Long before any written accounts of what has come to be described as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), this book entails a record that began in the department of Anesthesiology headed by Dr. John Bonica who during the Pacific arena of World War II came to manage thousands of wounded servicemen many of whom suffered from this complicated clinical entity often long after their original wounds had healed.

Divided into two sections, the first provides a detailed chronology of the research and establishment of diagnostic criteria for CRPS. The second section provides an overview of how CRPS is evaluated and treated, along with the research that serves as its foundations.