Donald E Greydanus & Joav Merrick 
Pediatric Pain 
Current Aspects

Hatim A Omar, MD, FAAP, Professor of Pediatrics and Obstetrics and Gynecology; Professor of Family Studies; and Chief of the Division of Adolescent Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of Kentucky, Lexington. He is the holder of the Children’s Miracle Network Endowed Chair in Pediatrics. Dr. Omar has completed residency training in obstetrics and gynecology as well as pediatrics. He has also completed fellowships in vascular physiology and adolescent medicine. Dr. Omar is the founder and chairman of the Stop Youth Suicide Cmpaign. He is the recipient of the Commonwealth of Kentucky Governor’s Award for community service and volunteerism in 2000, Kentucky Teen Pregnancy Coalition Award for outstanding service 2002, Awards for suicide prevention from the Ohio Valley Society for Adolescent Medicine and Kentucky Pediatric Society in 2005 and 2007, Sexual Abuse Awareness Month Award for his work with sexual abuse victims from the Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Professionals in 2007, Special Achievement Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics 2007 and the Founders of Adolescent Medicine Award from the AAP in 2007. He is well known internationally with numerous publications in child health, public health, pediatrics, adolescent medicine, pediatric and adolescent gynecology. Pain in a newborn, child, or adolescent is a complex phenomenon that can be acute or chronic, mild or severe, and invoke complex reactions in the patient, family, and clinician. Pain is a feeling that humans find very unpleasant, seek to ameliorate and even stop as soon as possible. Individuals come to their clinicians seeking the cause of their pain and request ways to deal with their discomfort. Clinicians have not always been well-trained to appreciate or prevent pain in their patients, and this seems especially true for young pediatric patients. The underlying theme in this publication is to consider causes and management of pediatric pain. The authors look at different perspectives of pain including fibromyalgia, peripheral neuropathies, sports-related pain, pelvic pain, recurrent headaches, recurrent abdominal pain, dermatologic pain, oncologic pain, and psychosomatic pain. These reflections offer unique and beneficial perspectives for clinicians as they seek to ameliorate pain in their pediatric patients and offer an improved quality of life.