Explain Pain

Explain Pain

All pain is real, and for many people chronic pain is a debilitating part of everyday life. However, it is now known that the more we understand pain, the less we will hurt.

Explain Pain gives new and immediate hope to pain sufferers and their family and friends.

The second edition of  Explain Pain  uses easy-to-follow language to discuss how pain experiences are constructed in response to dangers and threats in our bodies and influenced by our thoughts, beliefs and context. Considered the ‘go-to pain bible’ for clinicians and pain sufferers,  Explain Pain  answers key pain questions in an approachable way for educators and patients.

Answers Common Questions with Clarity and Creativity

With great clarity and quirky images  Explain Pain  answers common questions asked by pain sufferers, such as "Why am I in pain?", "Why has it spread?" and "What can I do to help?" Written by two pain science experts with more than 60 years of combined experience in the pain field―in clinical, research and education roles―Explain Pain gives new and immediate hope to pain sufferers and their family and friends.

In Explain Pain  you’ll learn about:

• why we all experience pain and how it works
• amazing pain stories that help put pain in perspective
• how your brain, nervous system, and protective system work and the role they play in pain tolerance
• how age, gender and culture can affect pain
• the body’s alarm system and how it works
• injury and healing of the body
• inflammation, muscles, discs, skin, soft tissues, bones and joint contributions to pain
• pain management essentials
• much more

About the Authors

Lorimer Moseley, _{AO, DSc, PhD, BPhty (Hons), FAAHMS, FACP, Hon FFPMANZCA, Hon MAPA}

Dr. Lorimer Moseley is a clinician, scientist and educator, whose research investigates the role of the brain and mind in chronic pain disorders. He leads a non-profit organization called Pain Revolution and is the author of more than 400 research articles and seven books.

David Butler, _{EdD, MPhty, BPhty, Hon MAPA}

Dr. David Butler is a physiotherapist, an educationalist, a researcher and a clinician. He serves as an adjunct associate professor at the University of South Australia and his current focus is on adult conceptual change, diagnostic and therapeutic metaphors and pain storytelling.

Lorimer Moseley, left, and David Butler, right

From the Back Cover

All pain is real. And for many people is it a debilitating part of everyday life. It is now known that understanding more about why things hurt can actually help people to overcome their pain. Recent advances in fields such as neurophysiology, brain imaging, immunology, psychology and cellular biology have provided an explanatory platform from which to explore pain.

In everyday language accompanied by quirky illustration, Explain Pain discusses how pain responses are produced by the brain: how responses to injury from the autonomic motor and immune systems in your body contribute to pain, and why pain can persist after tissues have had plenty of time to heal. Explain Pain aims to give clinicians and people in pain the power to challenge pain and to consider new models for viewing what happens during pain. Once they have learnt about the processes involved, they can follow a scientific route to recovery.