Introduction

The last few decades have witnessed increasing sophistication and advances in the rehabilitation of spinal cord injured (SCI) patients with marked improvements in the quality of care accompanied by significant reductions in morbidity and mortality. Despite these impressive gains in bladder, skin, cardiovascular and respiratory care, the treatment of chronic pain in SCI has proven largely refractory to medical management. This lack of treatment efficacy has been complicated by an incomplete understanding of pain in individuals with spinal cord injuries and lack of a standardized framework upon which to classify these injuries (Burchiel & Hsu 2001).