"A new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move toward higher levels." -- Albert Einstein, 1946

The other day I received a call from a doctor in Maine asking to talk to me about the comprehensive pain management programs that I help run here in California. He informed me that he was working with a local hospital to try to set up something comparable, and he wanted to ask me a few questions. It turns out that Maine has recently adopted legislation to slash the use of opioid-based pain medications for recipients of MaineCare, its state-run health care system. In fact, the bill puts a cap on the use of opioids like Oxycontin and Vicodin to
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Last month, The New England Journal of Medicine published a call to action for a "cultural transformation in the way clinicians and the public view pain and its treatment." The authors, Dr. Philip Pizzo, dean for the Stanford School of Medicine, and Dr. Noreen Clark from the Center for Managing Chronic Disease at the University of Michigan, concluded that the scope of the problems associated with pain is "daunting" and that the limitations found within the health care community are "glaring." They were speaking on behalf of their committee's report for the Institute of Medicine, Relieving Pain in America, which -- among other things -- estimated that more than 116 million
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If you are reading this post, you are probably already well-versed in how chronic pain can interrupt your own — or a loved one’s — ability to perform simple activities and function on a day-to-day basis. You may even start off your day dreading the thought of just trying to get through it. When we hurt, we tend to shut down physically and even emotionally. It is our natural tendency to protect a part of our body that has been injured or is uncomfortable. If our right leg hurts, then we naturally shift our weight to our left leg. This basic, inherent guarded behavior pattern can be considered protective at times of acute injury. When we first sprain our ankle,
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If you or a loved one is one of the estimated 116 million Americans with chronic pain, then you appreciate what a game-changer pain can be when it comes to things like performing daily activities, functioning at work or trying to exercise. Your pain may leave you feeling boxed in, helpless and really frustrated over no longer being able to do many of the things that you have always enjoyed. When the movement of the body becomes disrupted, then the thoughts and emotions going on in the brain seem to go downhill at the same time. This can quickly lead to things like depression, anxiety and a loss of self-esteem. As you will see, for many the evil
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Pay a visit to a genetic expert and ask what the single most important piece of information is in assessing your risk for specific diseases, and what do you think they will tell you? Well surprisingly, the answer won't be one of the expensive new-age genetic tests that have come on the scene in the last few years. Rather, they will advise you to put together the most detailed family history you can muster. As an example, research published over the years at the Cleveland Clinic's Genomic Medicine Institute, headed by Dr. Charis Eng, has consistently found family history to be more valuable in predicting the risks of breast cancer, prostate cancer, and colorectal
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