Ph.D.

Acute pain after an injury is a common experience. However, chronic pain can be debilitating and is becoming an extremely costly major health problem. US costs due to all forms of chronic pain are estimated at $90 billion a year due to lost income, disability and direct patient care costs. Some types of chronic pain are increasing, for example, the lifetime prevalence of recurrent low back pain may now be as high as 80%. Improving understanding about the nature of pain and how acute pain can become chronic is very important.