Neurobiological basis for pain vulnerability: why me?

Not everyone is equally likely to develop chronic pain.This review sets out to discuss the underlying neurobiological reasons that might make some of us unfortunate patients, while others are spared.We will show that genetic factors are likely to play a role, but that their exact identity has proven difficult to determine and remains, to a large extent, elusive.We will also discuss how the environment can impact how likely we are to develop chronic pain, and summarize early tentative evidence for how this might come about biologically.Finally, we will touch briefly on potential implications for the concept of personalised medicine.