The Science Behind Menda (How Online Pain Relief is Possible)

Modern research shows that psychological and emotional elements can play a major role in chronic pain. These non-physical components can help the brain “learn” to be in pain, re-wiring the body’s neural circuitry to perpetuate the sensation of pain.

BUT this means the brain can also "unlearn" pain, paving the way to physical pain relief.

Remedy incorporates this modern research and mindbody medicine techniques into easily accessible exercises that help you:

• Overcome fear of movement, pain, and more

• Learn how to retrain your body's pain response

• Tackle your unique pain stressors and break the pain cycle

• Build confidence in yourself and your body

• Re-engage in life's everyday activities

Most pain treatments focus on the biomedical causes of pain. These are incredibly effective for acute pain, but when pain persists, the brain and body change. A more comprehensive, whole person (bio-psycho-social) treatment is necessary to tackle the root cause.

The science is clear. Hundreds of studies show that a mindbody approach to pain treatment is effective, and is slowly becoming a gold standard. The seminal report on chronic pain, “Relieving Pain in America: A Blueprint for Transforming Prevention, Care, Education, and Research,” states the following: "The mindbody perspective is now generally accepted and has been found useful by clinicians in various disciplines.”

The Psychophysiologic Disorders Association (PPDA) has compiled a list almost 200 published research papers on the science behind chronic pain and treatment options. Read here.

Why hasn't my doctor told me about this?

For centuries, the practice of health care has followed in the tradition of “dualism.” That is, the mind and the body are seen as separate and distinct entities. And the treatment of mind and body are separated into the fields of psychiatry and medicine, respectively.

Health care providers in the field of medicine are trained to treat the body. They search for a cure by looking in the physical area where the symptoms are located. If the head hurts, then something must be physically wrong with the head. If the back hurts, then something must be wrong with the back. So we take scans, undergo operations, and consume medicine that try to alter the physical area where pain is located.

Over the years, this approach of isolating the physical body as something separate from the whole person has led to extraordinary medical breakthroughs in the areas of cancer, infectious disease, heart disease and more. People are living longer fuller lives as a result.

But some conditions do not fit neatly into “body only” or “mind only.” Ongoing pain is one of these conditions.

It therefore comes as no surprise that - in a survey spanning 12 academic centers - only 34% of primary care physicians reported feeling comfortable treating people with chronic pain. They are simply not trained to treat conditions that bridge across both mind and body.

So, if your doctor hasn’t told you about this type of treatment, then it’s not their fault. It is a product of how our health care professionals are trained. Fortunately, a growing number of doctors and medical institutions are adopting mindbody principles, and we believe that this trend will continue.