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Articles from David Hanscom | Selfgrowth.com
- My Early Evolution of the DOCC Project - by Submitted on Oct 28, 2011 from David HanscomIn 1999 I moved to Sun Valley, Idaho to be close to my son who was seriously competing as a mogul skier. I went from a large group and a huge hospital in Seattle to a small practice and a community hospital. I was a tertiary referral surgeon who ended up seeing primary low back pain. I had a ...
Views: 1511 - DOCC-A Framework of Care - by Submitted on Oct 28, 2011 from David HanscomThe DOCC program is a framework that breaks down the pain experience into its various component parts. This framework enables the providers and patients to communicate much more clearly, and effectively so as to develop a partnership to solve the problem. With musculoskeletal pain, there are ...
Views: 1106 - The DOCC Program - by Submitted on Oct 24, 2011 from David HanscomPain is a multi-faceted experience. For a given pain problem ALL of the factors that affect the perception of pain must be successfully addressed. In regards to low back pain there are three categories of issues: 1) potential structural problems 2) the soft tissues supporting the spine 3) the ...
Views: 2122 - Anger and Anxiety–Highway to Hell - by Submitted on Oct 22, 2011 from David HanscomThere is an intense relationship between anxiety and anger. Understanding this interaction is perhaps one of the most important concepts that will have a major impact in calming down your nervous system. Anxiety and Anger are universal. Few human beings have seemed to rise above them. They ...
Views: 1423(1 vote) - Introduction to DOCC - by Submitted on Oct 16, 2011 from David HanscomI am a surgeon. I think like a surgeon. I am intent on finding a structural problem I can surgically correct and relieve my patient's suffering. I feel a deep sense of satisfaction and I am my patients' hero. It is a privilege to be able to offer that service to my community. However, a ...
Views: 1144 - The True Beginning of the DOCC Project - by Submitted on Oct 16, 2011 from David HanscomJean was a middle-aged business owner who had come to me for a second opinion. I had her fill out an extensive spine pain questionnaire, which includes many psychosocial questions in addition to a history and diagram of the pain. Jean was very healthy and normally extremely physically active. ...
Views: 1073 - Sensitization to Pain - by Submitted on Oct 16, 2011 from David HanscomWhen your brain is hammered week after week, month after month, and sometimes year after year with the same pain impulses, it becomes very efficient in processing them. It takes less of an impulse from your back to elicit the same response in the brain. Or looked at differently the same impulse ...
Views: 1127 - The Pain Generator - by Submitted on Oct 16, 2011 from David HanscomThe Source of the Pain—“Pain Generator” It is an almost universally held concept among surgeons and patients that a specific structural lesion is usually the source of pain. If that lesion can be identified and repaired, the pain will resolve. This seems plausible. It seems likely in light of ...
Views: 1342 - Degenerated Discs and Back Pain - by Submitted on Oct 09, 2011 from David HanscomWhy “discogenic pain” is a Non-structural Diagnosis The problem with calling this a structural diagnosis is that it is not humanly possible to tell which disc is the painful disc at a specific point in time. It is a reasonable supposition that if a person ruptures and L4-5 disc, that the ...
Views: 1167 - Birth of the DOCC Project - by Submitted on Oct 09, 2011 from David HanscomIn 1998 I moved to Sun Valley, Idaho for personal reasons. I became the sole proprietor of a one-physician spine surgery practice in 2001. I did not have the rehab physicians to rely on. I made a commitment that I would take care of all the patients that walked through my door. It did not matter ...
Views: 1130 - My Journey Into Darkness - by Submitted on Oct 08, 2011 from David HanscomIt has been my personal observation that most of us don’t have a clear idea regarding how to manage our stress. My tools from early high school were positive thinking and just being tough. I felt do whatever I set out to do and could get through any difficult circumstance. I would not allow ...
Views: 1027 - My Low Back Surgery and Infection - by Submitted on Oct 08, 2011 from David HanscomI had started out my working life as a carpenter at age fifteen. I worked every summer and vacation doing residential construction. I did everything from heavy concrete slab work to finish interior work. The summer before medical school I built a 5,000 square foot house for my parents. I was ...
Views: 988 - Humans vs Machines - by Submitted on Oct 08, 2011 from David HanscomIt is an almost universally held concept among surgeons and patients that a specific structural lesion is usually the source of pain. If that lesion can be identified and repaired, the pain will resolve. This seems plausible. It seems likely in light of the intensity of back pain that a ...
Views: 802 - My Early Surgical Philosophy - by Submitted on Oct 01, 2011 from David HanscomI had started my practice in Seattle in 1986. I was for the first time feeling pretty beat up from my spine training and overwhelmed. I felt well trained and still had a rather high opinion of myself, but I was tired. It also quickly became clear that low back pain was much more complicated ...
Views: 810 - Your "Hand Over The Stove" - by Submitted on Sep 23, 2011 from David HanscomOne of the more puzzling situations I have run into frequently is that I see patients who have experienced significant disabling chronic pain for many years. Often they have had multiple failed spine surgeries. Yet on my spine intake questionnaire they rate themselves as a zero on a scale from ...
Views: 1279 - Bipolar Disorder Broken - by Submitted on Sep 23, 2011 from David HanscomDebbie is a 45 year old woman who I have been working with for about four years. She was diagnosed with a severe bipolar disorder at age twelve. About 10 years ago she had a lifting injury at work and developed chronic low back pain. Over a series of eight years she underwent multiple low back ...
Views: 2766(2 votes) - Psychoses - ”Phantom Brain Pain” - by Submitted on Aug 18, 2011 from David HanscomChronic pain involves a web of variables that can be complex, but often patients don't want a complicated explanation for their pain. The pain is so severe, and so difficult to live with, that they just want to hear a simple root cause. They are often stuck on the idea that their pain is caused ...
Views: 1212(1 vote)