Chronic Pain
Back Pain
We never thought we would highlight a category based on a single client. But recently there was a three-page article in the magazine "The Economist" reviewing back pain. Right after the article came out, a client came to us with a long history of medications came to Beachwood for our ‘Intensive Program.’ We won’t put any adjective on a single case, like major or impressive, because Beachwood believe in statistical evidence, not single anecdotes.
Let us review and quote some of the conclusions of the article. “Doctors used to think that back pain was almost entirely the result of mechanical damage … the advent of MRI scans showed this was not true.”
Pain is the nerve signal that something is amiss. Researchers now increasingly believe that with chronic pain, is that somehow that switch stays on, even if the reason is gone. The fire alarm is still on after the fire is put out. “Taking this view seriously throws into doubt a great deal of the medical treatment of back pain.”
We at Beachwood find this whole medical issue so fascinating we are planning to initiate a study. The most recent comparable numbers show medical treatments for back and neck pain at $88bn, “not far short of the $115bn spent on cancer.”
If you have back pain and would like to participate in this project, we are reducing the standard fee by half (it would be free but we want only serious participants). We certainly are not yet going to make any claims for the combination of Integrative Equine Therapy (IET) and an exercise program, but for us it is a must do investigation.
Fibromyalgia
This no-cure disease can be miss-diagnosed, ignored, or put off as psychosomatic by some in the medical profession. Of course, it is real; the Mayo Clinic has a whole book on it. There are medications that can help as well as exercise, relaxation and stress-reduction. Meditation can help, yet anyone who has tried serious meditation knows how difficult it can be when one is under both physical and mental stress.
Over the last two years, Beachwood has developed quite a following, starting with a chance call from someone who had run out of options. In fact, all from word of mouth, people with Fibromyalgia now travel the farthest, coming from all over the country, to one of our centers.