Los Angeles, California

The Pain Psychology Center is a facility specializing in the treatment of chronic pain.

Recent studies have shown that chronic back pain, neck pain, fibromyalgia symptoms, repetitive strain injury, headaches, and other forms of chronic pain are often not the result of structural causes, but of psychophysiologic processes that can be reversed.

Though the pain can be addressed psychologically, this does not imply that the pain is imaginary. In fact, brain imaging studies have demonstrated that the pain is quite real. Recent research has shown that pain is often the result of learned neural pathways in the brain. And just as pain can be learned, it can also be unlearned.

Dr. John Sarno of the New York University Medical Center has referred to this condition as Tension Myoneural Syndrome (or TMS). For more information on this condition, see “Miracles of Mindbody Medicine,” written by co-founder, Alan Gordon.

This treatment approach has been featured on ABC’s 20/20 and Larry King Live, and has a high success rate in significantly reducing or eliminating chronic pain. For further information on these studies, visit our evidence page.

We use a two-pronged approach when working to eliminate symptoms. First, we work to toward changing one's relationship with the pain. Reframing the meaning of the symptoms often serves to break the pain cycle. The following article discusses the role that reinforcement plays in perpetuating symptoms and the video below introduces the concept of conditioned responses.

San Diego, California

Institutes of Health: Reversing the Chronic Pain Epidemic. Delivering Proven Solutions for Chronic Pain, Disability and Prescription Drug Addiction.

Minnesota

Physicians Neck & Back Clinic is Brian Nelson, MD’s brainchild, with a base in Minneapolis and numerous satellite clinics. Dr. Nelson put down his scalpel when he realized he wasn’t getting good results from spine surgery and substituted a rigorous, multi-week, spine-focused exercise program.

To learn more about PNBC's Core Spinal Fitness Program  - this is a gym you can join to maintain the gains from their rehab program - click here.

Texas

PRIDE Dallas was one of the first functional restoration facilities in the United States. Run by Thomas Mayer, MD, and his wife, Holly, it combines an excellent physical rehabilitation program with superb psychological support, making it a top choice for people who really want to get back to work.

Each year, the American Pain Society gives a Clinical Center of Excellence in Pain Management Award to five or so pain management facilities around the country. Here you’ll find the index, all the way back to 2007. Not all of them offer multidisciplinary chronic pain programs—some are tiny, community-based programs—but it is a good place to start. Be sure to click on the detailed descriptions of each year’s winners.

Have a look at the website of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing. PROP’s mission is to: “reduce opioid-related morbidity and mortality by promoting cautious and responsible prescribing practices.”

Believe me, you’re going to get an eyeful.

Kansas

Sports medicine and pain management expert, Sean Wheeler, MD, is a board-certified physician with College Park Family Care Center in Overland Park, Kansas. He is also author of UPRISE: Back Pain Liberation, by Tuning Your Body Guitar. 

http://www.drseanwheeler.com/

http://collegeparkfamilycare.com/physicians/profile/Sean-M-Wheeler-MD

Washington

Dr. David Hanscom's book, Back in Control: A Surgeon’s Roadmap Out of Chronic Pain, explores how a turbocharged central nervous system contributes to chronic pain. Dr. Hanscom himself suffered from chronic pain and chronicles his own recovering in the book too. 

Dr. Vijay Vad on the causes of back pain and a few simple, self-help options to alleviate chronic pain.

Here’s an excellent, clear-eyed explanation of some of the most important phenomena involved in the experience of chronic pain.

Minnesota

“For more than 40 years, Mayo Clinic’s Comprehensive Pain Rehabilitation Center in Minnesota has helped people with chronic pain return to an active lifestyle. Mayo Clinic’s pain rehabilitation program was one of the first in the world.” Learn more about the center here.

There are several programs offered at the Pain Rehabilitation Center in Minnesota, including the three-week program designed to teach “pain management skills and techniques for physical reconditioning” for adults with chronic pain. Learn more about the three-week program here.

Florida

“The Comprehensive Pain Rehabilitation Center (PRC) at Mayo Clinic’s campus in Jacksonville, Florida, helps people with chronic pain return to a more active lifestyle.” Learn more on the Mayo Clinic website

Dr. Dan Clauw, the director of the Chronic Pain and Fatigue Center at the University of Michigan, presents an overview of what is currently known about the underlying causes of chronic pain — the notion of brain-pain amplification — and how you should proceed.  Hint:  Opioids are not your answer.

If you don’t quite grasp how John Sarno, MD’s theory works (and truthfully, many people don’t), read Sherri Obermark’s just published book. Insightful and helpful — you can start relieving muscle tension today.

In this video, Lorimer Moseley explores the pain that we feel as our bodies’ way of protecting us from damaging tissue. He also looks at what this might mean for those who suffer from chronic pain. Check out the video here.

Contributed by Caryn S. Feldman, PhD, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago Center For Pain Management:

In the book “Living Well with Pain and Illness: The Mindful Way to Free Yourself from Suffering,” author Vidyamala Burch shares her experience with disability and chronic back pain, and the way that mindfulness practices helped her overcome her suffering and renew her life with a positive outlook and decreased pain. Find the book on Amazon.

This video, called “Understanding Pain: What to do about it in less than five minutes?” details certain evidence-based approaches to chronic pain treatment.

Arizona, Florida, Minnesota

The renowned Mayo Clinic – with locations in Arizona, Florida, and Minnesota – has a Pain Rehabilitation Center (PRC) in Rochester, Minnesota. Three types of outpatient programs aim to restore patients with chronic pain to an active lifestyle: two are designed for adults, a three-week and a two-day program; and the third is a pediatric program for patients between the ages of 13 to young adulthood. The programs involve behavioral therapy, and guide patients toward a medication-free lifestyle.

For an eye-opening read about JFK’s back pain and Hans Kraus, the exercise doctor who banished it, see JFK’S Secret Doctor: The Remarkable Life of Medical Pioneer and Legendary Rock Climber Hans Kraus.

In this video, Jacqueline Kennedy sheds new light on the severity of JFK’s back pain.

California

Penney Cowan, the founder and director of the American Chronic Pain Association, provides a constructive, non-opioid painkiller perspective for patients here.