Patients with abdominal pain are often quickly labelled as having irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) once organic disease has been excluded. The possibility of chronic abdominal wall pain (CAWP) syndrome is not often considered in the differential at that stage, partly through lack of awareness and partly due to difficulty of specific diagnosis. van Assen and colleagues from the Netherlands have developed and validated an instrument for the identification of CAWP syndromes, which we are delighted to publish in Frontline Gastroenterology. Patients with CAWP have a three-fold increased risk for being operated on compared to matched population. Use of this novel instrument could have repercussions for both clinical practice and appropriate identification of patients for research.