Stabbed in the Back

Bonus Interview:
Dr. Hadler describes research on regional back pain interventions.

click here if you cannot view audio player: Nortin Hadler Bonus Interview.mp3

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Back pain is extremely common, but there is not great consensus about how it should be treated. Billions are spent on surgery without much evidence that it makes a significant difference. Our guest, Dr. Nortin Hadler, has examined the evidence and finds it lacking when it comes to regional back pain.

Our other guest, Dr. John Sarno, agrees that surgery, drugs or manipulation are not generally helpful. He has a unique approach to back pain. What do his patients think?

Guests: Nortin Hadler, MD, MACP, FACR, FACOEM, is author of Stabbed in the Back: Confronting Back Pain in an Overtreated Society. He is professor of medicine, microbiology and immunology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and attending rheumatologist at UNC Hospitals. His previous books includeWorried Sick: A Prescription for Health in an Overtreated America and The Last Well Person: How to Stay Well Despite the Health Care System. The photo is of Dr. Hadler.

John Sarno, MD, is attending physician at the Howard A. Rusk Institute of rehabilitation medicine at New York University Medical Center and professor of clinical rehabilitation medicine at NYU School of Medicine. His books include: Mind Over Back Pain, Healing Back Pain: the Mind-Body Connection,The Mindbody Prescription: Healing the Body, Healing the Pain and The Divided Mind: The Epidemic of Mindbody Disorders.

Madeline Guven heads Guven Design, a graphic design firm that produces Memopause notepads. She has experience as a patient of Dr. Sarn