The challenges of complex and recurrent pain in children and youth are beginning to yield to systematic investigation. The current issue of Pain Research and Management contains a special series on pediatric pain based on keynote addresses presented by world-renowned clinicians and scientists at the International Forum on Pediatric Pain held at White Point Beach, Nova Scotia, in October 2011. The articles reflect the increasing sophistication of research and practice in the area and the application of rigorous science in the service of more effective pain control. Goldschneider (pages 386–390) summarizes the knowledge regarding complex regional pain in children and youth, and integrates what is known from adult and pediatric studies to arrive at a new perspective on this debilitating disorder. Stinson et al (pages 391–396) review pain in juvenile idiopathic arthritis, including the novel use of Internet interventions. Asmundson et al (pages 397–405) develop and apply a pediatric version of the very productive fear-avoidance model of pain. This extension of the model opens up new ways of approaching treatment. Logan et al (pages 407–411) focus on the context of chronic pain and elucidate the implications of an ecological perspective for understanding the development of chronic pain and broad strategies for intervention. Finally, Levy and van Tilburg (pages 413–417) review the history and new developments in chronic recurrent abdominal pain.
In the next decade, a more theoretically sophisticated understanding of chronic and recurrent pediatric pain will emerge. Models that integrate biological, psychological and social aspects will be used in multicentre studies of typical patients, with longer follow-up. These articles provide the basis for major advances in this important field.