Recent Posts
Calming Down and Healing with Vagal Nerve Stimulation (VNS)
The Relationship Between Chronic Stress and Health Stress is commonly perceived as a psychological term. That is simply not true ...
“Many Italians Choose Suicide” – People Need to Work
Overview The essence of healing is feeling safe. Your body regenerates and heals. Not being able to support yourself or ...
Why I Keep Pushing Forward – A Mother’s Story of Healing
I am sharing these letters from a former patient to explain why I continue to work to help people escape ...
My Story of Hope
I had a rough start living in a chaotic household with an angry mother who suffered from chronic pain. I ...
Who Do You Choose to be Today?
Objectives Most of us intellectually understand that the only moment we have in life is this very one. That is ...
Schadenfreude: Your Pain My Pleasure
Schadenfreude—the pleasure derived from another’s misfortune—is biologically rooted in the brain’s reward system. Brain imaging studies reveal that when we witness the ...
Spine Surgery in the Presence of Chronic Pain – Mangione Situation
I am part of a documentary titled “Who is Luigi Mangione?” It will air this coming Monday evening, February 17th, ...
RUTs – Can’t Take Your Hand Off the Stove? Turn Down the Heat
Holding your hand over a hot burner triggers an immediate threat response (anxiety) and prompts action to address that threat ...
Anger Manifesto – “Humans, wake up!!”
Humanity Won’t Survive Without Engaging its Thinking Brain No Action in a Reaction The Human Survival Paradox Consider a time ...
Avoid Surgery by Raising the Pain Threshold
A friend of mine asked me for an opinion a couple of years ago about his back. I was giving ...
I Took a Walk with Bella Today – A consideration of what we can learn from other species.
This article was written by my close friend, DR Clawson. He is a physician specializing in physical medicine and rehabilitation, ...
Stories of Hope
Hope is healing An important aspect of healing is regaining hope and optimism. When you are trapped without any hint ...
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
This COVID-19 Pandemic is Solvable–NOW
Modern medicine has the capacity to halt this pandemic now. COVID-19 is a complex problem affecting the immune, metabolic, endocrine, ...
Evolution of the DOC Project
I developed the DOC (Direct your Own Care) program after discovering that by providing a systematic approach to dealing with ...
Anxiety is a Symptom – Not a Diagnosis
Every living creature on this planet survives by avoiding threats and gravitating towards rewards. The driving force is staying alive ...
Depression is Anxiety
Depression is anxiety. It is the constellation of symptoms caused by relentless anxiety. This is critical to understand because anxiety ...
Pain Sensitization – A Frayed Wire
Research has demonstrated what all of us already know. Repetition of unpleasant sensations worsens over time and becomes intolerable. This ...
My Cat has Irritable Bowel Syndrome?
We have a cat, Sophia, who is remarkably attached to my wife. She may pay some attention to me when ...
Anxiety Basics
Anxiety is the body’s neurochemical reaction to a mental or physical threat. Without it you can’t survive. It’s the sensation ...
Married 40 years – What Worked?
My brother and I attended a small private college in England in 1975. Over the last 43 years, about 25 ...
The Magic of Medical Hypnosis
A few years ago, I attended a four-day workshop held by Dr. David Burns, who is a Stanford psychiatrist and ...
Healing Begins at Home – The DOC Journey Starting Point
The DOC Journey began to evolve in 2003, as I emerged from my own 15-year struggle with chronic pain. It ...
Begin Your Healing Journey at Home
It has become increasingly apparent to me that chronic pain is a family issue. Your deepest human interactions happen at ...
More on Expressive Writing
“I am the biggest ever skeptic. But I thought what the heck. My lower back pain has been very bad ...
Extreme Mental Pain – OCD
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is an extreme form of anxiety. A relentless assault of unwelcome intrusive thoughts characterizes it. I ...
Not Sharing Your Pain – Omega
I have held several three and five-day workshops in Rhinebeck, NY at the Omega Institute with Dr. Fred Luskin, a ...
Sharing My Pain
One of the tenets of successfully solving chronic pain is to stop discussing your pain with others. Dwelling on your ...
“This is going to hurt”
Your experience of pain depends on many parts of your brain receiving a signal, and comparing it to your expectations ...
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
Is your Recreation “Wreck Creation?”
There is a basic dividing line in life that influences the development of your brain. Is your overall life outlook ...
Forgiveness is a Learned Skill–and a Power Move
Forgiveness is both a learned skill and an ongoing daily process without a beginning or end. It is a statement that ...
When I Dance – Omega 2019
Your brain changes every second and will evolve in whatever direction you choose. The term for this phenomenon is called, ...
Trapped – I Know How Gulliver Must Have Felt
I have been organizing an annual guy’s ski trip for over 30 years. Anywhere from 20-30 of us head to ...
No Action in a Reaction – Part 2
The essence of solving chronic pain and also creating a life that you enjoy is learning how to regulate your ...
“But I’m Not Angry”
One of the most sobering aspects of my journey in and out of chronic pain was my lack of awareness ...
Escaping the Abyss – Which One??
I saw two movies and a show this month that highlighted many issues about the human condition and pain. I ...
Wake the Fun up!!
Watching a baby take in every aspect of his or her surroundings with curiosity and awe is wonderful, delightful and ...
Chronic Pain is Solvable -Take Back Your Life
It has been my observation that suffering from chronic pain affects almost every aspect of your life, especially trying to ...
Omega 2017: Awareness, Hope, Forgiveness and Play
I will be holding a weekend workshop this July at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY. This will be my ...
Your Unconscious Brain
Your body is a lean and mean fighting machine. That is all it is designed for and intended to do ...
Society’s Pain and World Peace
We live in an era of unprecedented comfort and freedom. A recent experience that drove this home was spending a ...
Out of the Valley, with Dolls
When I first met Sarah, she was close to 75 and had been experiencing debilitating pain for decades. But, since ...
Awareness, Hope, Forgiveness and Play
These four elements form a powerful alliance to connect to your own capacity to heal, which is the essence of ...
The “Benefits” of Becoming Disabled
I have always enjoyed hard work. I began working in heavy construction at age fourteen during the remodeling of our ...
Rigid Thinking – “Make America Great Again”
Anxiety is the sensation created by elevated levels of stress hormones in response to a threat. It is intended to ...
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
Connecting to Life with Your Senses – Environmental Awareness
Objectives Humans are subject to an endless barrage of unpleasant thoughts that cannot be controlled. These thoughts are sensory input ...
Flip Your Consciousness – 4 Types of Awareness
Objectives A significant aspect of your healing journey is stimulating your brain to create a new set of circuits that ...
Becoming Aware of Being Unaware
Objectives Every action we take today is determined by what we learned from our past. Each one of us has ...
Awareness – The Starting Point for Deep Healing
Objectives All of our actions this minute are determined by all of your past experiences up to this very second ...
Taking Control – The Eye of the Storm
Objectives: It is a common perception that if we could manage our stresses better, we’d have a better life. That ...
Become a Genius at Solving Pain
I always wanted to play golf at a level where I could consistently shoot in the 70’s. I began to ...
Plan A–Lowering Inflammation Lengthens Life
The COVID-19 virus is a member of the Corona virus family that usually just causes the common cold. The problem ...
Negative Messages to Your Brain
I spent a day with Bruce Lipton, a cell biologist and author of a best-selling book, The Biology of Belief ...
People – The Most Powerful Part of The DOC Journey
It has become apparent that one of the most important factors in people moving away from their pain is our ...
The Guided Course of “The DOC Journey”
Chronic pain is a complex problem consisting of many variables that affect your perception of it. Additionally, we now know ...
Awareness–Ingrained Patterns
Awareness is the essence of healing in that you cannot stimulate your brain to develop in a given direction, unless ...
Develop a “Family Business” Business Plan
Any business of that consists of more than one person involves creating a legally binding contract that spells out the ...
Decreasing Your Stress Chemicals (Anxiety)
Chronic stress can be deadly. People experiencing chronic elevations of stress hormones such as adrenaline, noradrenaline, cytokines, histamines, and cortisol ...
Relationships and Rock Tumblers
Over the last several years, it has become apparent that family dynamics are a major factor in perpetuating or solving ...
Holiday Landmines – Your Family
For some, the holidays are synonymous with a strong sense of familial closeness and love. However, this is not the ...
A Couple Re-united
During the last few years of practice, our team became extremely aware of the effect of chronic pain on the ...
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
Moving Forward – A New Horizon
I have stopped doing spine surgery and active clinical care to pursue the Back in Control project full time. This ...
“Dying” Before Living
Florence, Italy, 2013 On vacation We all intellectually know that life is short and somehow we spend a lot of ...
Learn Another Language – “An Enjoyable Life”
To master a new language requires a focused commitment for an extended period of time. Say you wanted to become ...
Anxiety with Success
No matter how many parts of my life were good, I was stuck in thinking about what I didn’t have ...
Healing With Support from her Community
Hi Dr. Hanscom, It’s Donna, a former patient. I just wanted to write and tell you some good news regarding ...
Compassion
Compassion: Empathy in the Face of Chronic Pain Empathy is an inherent part of the human experience. Being labeled as ...
Harnessing the Body’s Healing Power
The most powerful treatment for any disorder is engaging in practices that calm your nervous system and allows your body ...
How Much Suffering Can You Take?
This was the highlighted title of an article in the Sports Sunday section of the NY Times a few weeks ...
Remarkable Healing Stories – Dr. Bernie Siegel
I have had the distinct privilege of getting to know Dr. Bernie Siegel, who is a retired pediatric general surgeon ...
Mental or physical health – Which is more Critical?
I have been considering this question since I was eight years old. For some reason it was a subject that ...
Anger: Damage Control
There is a “genealogy” of anger. It begins with a person or situation that you blame for upsetting you. You ...
The Gift of Pain – Thanksgiving 2013
Pain, The Gift That Nobody Wants is a book written by an orthopedic hand surgeon, Paul Brand. Through his work ...
The KKK and a Spiritual Journey
I am a strong supporter of psychology, psychiatry, and any mental health profession that can provide insight into how to ...
The First and Last Day of School
“It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old. They grow old because they stop pursuing ...
Video: Standard Stress Skills Inadequate
I talk about how the DOC Project can relate to other aspects of our everyday life, including everyday stressors and ...
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
Think Twice About Spinal Surgery
Roy Carey, a well respected spinal surgeon in Melbourne created this video highlighting the decision-making about undergoing spine surgery. It ...
Video: I Can Only Fix What I Can See
I discuss the cultural belief system about spine surgery and it’s impact on the treatment for chronic pain. It took ...
Video: Surgeons Do What They are Trained to Do
I discuss the lack of awareness to the alternative approaches in the spine surgeon world and the treatment of chronic ...
Surgical Results Overly Optimistic
What percentage of success would you want from your potential surgery on your lower back before you decided to proceed ...
Indications for Surgery
In order for a surgery to go right the first time, you need an idea of when spine surgery is appropriate ...
Anger Altering a Surgical Decision
Imagine your life before the pain. Stop and visualize a day or period back then when you were just plain ...
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
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Important Posts
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Healing With Support from her Community
Hi Dr. Hanscom, It’s Donna, a former patient. I just wanted to write and tell you some good news regarding ...
Out of the Valley, with Dolls
When I first met Sarah, she was close to 75 and had been experiencing debilitating pain for decades. But, since ...
Out of the Abyss After 25 Years
I received this email from someone that I had never met. I’ve now gotten to know her and she is ...
Remarkable Healing Stories – Dr. Bernie Siegel
I have had the distinct privilege of getting to know Dr. Bernie Siegel, who is a retired pediatric general surgeon ...
The Enlightenment Light and Judgment Mirror
I had a patient come into my office many years ago who represents one of the most remarkable turnarounds I ...
The Power of Love – Anthony
Anthony was a patient who I saw just a couple of times in his early 20’s. He was experiencing low ...
The Gift of Pain – Thanksgiving 2013
Pain, The Gift That Nobody Wants is a book written by an orthopedic hand surgeon, Paul Brand. Through his work ...
Never Give Up – Breaking Through After Six Years
Terry was a middle-aged mother of two children whom I met many years ago. For reasons that are unclear, her ...
To Become Strong – “ILOHLA”
My creative artist friend, Ernesto, endured a rough couple of years and for a while he “disappeared”. The details are ...
My Migraines
Fourth of July fireworks I was 5 years old and lived in a small town in New Hampshire. Our house ...
Can Your Body Language Change Chronic Pain?
Dr. Gordon Irving was in charge of Swedish Medical Center Chronic Pain Program for many years. His group has embraced ...
Leg Pain Gone with NPD Principles-Carol’s Story
Carol is one of my favorite patients and success stories. It is one that surprised both of us. Her turnaround ...
“Finding Health by Letting Go of Hate”
The common thread of those who successfully heal from chronic pain and other symptoms of Neurophysiologic Disorder (NPD) is letting ...
My Feet on Fire
I began my orthopedic surgery residency in 1981. I had an unusual path into this specialty in that I had ...
“I Am Not Letting Yesterday Ruin Today”
I had been working with Anne for a while and she had been experiencing chronic pain throughout her body for ...
Ron Salvages His Own Spine Surgery
A letter from a case manager Dear Dr. Hanscom: You may not receive these kinds of letters from nurse case ...
Expressive Arts Posts
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Other Posts
- RUTs – Can’t Take Your Hand Off the Stove? Turn Down the Heat
- Stories of Hope
- 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
