ABSTRACT
The rigid conceptual framework provided by past anatomic and pathology studies, the framework in which the action of pain is understood, has broadened to incorporate a greater appreciation of the plasticity of anatomic organization and pathologic consequences (Woolf, Parker). This is in large part due to a better understanding of the plastic nature of the physiology of nociception and its underlying organization, manner of maintenance, and control. Muscular and autonomic accompaniments of pain have also been clarified by a better understanding of the inherent plasticity of nociception.
