The Painful Truth : The new science of why we hurt and how we can heal

We all know pain when we feel it. But what exactly is pain? Answering this question poses one of the greatest challenges in medicine and philosophy. For to understand it is to understand ourselves.

Our ability to prolong life leaves many facing years of chronic pain, with no clear links between injury sustained and the amount of pain felt. Pain is often not a symptom but a disease in itself. Pain isn't only physical - it is psychological, emotional and deeply social.

We are at an exciting point in the history of pain. New research is beginning to reveal its true nature and how it can be controlled. Through compelling case studies that take the reader on a sweeping journey through a Renaissance in research over the past ten years, Dr Monty Lyman explores and explains the experience of pain.