Podcast: David Hanscom, MD
A former spine surgeon presents effective pain-relief alternatives to risky procedures.
“We were doing spine surgeries on anxiety, and it doesn’t work,” David Hanscom, M.D. tells Rabbi Rami in this episode of the podcast. Hanscom is an orthopedic complex spinal deformity surgeon and the author of Back in Control: A Surgeon’s Roadmap Out of Chronic Pain. His most recent book is Do You Really Need Spine Surgery? Take Control with a Surgeon’s Advice.
After more than 32 years of surgical practice (and 15 years of suffering through chronic pain himself) he quit in 2018 to focus on teaching people how to break through cycles of chronic mental and physical pain, without undergoing surgery.
In fact, it’s Hanscom’s opinion that 70 percent of spinal surgeries should not be done in the first place. Instead, patients can learn to regulate their stress chemicals, he says.
“What happens is once you optimize the body’s chemistry, it slows down the nerve conduction, and the pain really does disappear,” Hanscom assures us.
Hanscom teaches pain-sufferers to use a variety of techniques, such as expressive writing, meditation, how to make use of sensory input, and here is an interesting one: Never talking about chronic pain with anyone except your doctor. Listen to the podcast to find out why.
Want more? Read Dr. Hanscom with 5 Steps to Relieve Chronic Back Pain.
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