Great information about treating back pain without drugs. There is a national push to reduce the use of opioid pain medication (narcotics) because of the risks of addiction, overdose and deaths. I agree with the FDA’s black box warning about the dangers of narcotics. However there is an absolute need for short term narcotic use for acute pain and for carefully monitored chronic pain management. I continually rely on somatic movement techniques to reduce my overactive “pain response” to my injuries. I learned them from this website and by reading Martha Petersen’s book. Enjoy the article and rethink pain management.
A mindful approach to back pain
A recent New York Times article discusses a new approach to easing back pain, called “mindfulness-based stress reduction.” This method involves “a combination of meditation, body awareness and yoga, and focuses on increasing awareness and acceptance of one’s experiences, whether they involve physical discomfort or emotional pain.”
The article cites a study conducted on mindfulness meditation and behavioral cognitive therapy for back pain, which reports that “many people may find relief with a form of meditation that harnesses the power of the mind to manage pain.”
It is a relief to see an article in a major newspaper that reports a different perspective (a somatic perspective!) on back pain. The somatic perspective is the understanding that we humans are not inanimate objects that can fixed like a broken toy or washing machine, but are self-guiding, self-sensing, self-teaching synergistic systems that are experienced from the inside out
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What's for dinner, Doc? 
Thanks for reblogging this, Tracey.
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It is really great advice and I really do practice this to reduce my aches and pains.
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Thanks for posting this. The struggle is real for providers on the front lines! I faced it every day in the ER on two fronts: Patients demanding “instant relief” and expecting narcotics to provide it, and docs who wanted the patient given an Rx, discharged and out. It’s a relief to be in a place now where the providers stand firm against chronic narcotic prescriptions and infrequently find reason to offer them for acute issues.
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I agree that thinking before writing narcs is a great policy. Now if there was only more time for patient care. Right?
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That, less reliance on patient satisfaction surveys and better (reimbursed) resources for pain mgmt. One patient at a time, we make what difference to them we can, right?
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