The Boulder Back Pain study took the mind body medicine world out of the closet and into the world of our evidence based colleagues when it uncovered that brain retraining techniques (not physical interventions) can heal chronic back pain. It was a feat, to say the least, and I continue to see it's ripple effects in the medical world of pain care. All that being said, it takes more than one study to shift the great momentum of the medical industry away from a purely biomedical approach to healing pain. So, we're at it again.
This new study is a patient report of healing pain with this different, and highly successful (66% of participants were pain free or nearly pain free at the end of the trial!) approach. Stories are a powerful way to relate to new concepts and often are what open the door to true shifts.
Participants reported these main factors that contributed to their personal experience with healing pain:
Reducing fear of pain and categorizing the problem as not being a back injury problem
Having a good connection to their mind-body therapist and meeting others who recovered from back pain using this approach
Recognizing and dealing with stressful situations that had caused the pain.
This article could feel supportive and impactful to patients and clinicians alike. Check it out here.
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