European Pain Management

The European Pain Federation, which is made up of chapters of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), represents over 740 people million people in 37 different countries. European Pain Management provides a review of the organization of pain care in the 37 member countries.

Leaders in each country offer a chapter on how their health and pain care services are organized, the demands of their specific populations, the specific national challenges they face, and examples of innovations and advances. After this comprehensive summary, key experts in the field discuss issues that are pertinent to all of the European nations ranging from working with young people to managing opioids and the rise of pain as a specialism. The final chapter pulls together themes from across the entire book, making a call to envision a new form of pain management for a new Europe, making European Pain Management the first authoritative summary, description, and coordinated challenge establishing the authority of pain centres in Europe.

Christopher Eccleston, Professor of Medical Psychology, and Director, Centre for Pain Research, The University of Bath, UK,Christopher Wells, President, European Pain Federation EFIC, Belgium,Bart Morlion, President-Elect, European Pain Federation EFIC O and Professor and Director, Leuven Centre for Algology and Pain Management, University of Leuven, Belgium

Professor Christopher Eccleston directs the centre for pain research at the University of Bath, which is home to pain and rehabilitation scientists who are active in the fields of evidence-based pain, e-health, therapy innovation, adolescent and family pain, and individual differences in pain. He is particularly interested in the psychology of all physical sensations, and in promoting modern medical psychology.

Dr Chris Wells is President of the European Pain Federation, EFIC. He has initiated a multidisciplinary core curriculum in Europe, leading to a Diploma in Pain Medicine (EDPM) for all medical doctors. He has been Secretary of the British Pain Society and was made an Honorary Member of the Society in 2007. He co-founded NeuPSIG, a Special Interest Group of IASPCO. He is an Honorary Members of this group and also IASP itself. He is one of 3 Founder Examiners for the World Institute of Pain 's Fellowship of Interventional Pain Practice (FIPP) examination. He was a member of the recent (2016) NICE Guideline Development Group on low back pain and sciatica. He now lives in Portugal, running a blueberry farm.


Bart Morlion directs the multidisciplinary pain centre at the University Hospitals Leuven and teaches pain management and pharmacology at the University of Leuven. He is program director for the interuniversity postgraduate certification in algology-pain medicine in Belgium. He will take office as president of the European Pain Federation in September 2017. His interests go to the organization of multimodal pain management and the pharmacotherapy of pain.