[Pain and FSS in rheumatology clinic]

Physical condition with chronic widespread pain accompanied by characteristic tenderness has been categolized in part as "fibromyalgia" according to the American College of Rheumatology 1990 classification criteria. However, the criteria still evokes argument in regard to its validity, and in particular, to the count of tender points. The symptoms of musculoskeletal pain and tenderness are often found also in healthy population, and pain may be shown as a dominant complaint in depression or somatic pain disorder in psychiatric field. The long-standing widespread pain, therefore, would be rather recognized as one of conditions in a spectrum of functional somatic syndrome (FSS), and this intractable disorder should be treated under the broad concept of FSS in a multidisciplinary fashion.