This self-directed learning module highlights the importance of applying principles described earlier in the Study Guide to specific diseases encountered by practitioners managing chronic pain in order to administer appropriate treatment. This chapter focuses on several challenging and increasingly common maladies and attempts to delineate rationales for holistic, comprehensive care.
Overall article objective: To explore diagnostic concepts and therapeutic strategies in fibromyalgia syndrome, central pain, multiple sclerosis, complex regional pain syndrome, and postherpetic neuralgia.