The Challenge of Pain

By Ronald Melzack and Patrick D. Wall

Book Overview

Pain has many valuable functions. It can be a warning or force us to rest our bodies. Yet most ongoing chronic pain, such as unrelenting backache or headache, has no discernable cause and diminishes countless lives. Over the years a scientific revolution has taken place in chronic pain research and therapy. A major catalyst for this was the introduction of the "gate theory" by Professor Ronald Melzack and Professor Patrick D. Wall, which argued that pain is a unified stream of experience generated by the brain, incorporating a whole host of psychological functions. Their now-classic book, with a new introduction taking in all the latest medical developments, examines every facet of pain: the psychological and clinical aspects, the physiological evidence, the major theories of pain, and the developments in its control. The challenge in the 21st century is to look at how memories, personal and social expectations, genetics, gender, aging, and stress patterns all play a role in pain, and how understanding this could lead to the relief of the suffering endured by millions.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140256709
• ISBN13: 9780140256703
• Release Date: July 1996
• Publisher: Penguin UK
• Length: 339 Pages
• Weight: 0.56 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.1" x 7.9"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Useful introduction to pain

I'm a grad student currently doing a thesis which will probably on diabetic pain. I bought the challenge of pain in the hopes that it would be an in depth introduction to the topic of pain(which is one I did not originally know much about). I have found it to be very informative, with multiple citations and diagrams illustrating key principles. As many of the studies cited are from the 70s and 80s, it is also a very useful summary about the history of pain research. Overall I would recommend this book to anyone who is starting out in the field of pain, and probably anyone in the field already who would like to know more about it.

Challenge of pain

This is an extremely informative book. It is well written even for the lay reader.