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Where Pain Lives
Article

Where Pain Lives

Fixing chronic back pain is possible only when patients understand how much it is produced by the brain, not the spine.

Aeon, 2017

автоматическое преобразование текста в аудио
автоматическое преобразование текста в аудио

Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Scientific
  • Engaging

Recommendation

You and a friend both get MRIs of your spines, and both reveal bone spurs, ruptured discs and spinal degeneration. You are incapacitated by back pain, but your friend springs up from bed every morning with the vigor of a 20 year old. It turns out that there’s little correlation between spinal imaging results and chronic back pain. And unfortunately for you, traditional treatment options offer limited relief. getAbstract recommends Cathryn Jakobson Ramin’s smart, engaging essay to readers who suspect that “the reign of pain is mainly in the brain,” or to those who deny it.

Take-Aways

  • Back pain that persists after the initial injury has healed originates in the central nervous system and is a “neurobiological learning disorder.”
  • Genetic variations and physical changes in the brain correlate with chronic pain. 
  • The traditional treatment protocol for back pain has limited success and may cause more problems than it solves.

About the Author

Cathryn Jakobson Ramin’s work has appeared in The New York Times, Scientific American and NPR.  Her book Crooked: Outwitting the Back Pain Industry and Getting on the Road to Recovery came out in 2017.


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