Did you know that when people with back pain are shown scans of their backs, and normal age-related changes are described by their clinicians as “degeneration” or “nerve damage,” it can significantly worsen the pain?

This past Saturday I ran into an old acquaintance at the Farmer’s Market.

 “Do you know anything about HIP FLEXORS?”

he inquired,

 “I just want to understand what the heck is going on.”

I sighed, and braced for impact… I already knew the story he was yet to tell.

The guy felt he overdid it biking 8 years ago, and since then he has been going from doctors to physios, back to doctors, back to physios, to a massage therapist, then back to physio, circling around and around, with no answers and seemingly no end in sight.

Does the story sound familiar at all?

Last week’s post talked about the biopsychosocial VS biomedical model of healing, and the NOCEBO effect – a detrimental effect on health produced by psychological or psychosomatic factors.

More specifically, I wrote about the harmful effect of limiting movement suggestions, such as, ” No twists. No forward bends,” that are routinely given to back pain patients.

What I didn’t write about is how EVERY SINGLE ONE of our interactions with the health care system can potentially contribute to the nocebo effect even without those hurtful words ever being uttered by our health care providers.

Have you ever heard comments such as:

Your pelvis is out. {I am always tempted to ask where exactly did it go?}
You have a slipped rib.
You have a spine of a 90 – year old.
Your X-rays show moderate to severe arthritis.
Your core is weak.

 My fave one was given to me by a kinesiologist some 7 – 8 years ago:

 Your rib cage is going to be a pain of my existence.

 W-H-A-A-A-A-A-A-T?

Comments like these are bad enough… But at least they are spoken out loud.
With a little bit of training one can learn to diffuse these word-bombs before any harm is done.

What about the words that aren’t spoken?

What about the general flavor of our encounters with the medical system, and how those encounters made us feel?

What about the times you felt unheard?
Dismissed?
Ignored?
Taken advantage of?

Back to the Farmer’s Market…

I sigh… Give the guy a hug. And then say “how much time do you got?”