Pain in humans and animals is a complex experience that is influenced by numerous biological, psychological and social factors. It is increasingly recognised that contributors to pain exist across multiple dimensions, including time and space. This chapter examines the concept of four-dimensional contributors to pain and emphasises the multiscale nature of biopsychosocial factors that contribute to chronic pain development in particular. At the nanoscale, there are molecular and cellular processes that contribute to chronic pain development across all species. Importantly contributors to pain also exist across multiple timescales, from nanoseconds to years. For example, early life molecular events, stress and trauma can exert long-lasting effects on the developing brain and increase the risk of developing chronic pain later in life. Similarly, social support, coping strategies and expectations can also play important roles in shaping the pain experience. Understanding the multidimensional nature of pain is critical for developing effective interventions that address the diverse factors that contribute to chronic pain. By taking a multiscale and multidimensional approach to pain, targeted interventions can be developed that address the unique needs of individual patients. Mainly focusing on pain studies conducted in rodents and humans, this chapter will focus on the role of early life events in shaping the experience of pain later in life. Although similarities in the mechanisms underlying pain are expected across species, unique contributors to pain (e.g. prior experience, environmental and genetic influences) are likely to result in nuanced differences. Nevertheless, a convergent understanding of pain across species will rapidly advance knowledge and technology transfer between human medicine and animal veterinary industries to address the unmet challenges of underdiagnosed and untreated pain.