The medical world often overlooks the powerful mind-body influence of our thoughts on the functioning
of our nervous system. Through many wonderful success stories, Dr. Hanscom has demonstrated that pain
can be mastered through greater mastery of our minds, awakening and recharging our lives in a world
filled with hope. By clearing our minds of anxiety, dealing with anger, moving out of reactive mode,
exploring our creative potential and taking back our lives, pain can become a distant memory.David Hanscom, M.D., is a board certified orthopedic surgeon in Seattle specializing in complex spine problems. He is the creator of the DOCC project ("Defined, Organized, Comprehensive, Care"), a structured rehabilitation protocol for chronic pain. He also founded the Puget Sound Spine Interest non-profit and co-founded the "Awake at the Wound" process, which brings athletic performance principles into the operating room.
I know I will bring some of my own experience into the discussion, and I'm sure many of us can recall times when we encountered situations with pain enduring far too long. I know many of the listeners are in pain right now, and it is my every hope this broadcast will help a great many people find an empowered way out of what so often can be one of the most challenging situations in life.
In my own case, I was in a serious automobile accident in my 20's. A truck in which I was a passenger was completely totalled when an elderly couple turned in front of us deep in the Colorado mountains. In the 80's, there were no cell phones, so we had to wait for help. But it was quite amazing how other drivers and passengers who quickly came along immediately took control of the situation, bringing quite a bit of amazing experience to the scene while someone went to get help. Though thankfully I did not experience any sort of life threatening injury at the scene, I ended up with a more subtle kind of injury to the nerves under the seatbelt, as well as severe whiplash.
I was in physical therapy for a year after this incident and along the way learned the pitfalls of pain medications and muscle relaxants, especially if you rely on them to get to sleep at night. There was a point when I wondered if I would ever feel the same again. Thankfully I did heal, but it took a very long time, and no doubt the kind of enlightened wisdom Dr. Hanscom has to offer would have been of great value at the time.
