Out of 238 million American adults, 100 million live in chronic pain. When inadequately treated, it undermines the body and mind. Indeed, the risk of suicide for people in chronic pain is twice that of other people. Far more than just a symptom, chronic pain can be a disease in its own right-- the biggest health problem facing America today. Foreman offers a sweeping, deeply researched account of the chronic pain crisis, from neurobiology to public...

"One evening, while completing his medical training in Pakistan, Haider Warraich went to the hospital gym to work out. He was in the middle of a set when he heard the sound of a loud click in his back. His body went limp, the weight held above his chest came crashing down, and Haider was rushed into the hospital, now suddenly a patient where just a few hours earlier he had been a doctor. A decade later, Warraich is now an internist in Boston, and...