I talk about how anxiety and stress can lead to certain obsessive tendencies. Some of the tools from the DOCC project are laid out, specifically those that can help break down the circuits that fuel anxious and stressful thoughts and behaviors.

For more, see Your Demons are Robots.

BF

The post Video: Anxiety and It’s Demons first appeared on Back in Control.

The post Video: Anxiety and It’s Demons appeared first on Back in Control.

BF

The post Video 14/19: Chronic Pain: Pain Free is Not Only Possible, it’s Probable. first appeared on Back in Control.

The post Video 14/19: Chronic Pain: Pain Free is Not Only Possible, it’s Probable. appeared first on Back in Control.

Our brain has neurological circuits that can become memorized. In this video I discuss phantom pain, which is more the rule than the exception with amputations. This factor is a significant problem with any chronic pain situation.

The post Video: Memorizing the Circuits: Phantom Pain first appeared on Back in Control.

The post Video: Memorizing the Circuits: Phantom Pain appeared first on Back in Control.

I discuss how the brain becomes more sensitive to pain with repetition. I also introduce the first 3 “E’s” of the 5 “E’s” of chronic pain as well as the evolution of pain. The 5 “E’s” are Empathy, Evaluation, Education, Encouragement and Engagement. For more on this, check out Sensitization of the Nervous System.

BF

The post Video: Your Brain Becomes Sensitized first appeared on Back in Control.

The post Video: Your Brain Becomes Sensitized appeared first on Back in Control.

I discuss the cultural belief system about spine surgery and it’s impact on the treatment for chronic pain. It took me years to understand that performing fusions for LBP is based on unsubstantiated belief rather than hard data. I thought that surgery could always alleviate pain and felt I had an obligation to perform an operation if I could find the smallest reason. I eventually realized the only specific identifiable structural problems with matching symptoms are amenable to surgery.

The post Video: I Can Only Fix What I Can See first appeared on Back in Control.

The post Video: I Can Only Fix What I Can See appeared first on Back in Control.

BF

The post Video 7/19: The Catastrophe Index first appeared on Back in Control.

The post Video 7/19: The Catastrophe Index appeared first on Back in Control.

I talk about how the DOC Project can relate to other aspects of our everyday life, including everyday stressors and suppression. This is related to some of what I talk about in “Memorization of Neurological Circuits.”

The post Video: Standard Stress Skills Inadequate first appeared on Back in Control.

The post Video: Standard Stress Skills Inadequate appeared first on Back in Control.

BF

The post Video 4/19: Listen When Your Surgeon Says “No” first appeared on Back in Control.

The post Video 4/19: Listen When Your Surgeon Says “No” appeared first on Back in Control.

Consider a situation where you are forced to hold your hand next to the hot burner of a stove.  What would happen to your anxiety?  What would be your next response?  In chronic pain, you “can’t get your hand away from the stove.” I talk about this in depth in Your Hand Stuck Over the Stove.

The post Video 2/19: Your Hand Over the Stove first appeared on Back in Control.

The post Video 2/19: Your Hand Over the Stove appeared first on Back in Control.