Group Health announces "A New Approach To Back Pain"

Wow, people - this is GREAT news.

Group Health Cooperative (in the Northwest) is a well-known health maintenance organization that has often been held up nationally as a role model for HMOs and preventive care programs, among other things. They are what I call a "real" HMO, with their own facilities and their own docs on payroll. But they've also been a bastion of traditional Western medicine for a long time. I myself am a GHC member of many years, but I've always carried "major medical" (high deductible) insurance (I'm self-employed) because I preferred to take my premium savings and spend them on less traditional practitioners. That was the case until I discovered Dr. Sarno in 2011 and stopped going to practitioners altogether (the PT that I go to now is a personal trainer).

Anyway, I just got my latest member email newsletter, with a link to the following announcement:

Group Health's new approach to treating back pain takes a broader look at the factors contributing to the pain. "We've learned that back pain may be caused by more than just a mechanical problem with the spine," says Marty Levine, MD, a family physician who's involved in implementing this new treatment guideline. "Research shows that anxiety, depression, stress, and a patient's attitude about improving can make the pain seem worse. Our new guideline recommends considering all these factors when discussing treatment options with a patient."
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The mainstream breakthrough is coming. Keep spreading the word.

Peace and Love and Health to you all,

Jan

 

Thank you for sharing that. It's about time!

 

It was bound to happen, but the driving force will be economics and not true concern. With the medical/industrial complex being faced with the rationing of expensive procedures, such as MRI's and surgeries, due to dwindling funds brought about by socialized medicine, the bean counters have stumbled on what Dr. Sarno has been advocating almost his entire clinical career and through his four books: about 80% of what ails wo/man is TMS/psychosomatic! It will be infinitely cheaper to throw a book at people in pain then $100,000 surgeries.