ABSTRACT
Chronic pain is often frustrating to patients, their families, and the therapists who attempt to treat them. Chronic pain is a big problem in the United States. It has become an epidemic. An estimated 35–40 million Americans have chronic pain problems, and this includes arthritics, patients with migraine headaches, and people with pain in the neck and low back. New service delivery methods have been developed in the war against chronic pain. The multidisciplinary pain clinic (MPC) offers new hope to chronic pain patients and can be a community resource to the physicians who are trying to help them. The anesthesiologist is an integral part of the MPC team. Many of the programs active in the treatment of chronic pain patients fall under the auspices of departments of anesthesia at major universities. Spinal injections are administered by the anesthesiologist into the area of the spinal fluid or into the epidural space.
