Letters to the Editor: ‘The pain is in your head’ is not an insult. It may spare you unnecessary surgery

To the editor: As a physician evaluating workers’ compensation cases over four decades, I have endlessly explained to patients that their chronic back pain is not from a bad disc or nerve compression. (“That pain in your back? It’s really a pain in your brain,” Opinion, Jan. 29)

People detest hearing that their pain originates in the nervous system. They wrongly consider this a major personality flaw or character weakness.

It’s a fact that the brain can create or extinguish pain. Some people who experience severe trauma report no pain, but a hypnotic suggestion can create severe pain from a harmless light touch.

Different people experience physical symptoms due to perceived threat. It may be palpitations, shortness of breath, diarrhea, fatigue or headaches. Sometimes it’s back pain. Insisting that it must be a disc or nerve compression only leads to unnecessary surgery that proves ineffective.

If the message of Nathaniel Frank’s op-ed article became common knowledge, it would help so many people avoid susceptibility to counterproductive advice.

Gary Stewart, Laguna Beach

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To the editor: Frank’s article on the brain’s perception of pain was fascinating. I have observed people I know who have chronic physical pain and wondered if their deep-seated emotional pain has kept them from healing.

It would have been helpful if Frank had mentioned therapies that are known to change the way the brain processes pain signals. Yoga? Biofeedback? His book is not yet available for answers.

Carol Penido, La Cañada Flintridge