Chapter 3 – The Pain Treatment Center at Strong Hospital
Jump forward to 1986: the Doctor had referred me to the Pain Treatment Center, and I had scheduled my series of appointments. Over the next ten weeks I would visit them twice a week for intense therapy, discussions about medicines, and pain management counseling techniques.
My first appointment was quite an eye-opener. These sessions would be all about me, all about my pain, and it would not matter how much time it would take for each appointment until they had found a means of addressing each point of pain. Whoa! Up until that time each appointment with doctor’s, physical therapists, or other allied health professionals had been all about their schedule, their time frames, and their point of view. It had felt like I was part of some not-so-great long term experiment to discover a new treatment for the lambada. One time, one of the therapists actually hung me upside down on some huge machine called an inversion table, suspended three feet off the floor, upside down. I was actually sick to my stomach for two days afterwards and my back hurt worse. [ Inversion tables are actually a valid form of treatment. I purchased one several years later. You do not need to hang completely upside down to receive benefit.] The staff at the Pain Treatment Center actually were concerned for me!
Within two weeks I found myself taking less narcotic pain medication and was taking a new nsaid, Naprosyn, which actually helped to relieve the pain, not mask it. The physical therapists actually knew about yoga, surya namaska, and suggested ways to modify my morning yoga routines to actually injure myself less, improve my core strength, and remain flexible. I immediately discarded the sheaves of photocopied disjointed ‘back’ exercises, and stuffed them into a drawer. They are still there to this day.
One of the nursing staff conducted the psychological pain technique training. This included meditation, Zen, focused relaxation, and deep breathing. This was another unique aspect of the program at the Pain Treatment Center. Learning these techniques have benefited me ever since.
At the end of ten weeks I felt like a new person, and experienced such relief from the pain that my life would be very different for the next almost 30 years.
Next installment: the Chiropractor.
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