Recent Posts
“I Wish You Well” – Not as Altruistic as it Sounds
Quit Fighting Darkness and Turn on the Light
Stay Out of the Surgical Scrap Heap
It is Becoming Harder to Make a Living as a Surgeon………
If you want to be smarter and live longer, do this!
“Wake the Fun Up” – The DOC Journey App
“Stars Through the Bars”
Science has the Answer to the Opioid Epidemic – Is anyone listening?
We have no protection from mental pain
Don’t Take on the World’s Suffering
Calming Down and Healing with Vagal Nerve Stimulation (VNS)
The Pain of Social Isolation
Stage 1 - Lay the Foundation
Select a step from the dropdown menu below to view the posts in that step. The steps are:
Step 1 - Learn About Your Pain
Step 2 - Expressive Writing
Step 3 - Active Meditation
Step 4 - Sleep
Step 5 - Don't Share Your Pain
Science has the Answer to the Opioid Epidemic – Is anyone listening?
The Pain of Social Isolation
The Root Cause of Societal Disintegration – Untreated Anxiety
The Myth of MUS (Medically Unexplained Symptoms) – It’s MES
Calming and Stabilizing Your Nervous System
Active Meditation – a simple starting point
“The Abyss” – Honour your suffering
Solving Tinnitus – The Ringing in My Ears
Your Hand Stuck Over the Stove
Verbal “Expressive Writing”
Marsha’s Three Unnecessary Spine Surgeries
David Hanscom’s Mission and Resources
There is an Answer to the Mental Health Crisis
My Descent Into The Abyss
Charley’s Story: Pain Free After 17 Doctors
Processing Anxiety/ Frustration – They are not Going Away
Select a step from the dropdown menu below to view the posts in that step. The steps are:
Step 1 - Understand the Impact of Anger on Your Life
Step 2 - Acknowledge Your Disguises
Step 3 - Admit Your Victimhood
Step 4 - Forgive
Step 5 - Play
“Wake the Fun Up” – The DOC Journey App
Don’t Take on the World’s Suffering
The Myth of Self-Esteem
Depression Masking as Pain
Our Need to Feel Safe
Bullying is Good for Your Health
Social Anxiety – Vulnerability Doesn’t Feel Safe
“She Just Let Go”
Suicide – A Horrible Way to Escape from Pain
“5–3–2” – Processing Anger in Three Steps
Gun Violence – No Action in a Reaction
From “Would Like” to “Should” – The Unenforceable Rules
Grievance Stories
Forgiveness is Not What You Think – Learn It
Healing through Play – It is Safety Physiology
Calming Yourself by Recruiting the Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS)
Stage 3 - Move Forward
Select a step from the dropdown menu below to view the posts in that step. The steps are:
Step 1 - Commit to a Daily Practice
Step 2 - Create a Safe Haven - Family
Step 3 - Get Organized
Step 4 - Connect with the Life You Want
Step 5 - Create Your Vision
If you want to be smarter and live longer, do this!
“Stars Through the Bars”
Calming Down and Healing with Vagal Nerve Stimulation (VNS)
Create a Safe Haven – Family
Downhill Skiing is Dangerous – So is Life
Navigating Life is Similar to Playing Major League Baseball
The “C”quence of Healing Chronic Illness
“The Pit of Despair”
Stress Kills – Don’t Allow it
Happy Holidays – Not
How healing happens
Connection – The Antithesis of Pursuing Self-esteem
Why are New Year’s Resolutions So Hard to Keep?
No One Can Take Away Your Holiday Joy – But You
Do You Feel Safe in Your Own Home?
Your Relationship to Food and Life
Stage 4 Posts - Expand Your Consciousness
Select a step from the dropdown menu below to view the posts in that step. The steps are:
Step 1 - Pass Through the "Ring of Fire"
Step 2 - Step Into Your New Life
Step 3 - "Failing" Well
Step 4 - Look Up - Your Spiritual Journey
Step 5 - Giving Back is Healing
“I Wish You Well” – Not as Altruistic as it Sounds
Quit Fighting Darkness and Turn on the Light
Why You Do Need an Ego? Dissolve it with Awareness
Kogos: Why Anxiety is the Real Gift of Life
“The Bottom”
“Our envy of others devours us most of all”
Be an Expert at Living life
Mindfulness Should not be Taught in School – Really??
Understanding the “Curse of Consciousness”
AI and the Cumulative Effects of Trauma
Four Aspects of Solving RUT’s
“Don’t Worry, Be Happy”
Your “Authentic Self”
Connecting the past and present to the future – Bruce Lipton and David Hanscom
Romanticizing Pirates – Normalizing Suffering and Abuse
Giving Back is Healing
Select a step from the dropdown menu below to view the posts in that step. The steps are:
Step 1 - General Principles - The Grid
Step 2 - The Source of Your Pain
Step 3 - The Impact of Stress on Your Pain and Decision-making
Step 4 - Understanding the Magnitude of the Surgery
Step 5 - Making the Final Surgical Decision
Step 6 - Stories of Surgical Despair
Stay Out of the Surgical Scrap Heap
It is Becoming Harder to Make a Living as a Surgeon………
“My Son Just Died”
Make the Right Decision About Spine Surgery – The Grid
The Impact of Stress on Pain and Decision-Making
How Many More Neck Surgeries?
Do You Really Need Spine Surgery?
Optimizing (Avoiding) Spine Surgery
My Early Surgical Philosophy
Anger Altering a Surgical Decision
My Call to Action
Make the Right Decision About Spine Surgery – The Grid
Phantom Brain Pain – “The Doctor is Missing Something”
Humans Aren’t Data Points – Modern Medicine is Hurting Us
Tulsa Shooting – “The Pit of Despair”
Permanent Disability – Needless??
Stage 6 Posts - Procedures
Select a step from the dropdown menu below to view the posts in that step. The steps are:
Step 1 - General Considerations: Magnitude vs. Benefit
Step 2 - Decompressions
Step 3 - Lumbar Fusions
Step 4 - Deformity Surgery
Step 5 - Other Spine Surgeries
Step 6 - Stories of Surgical Despair
Posterior Lumbar Fusion
Lumbar Laminectomy/Laminotomy
Lumbar Microdiscectomy
Trapped for 18 Years from Scoliosis Surgery
A New Life at 72
My Low Back Surgery–and Infection
Important Posts
Do You Really Need Spine Surgery?
David Hanscom’s Mission and Resources
Anger Academy
Dynamic Healing
Plan A–Lowering Inflammation Lengthens Life
Essence of Illness
Navigating the Entire Circle of Your Life
Clarifying the New IASP Definition of Chronic Pain
Anxiety Basics
Learn Another Language – “An Enjoyable Life”
Healing Begins at Home – The DOC Journey Starting Point
Happily Ever After
Degenerative Disc Disease Isn’t a Disease
The Pain of Social Isolation
Learning to Heal with Awareness – Gail’s Story
Depression Masking as Pain
“Love Heals” – Moving into a New Life
Solving Tinnitus – The Ringing in My Ears
Spastic Bladder Resolved – Being with Anger
Optimizing (Avoiding) Spine Surgery
How to Heal – A Patient’s Story
No More Back Pain – A Story of Healing
Positive Thinking vs. Real-time Reprogramming
Charley’s Story: Pain Free After 17 Doctors
No More Being a Victim – Pay it Forward and Heal
“My Way Out” (of “The Abyss”) – One Patient’s Story
“Ritalins”
“Physician, Heal Thyself” – and She Did
Freed by Persistence and Play
Expressive Arts Posts
The Walk Home
Fierce Pain – Medically Explainable Symptoms (MES)
“MdDS: She is a Beautiful Flower” (acrylic on black watercolor paper, Feb 2017)
“Mystic Fragmentation … a medicine painting” (acrylic paint and collaged feet on 48×60″ canvas, 2021)
Shadows Dancing in the Fire
Emotional Turmoil
Somatic energy
With or Without
“Compassion”
Autumn Leaves
A selection from my mask project
The Lone Ranger
Six Feet Apart
Other Posts
- We have no protection from mental pain
- Create a Safe Haven – Family
- Accept the Gift of Consciousness – Choice
- Threat Physiology Can’t be Controlled with Behavioral Approaches
- Mental Rigidity – A Core Trait of Many Mental Health Diagnoses
- The Popcorn Machine – Healing RUTS
- Make the Right Decision About Spine Surgery – The Grid
- Everyone Needs Support
- The “Five E’s” of Chronic Pain
- Video 14/19: Chronic Pain: Pain Free is Not Only Possible, it’s Probable.
- Compassion and an Italian Dinner
- Video 8/19: Fusions For LBP Don’t Work
- Problems are Opportunities
- Video 7/19: The Catastrophe Index
- Examiners from the Worker’s Perspective
- Video 4/19: Listen When Your Surgeon Says “No”
- Arm the Worker
- Video 8 of 19: Finding the Source of The Pain
- Video 5 of 19: An Alternative Approach to Chronic Pain & Spine Surgery
- It Really is Upside Down
- “I Want to Believe”
- The Catastrophe Index
- Your Doctor Might Not be Listening
- Worsening Prognosis with Time Off of Work
- Two Kinds of Anger
- Anger Affecting Nerve Pain
- Stress Management Overview
- How am I Going to Get There?
- Where am I Going?
- Where am I?
- Setting Goals with Three Questions
- Anti-Spasm
- Anti-depressants
- Anti-seizure
- Anti-anxiety
- Non-Narcotics
- Narcotics
- Medication Management
Click a Show Section button below to view the posts in that section.
Section 1 - Overview of RUTs
Section 2 - Solving RUTs
Section 3 - The Evolution of RUTs
Section 4 - Consequences of RUTs