Category: Conditions

The key to living with less pain is understanding what relieves pain, why it works, and how to achieve it

An excerpt from The Pain Solution: 5 Steps to Relieve and Prevent Back Pain, Muscle Pain, and Joint Pain without Medication. In a one-year period, more than 54 percent of Americans report musculoskeletal pain, including arthritis pain, low back pain, a…

Monkeypox: Should the hospitality and transportation industries worry?

The monkeypox outbreak continues to accelerate worldwide; by some counts, the U.S. now harbors the most significant number of currently known cases. Pathways for the initial spread beyond endemic areas for this current worldwide outbreak are thus far u…

It’s time to address pain despite the opioid crisis

Have you ever felt as if your doctor wasn’t really listening to you or was just rushing through your appointment? Have you ever felt as if your doctor didn’t understand the pain you were in or didn’t take it seriously? Most health care providers are ev…

We’re confusing resilience with grit

Reading many articles on burnout, physicians are understandably frustrated with being asked to be more resilient in the face of the pandemic, staffing shortages, and oppressive systems, to name a few. Often, when wellness is eluded to, physicians are e…

The appendix: an ancient organ for the modern age

An excerpt from Tornado of Life: A Doctor’s Journey Through Constraints and Creativity in the ER. Reprinted with permission from The MIT Press. Copyright 2022. The appendix is a body part with an image problem. Derived from the Latin word for &#8…

Urging patience with patient self-advocacy

One conundrum patients face is the dichotomy of trusting our doctors whilst deep diving in web searches and seeking additional opinions. Another is when our findings and experiences do not align with our doctors or established practices and guidelines….

Urging patience with patient self-advocacy

One conundrum patients face is the dichotomy of trusting our doctors whilst deep diving in web searches and seeking additional opinions. Another is when our findings and experiences do not align with our doctors or established practices and guidelines….

As we get older and the world changes, it’s not always an easy task to say “where”

“Where does it hurt?” As a child, I can remember this ubiquitous question being frequently asked of me. Having grown up on a farm, there was always some trouble for me to get into. A common hazard was my older sister’s 26-inch bicycle…

Improving communication requires tough soft skill development

If we are going to take on the challenge of improving communication and related behavior, a.k.a. “soft” skills among health care professionals, we should be realistic. As nurses, doctors, and other health care professionals, we are keenly a…

Withdrawing life-sustaining treatment over family objections

“We can keep your loved one alive. but we won’t. Even though you think their life is worth living, we do not.” The first time I helped a hospital convey this type of offensive message to a patient’s family, it deeply humbled me….