Resources for Less Pain and Science Geeks

This year started out with a bang as my book hit #1 in both the chronic pain and pain management categories on Amazon. Heal Your Pain Now is helping thousands but we need an army of pain science information to solve our pain epidemic. For those of you who don’t’ know me, I’m either reading a personal development book or perusing the abstracts on PubMed. Here are a few I completed or are still working through that I wanted to share with you.

My Top 7 Books of 2017 (so far…)

Pain Science
Dr. Joe’s book recommendations for a healthy life.

Younger– another New York Times bestseller from my sister from another mother, Dr. Sara Gottfried, MD. This book teaches you the scientific reality that 90 percent of the signs of aging and disease is caused by lifestyle choices, not your genes. In other words, you have the capability to overcome and transform your genetic history and tendencies. Dr. Sara Gottfried created a revolutionary 7-week program that empowers you to make the critical choices necessary to not just look young, but also feel young. The book is built around the science of five-key factors that lead to accelerated aging -the muscle factor, the brain factor, the hormone factor, the gut factor, and the toxic fat factor.
Life Will Get Better: Dr. Nicole Beurkens helps children with attention, anxiety, mood, and/or behavior challenges. Have you ever wondered if the struggles you and your child are facing will ever get better? If YES, then this is the book for you. It can be exhausting, frustrating, and anxiety provoking to parent a child with these types of challenges; not to mention the emotions you feel on behalf of your child who is likely even more frustrated and exhausted than you! After working with and teaching thousands of parents of children with these issues, Dr. Nicole Beurkens has discovered solutions you can implement right now that WILL improve life for you and your child. While there may be many things about your child’s symptoms and behavior you cannot control, there are simple shifts in five key areas that will improve your child’s functioning and bring more peace and enjoyment to your family life. You will gain a better understanding of the issues that need to be addressed in order to help your child achieve better focus, problem-solving, resilience, emotional regulation, and behavioral control. Dr. Beurkens often encourages you to wait before you medicate. Simple changes based on the latest science can create a big impact, and this empowering book will show you the way. wait before you medicate Click To Tweet
Wals Protocol Cookbook  Whether you have an autoimmune disease or just want some new recipes for your next dinner party, this is the book for you. In her highly anticipated follow-up, Dr. Wahls is sharing the essential Paleo-inspired recipes her readers need to reduce and often eliminate their chronic pain, fatigue, brain fog, and other symptoms related to autoimmune problems, neurological diseases, and other chronic conditions, even when physicians have been unable to make a specific diagnosis. Packed with easy-to-prepare meals based on Dr. Wahls’s pioneering therapeutic lifestyle clinic and her clinical research, in a simple format readers can customize to their own needs and preferences, this cookbook features breakfasts, smoothies, skillet meals, soups, wraps, salads, and snacks that are inexpensive to prepare, nourishing, and delicious. With strategies for cooking on a budget, reducing food waste, celebrating the holidays without compromising health, and helpful tips from fellow Wahls Warriors, The Wahls Protocol Cooking for Life will empower readers to make lasting changes and finally reclaim their health.
You Are A Badass   I’m a self-help junkie and are known to travel to the self-help belt (California) a few times a year to hug it out and then work on my health, wealth, love and enlightenment. This was given to me as present a few years back. Jen Sincero serves up 27 bite-sized chapters full of hilariously inspiring stories, sage advice, easy exercises, and the occasional swear word. If you’re ready to make some serious changes around here, You Are a Badass will help you: Identify and change the self-sabotaging beliefs and behaviors that stop you from getting what you want, blast past your fears so you can take big exciting risks, figure out how to make some damn money already, learn to love yourself and others, set big goals and reach them – it will basically show you how to create a life you totally love, and how to create it NOW. Whether you are painful or think you are powerful this book brings you back to the basics of how to help yourself and your life.
Happy Gut Dr. Vincent Pedre understands gut problems firsthand. He suffered from IBS for years before becoming an expert in functional medicine and learning how to heal his body from the inside. Dr. Pedre used his own experience to develop The Gut C.A.R.E. Program—an approach that draws from both Western and Eastern methodologies, combining integrative and functional medicine—that has a proven success record in his private practice in New York. Now, for the first time, Dr. Pedre makes his revolutionary plan for health and wellness available to every everyone.
Happy Gut takes readers through a science-based, step-by-step system called  Gut C.A.R.E.—Cleanse, Activate, Restore, and Enhance—which eliminates food triggers, clears the gut of unfriendly pathogens, and replaces them with healthy probiotics and nutrients that repair and heal the gut. Rather than masking symptoms with medication, he shows us how to address the problem at its core to restore the gastrointestinal system to its proper functioning state. By fixing problems in the gut, followers of Dr. Pedre’s program have found that their other health woes are also cured and have lost weight, gained energy, and improved seemingly unrelated issues, such as seasonal allergies, in addition to eliminating their chronic muscle and abdominal pain. Complete with recipes and meal plans including gluten-free, low-fat, and vegetarian options, a 28-day gut cleanse, yoga postures to help digestion, and testimonials from many of his patients, Happy Gut will help you feel better and eliminate gut issues for life.
MudrasFingers can be used for more than flipping off people on your morning commute. They can have a powerful effect on your physiology. Mudras—also playfully called “finger power points”—are yoga positions for your hands and fingers. They can be practiced sitting, lying down, standing, or walking, at any time and place. In ѕсіеntіfіс tеrmѕ, mudrаѕ рrоvіdе a mеаnѕ to ассеѕѕ and іnfluеnсе the unсоnѕсіоuѕ reflexes аnd primal, іnѕtіnсtіvе hаbіt patterns that оrіgіnаtе іn thе primitive areas оf thе brain аrоund the brаіn ѕtеm. Thеу еѕtаblіѕh a subtle, non-intellectual соnnесtіоn wіth thеѕе аrеаѕ. Eасh mudra ѕеtѕ up a different lіnk and hаѕ a соrrеѕроndіnglу dіffеrеnt effect оn the bоdу, mіnd аnd рrаnа.Thе аіm іѕ tо сrеаtе fіxеd, rереtіtіvе роѕturеѕ аnd gestures which саn snap thе рrасtіtіоnеr оut оf іnѕtіnсtіvе habit patterns and establish a more rеfіnеd соnѕсіоuѕnеѕѕ.
Explain Pain Supercharged: For the clinician who has just discovered that hot packs and ultrasound isn’t working for patients with chronic low back pain, this is a leap forward. Explain Pain Supercharged is designed for students, researchers, and clinicians who want to go deeper into the complex biology of pain. Explain Pain Supercharged has been constructed as an up to date and highly practical textbook that you can refer to over and over as you construct pain interventions. It expands your knowledge base as a clinician and helps you apply the complex concepts effectively in your everyday practice. A great book to go deeper on explaining away the pain.

Pubmed References for Pain Science

Pain science
Pain science resources.

Who has time to stay on top of the ever-growing amount of research being published in medical journals and presented at meetings? It’s not surprising when a new finding slips by a busy clinician. And nowhere is this truer than in the world of integrated pain treatment. After treating 20 patients a day who has the brain power left for push notifications or saved searches. Here is the top three that recently made me want to go back for another doctorate degree (minus the student loan and adrenal fatigue).

Emotions are An Amplifier (1)

Emotions Amplify Chronic Pain Click To Tweet 
From my newest psychology girl crush comes a review of recent findings demonstrating the importance of the emotional brain (i.e., the corticolimbic system) in the modulation of acute pain and in the prediction and amplification of chronic pain. The evidence is contrasted with recent findings regarding the role of central sensitization in pain chronification. The ever so long and complex corticolimbic system and underlying mechanisms that determine the transition to chronic pain are also reviewed. This paper beautifully articulates pain as an emotional experience. Here is the direct link: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0022034516638027

GO EMG!

Surface Electromyographic (SEMG) Biofeedback for Chronic Low Back Pain (2)
If your patient is ready to bolt after 4 weeks of pain science explanations, slap on some biofeed back electrodes so they can see what you are trying to explain. Why surface EMG isn’t used by more pain clinicians from physical therapists to psychologists is perplexing. It is safe, affordable, easy and quite frankly fun and interesting for both patient and clinician. And best of all, it works! Biofeedback is a process in which biological information is measured and fed back to a patient for the purpose of gaining increased awareness and control over physiological domains. Surface electromyography (SEMG) measures muscle activity and allows both the patient and clinician to have direct and immediate access to how a muscle functions. This is not possible with manual palpation or visual observation. SEMG biofeedback can be used to help “down-train” elevated muscle activity or to “up-train” weak, inhibited, or paretic muscles. This article is a great review of Surface EMG and its use in chronic low back pain assessment and biofeedback training. Direct link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4934580
Try EMG when exercise, mobilization and talk therapy have not resolved the pain.Try EMG when exercise, mobilization and talk therapy have not resolved pain. Click To Tweet

Maybe a Bit of Melatonin

Pain control by melatonin: Physiological and pharmacological effects (3)
Might a little Melatonin lessen the pain? Pain and anxiety are like twisted sisters. It is difficult to figure out which one came first, which one to treat first and which one matters most. When you are done with being drugged from the opioids, sick to your stomach from the NSAIDs and recovered from the liver toxicity of the Tylenol a natural option awaits. Melatonin, produced by the pineal body is a hormone of darkness, is involved in the control of circadian rhythms, and exerts a number of physiologic effects. Chronic pain syndromes are often associated with the desynchronization of circadian and biological rhythms, which also cause disturbances in the sleep-wake cycle. No sleep=More Pain. Melatonin-mediated analgesic effects seem to involve β-endorphins, GABA receptor, and the opioid receptor. The effectiveness of melatonin as an analgesic and anxiolytic agent has been demonstrated in various animal models of pain science and this led to the use of melatonin clinically in different pathological conditions and also in patients undergoing surgery. Melatonin was found to be effective in many cases as an anxiolytic and analgesic agent. Here is the direct link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27698681

You Might Also Be Interested In

Empowering Physical Therapists to Address Mental Health with Low-Intensity Psychological Interventions for Holistic Patient Care

In the wake of rising global mental health concerns, the need for accessible, effective, and scalable interventions has never been more critical. Low-intensity psychological interventions ...
Read More

Understanding the Distinction: Mental Distress vs. Mental Illness in Chronic Pain Management

Some healthcare providers may use the two terms “mental distress” and “mental condition or mental illness” interchangeably. However, there are fundamental differences between mental distress and ...
Read More

The 5 Biggest Trends Revolutionizing Physical Therapy in 2024

The 5 biggest trends revolutionizing physical therapy pain management in the year 2024!
Read More

Privacy Policy

Effective Date: May, 2018

Your privacy is very important to us. We want to make your experience on the Internet as enjoyable and rewarding as possible, and we want you to use the Internet’s vast array of information, tools, and opportunities with complete confidence.

The following Privacy Policy governs the online information collection practices of Joe Tatta, LLC d/b/a joetatta.co and www.backpainbreakthrough.com ( collectively the “Sites”). Specifically, it outlines the types of information that we gather about you while you are using theSites, and the ways in which we use this information. This Privacy Policy, including our children’s privacy statement, does not apply to any information you may provide to us or that we may collect offline and/or through other means (for example, at a live event, via telephone, or through the mail).

Sign Up for the Integrative Pain Science Institute’s Weekly Newsletter

Enter your email and get the latest in pain science, podcast episodes,
CEU opportunities, and special offers.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

We only send you awesome stuff!