Back in Control with David Hanscom, MD

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom talks about his newly released book, Do You Really Need Spine Surgery? He shares his motivation for writing the book, and how readers can use the tools it provides to make a more informed decision about whether or not to have spine surgery. He also examines the factors that are pressuring surgeons to perform surgeries that offer little hope of relieving a patient...

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom talks with Norris Lewis, a trainer and physical conditioning specialist, about his work with individuals who suffer from chronic pain or injury. With a background in exercise physiology and the Z-Health methodology, he has developed an approach centered on understanding why the client is holding onto their pain and working with them to focus their brain on someth...

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom talks with David Allen, bestselling author of Getting Things Done, about the specific techniques you can use to: identify what’s on your mind and capture it; determine what each item means and whether it is actionable; organize and track each of your items; review and reflect on each of your items; and use all of these steps to stay engaged and make good choices...

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom talks with David Allen, bestselling author of Getting Things Done, about how his approach can help you put steps into action once you've learned about chronic pain and are ready to take control of your life again. He explains the value of starting where you are and not where you should be, and using a step-by-step approach to get the day-to-day things under contr...

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom talks with Donald Cohen, a clinical psychologist specializing in family issues, about how family relationships can impact the experience of chronic pain.  He discusses how stress and anger can become “somaticized” and exacerbate chronic pain. The resulting tension can lead other family members to feel unsafe, causing them to shut down and become angry or defensiv...

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom talks with Donald Cohen, a clinical psychologist specializing in family issues, about the impact of aging and anxiety on the experience of pain. He has observed that the basic “mechanics of life” can cause more anxiety as we age, leading to altered sleep patterns which can intensify our experience of pain. He recommends meditation, reflection, engaging in creativ...

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom talks with David Burns, MD, best-selling author of Feeling Good and Feeling Good Together, about how misunderstandings between couples can exacerbate the experience of chronic pain.  Dr. Burns shares examples that illustrate how hidden feelings in a relationship can result in pain that is used as a weapon against the other person. He describes tools that couples...

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom talks with Sharna Prasad, DPT, about her approach to treating chronic pain patients. She tries to understand from the patient what is going on in their life and how it is impacting their pain. She explains how she has adopted more of a coaching style in working with her patients, which has resulted in most patients getting much better. She discusses her work on a...

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom talks with his step-daughter, Jasmine Yohai, about her work as a housing coordinator for Bay Area Community Services helping homeless individuals find housing in Oakland. She points out that homelessness is a growing problem in many communities, but particularly in the technology hubs around the Bay Area. She shares the difficulties homeless individuals and famil...

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom talks with David Burns, MD, best-selling author of Feeling Good and Feeling Good Together, about the evolution of his practice from biological psychiatry to using cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) as a tool for helping patients with depression and anxiety. He discusses the powerful effect that negative thoughts have on how we feel and behave. Becoming aware of a...

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom talks with Sharna Prasad, DPT, about her 32 year career as a chronic pain specialist. She shares the story of her own battle with chronic pain and the insights it provided her in the evolution of her practice. She also discusses her role as a founding member of the Oregon Pain Science Alliance and its work helping patients heal from chronic pain. For more informa...

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom talks with his step-daughter, Jasmine Yohai, about her journey from dance to being an expressive arts therapist,and working as a housing coordinator for Bay Area Community Services helping homeless individuals find housing in Oakland. She discusses the different sensory modalities of expressive arts therapy which include movement, drawing and speaking, and talks...

In this episode, spine surgeon Dr. David Hanscom discusses the neurochemical basis of anxiety and how it impacts our experience of chronic pain. He outlines the manner in which our reactions to chronic pain become embedded in our neural circuitry and are reinforced by these stress chemicals. He explains why the typical strategies people use to escape from anxious thoughts - e.g., suppression - won...

This episode features Dr. David Hanscom’s interview with Dean Volk, PT, MPT.  He shares an approach to working with his physical therapy patients called Total Motion Release. The approach is based on the idea that whenever a part of the body is experiencing pain or discomfort, the entire body is thrown out of balance as it tries to compensate to protect the injured area.  This prevents the body fr...

This episode features the second of Dr. David Hanscom’s two interviews with Deb Gray PhD, a licensed clinical social worker and owner of a group of substance abuse / mental health clinics, Life by Design.  She discusses how she applied the DOC principles to develop her own personal approach to treating chronic pain. In addition to the recommendations in Back in Control, she also used Eye Movement...

This episode features the first of Dr. David Hanscom’s two interviews with Deb Gray PhD, a licensed clinical social worker and owner of a group of substance abuse / mental health clinics, Life by Design.  She also attended one of the first of Dr. Hanscom’s annual Omega conferences. She shares her personal story of battling chronic pain, the different approaches she tried and her discovery of the m...

This episode features Dr. David Hanscom’s interview with Kent Bassett and Marion Cunningham, directors of the new film “This Might Hurt” which focuses on the mind-body approach to treating chronic pain.  The film, which is being crowdfunded on Indiegogo, was inspired by Kent’s own battle with chronic pain and the solution he has found in the work of Drs. Sarno, Schubiner, Hanscom and others. Durin...

This episode features part 2 of Dr. David Hanscom’s interview with Dr. Marc Moisi, Chief of Neurosurgery at Detroit Receiving Hospital. Dr. Moisi recalls his training as a resident and later as a spine surgery fellow. He advocates for a more humanistic, mentoring approach to this training. He describes the toll that the “mantra of criticism” and its resulting stress can take on surgical performanc...

This episode features the first of Dr. David Hanscom’s two interviews with Dr. Marc Moisi, Chief of Neurosurgery at Detroit Receiving Hospital.  Dr. Moisi shares the evolution of his views on treating chronic pain. He learned that treating pain effectively requires a multi-dimensional approach involving all the relevant specialties from the outset.  He also talks about the importance of avoiding i...

This episode features part 3 of Dr. David Hanscom's interview with physiatrist Melvin Belsky. Dr. Belsky talks about how many healthcare providers are pursuing unnecessary and ineffective treatments, procedures and surgeries for chronic pain patients who have high ACEs (adverse childhood experience) scores. This is frequently to the patient's detriment. These providers often do not understand the...

This episode features part 2 of Dr. David Hanscom’s interview with pain specialist Dr. Kevin Cuccaro. Dr. Cuccaro discusses the important roles played by the patient-physician relationship and the patient’s beliefs about their pain, in their healing. He also talks about a highly successful new community based model he has developed for patient and clinician education about pain and its treatment,...

This episode features the first of Dr. David Hanscom’s two interviews with pain specialist Dr. Kevin Cuccaro.  Dr. Cuccaro discusses the multi-dimensional nature of pain.  He provides a simple tool that he uses to help patients understand how their brain constructs their experience of pain, and allows them to exercise greater control of their pain. Visit: https://backincontrol.com  for more inform...

This episode features part 2 of Dr. David Hanscom’s interview with orthopedic surgeon and researcher Dr. Ian Harris. Dr. Harris discusses the lack of evidence to support performing spine surgery as a way to relieve back pain. He offers hope that spine surgeons will change the practice of routinely performing risky spine surgeries once they become aware of the scientific data about their ineffectiv...

This episode features the first of Dr. David Hanscom’s two interviews with orthopedic surgeon and researcher Dr. Ian Harris.  Dr. Harris, the author of Surgery, The Ultimate Placebo, discusses his evidence-based approach for evaluating the effectiveness of a variety of surgeries, ranging from arthroscopic knee surgery to spine surgery to the implanting of cardiac stents.  His research shows that m...

This episode features part 2 of Dr. David Hanscom’s interview with social psychologist James Pennebaker, PhD. He discusses the relationship between stress and disease, including the sometimes counter-intuitive effects resulting from stress on the immune system. He also focuses on the impact of early trauma on our long-term health. Visit: https://backincontrol.com  for more information. Learn more...