As chronic pain patients, we dream of complete relief from pain.  However, the sad fact for most of us is that total freedom from pain is probably an unrealistic goal.  If that's the case, what then is a realistic goal?  Just how much pain relief is it reasonable to expect?  And a perhaps equally important question is, what outcomes other than a decrease in pain intensity are important to us? 

For the past seven years, a multidisciplinary group of international experts has been meeting and...