PART 1 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 1a Applied physiology of nociception - Pierre Beaulieu 1b Mechanisms of inflammatory hyperalgesia - Suellen M Walker 2 Developmental neurobiology of nociception - Suellen M Walker 3 Clinical pharmacology: opioids - David J Rowbotham, Alcira Serrano-Gomez and Anne Heffernan 4 Clinical pharmacology: Traditional NSAIDs and selective COX-2 inhibitors - Stephen F Jones and Aidan M O'e(tm)Donnell 5 Clinical pharmacology: paracetamol and compound analgesics - Phil Wiffen 6 Clinical pharmacology: other adjuvants - Evangelos Tziavrangos and Stephan A Schug 7 Clinical pharmacology: local anesthetics - Jonathan McGhie and Michael G Serpell 8 Assessment, measurement and history - David A Scott and Wendy M McDonald 9 Preventive analgesia and beyond: current status, evidence, and future directions - Joel Katz PART 2 MANAGEMENT - TECHNIQUES 10 Routes of administration - Jeremy Cashman 11 Patient-controlled analgesia - Pamela E Macintyre and Julia Coldrey 12 Continuous peripheral neural blockade for acute pain - Kim E Russon and William Harrop-Griffiths 13 Epidural and spinal analgesia - Sina Grape and Stephan A Schug 14 Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) and acupuncture for acute pain - Mark I Johnson, Stephen Oxberry and Karen H Simpson 15 Psychological therapies - adults - H Clare Daniel 16 Psychological interventions for acute pediatric pain - Christina Liossi and Linda S Franck PART 3 MANAGEMENT 'e" CLINICAL SITUATIONS 17 Postoperative pain management following day surgery - Girish P Joshi 18 Acute pain management in the intensive care unit - R Scott Simpson 19 Acute pain management in the emergency department - Anne-Maree Kelly.