Back in Control with David Hanscom, MD

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom talks with Daniel Atkins, an intuitive psychologist. He talks about his 10+ year personal journey through pain and illness. He explains that he tried traditional Western psychotherapy approaches to heal but found they focused too much on analyzing his early childhood and were unhelpful. His healing began when he started exploring other traditions with a broader spiritual dimension. What he learned drove a major shift in the way he works with clients in his practice today.

Daniel Atkins, Psy.D is an intuitive psychologist and invites individuals and groups of all ages to understand the lineages and layers of emotional trauma they carry. Daniel was trained as a clinical psychologist and personally navigated a 10+ year journey with a misunderstood medical diagnosis. His personal journey led him to seek beyond the traditional bounds of western medicine in order to heal himself and develop the tools to guide others. As a result, Daniel cultivated an integrative practice that incorporates the mind-body connection, the ancestral lineages of trauma, his own style of energy-based medicine, and channeled intuitive wisdom to meet the holistic needs of sufferers in mind, body, and spirit.  For more information, visit: https://www.drdanielatkins.com/.

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom continues his discussion with Jeff Frankart, physical therapist and founder of The Fix PT clinic. He explains the three components of chronic pain (biological, psychological and social) and shares the details of his approach to treatment. The first step is getting patients to understand how chronic pain works. The next step is having patients move and push up to, but not beyond, their pain threshold. Over time, this helps them desensitize to pain, move their pain threshold and get over their fear of movement. In this sense, he helps them make their pain “accurate.”

Jeff Frankart served as a physical therapist and the Chief of Chronic Pain Physical Therapy at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, a U.S. Army hospital in Germany, from 2010 to 2018. While there, he established a triage system to quickly evaluate and treat several hundred troops a week. The three-week program required no equipment and could be done one-on-one or in groups. After 30 years of service, Jeff retired and founded The Fix PT, a physical therapy clinic he operates with his wife, Carla. His focus is helping clients reduce chronic pain and narcotic use, and improve their mental outlook. He has personally treated more than 50,000 patients in his 25-year career. For more information, visit: https://www.thefixpt.com.

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom talks with Jeff Frankart, physical therapist and founder of The Fix PT clinic. He talks about his work in the military with combat soldiers to help them recover mobility and reduce opioid addiction. He explains how, using a movement-based systems that only relies on body weight and no equipment, he was able to help them increase their pain threshold, lose their fear of pain and begin their healing journey. Today he uses this same process in his physical therapy clinic.

Jeff Frankart served as a physical therapist and the Chief of Chronic Pain Physical Therapy at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, a U.S. Army hospital in Germany, from 2010 to 2018. While there, he established a triage system to quickly evaluate and treat several hundred troops a week. The three-week program required no equipment and could be done one-on-one or in groups. After 30 years of service, Jeff retired and founded The Fix PT, a physical therapy clinic he operates with his wife, Carla. His focus is helping clients reduce chronic pain and narcotic use, and improve their mental outlook. He has personally treated more than 50,000 patients in his 25-year career. For more information, visit: https://www.thefixpt.com.

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom continues his discussion with Dr. Sue Carter, the former director of the Kinsey Institute and a world-renowned scientist. She talks about oxytocin’s important role in human social behavior. She underscores the fact that oxytocin affects every tissue of the body and is the physiologic basis for pair bonding and relationships. Under stress, the body produces large amounts of oxytocin, and can help us make better judgments about who it is safe to connect with. She shares how her understanding of oxytocin grew out of her research studies on the social behavior of prairie voles.

Sue Carter, PhD is the former director of the Kinsey Institute and a world renowned scientist. Her research program has discovered important new developmental functions for oxytocin and vasopressin, and implicated these hormones in the regulation of human connection and early social experiences. She is also studying oxytocin’s implications for controlling stress and chronic pain.

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom talks with Dr. Sue Carter, the former director of the Kinsey Institute and a world-renowned scientist. She shares how the importance of oxytocin has come to be recognized in the scientific community over time. She discusses the evolutionary history of oxytocin and explains the role that oxytocin plays in lowering inflammation and reducing stress. It also helps the body to build and repair bone tissue and plays an important part in healing processes.

Sue Carter, PhD is the former director of the Kinsey Institute and a world renowned scientist. Her research program has discovered important new developmental functions for oxytocin and vasopressin, and implicated these hormones in the regulation of human connection and early social experiences. She is also studying oxytocin’s implications for controlling stress and chronic pain.

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom continues his discussion with neuroendocrinologist and bestselling author Rob Lustig.  He explains the different types of sugar we consume in our diet and how the body metabolizes each type. In particular, he focuses on the dangers of the sweetener fructose and discusses how it results in fatty liver disease and diabetes. The problem with fructose is that it is both toxic and addictive. Our liver has a limited capacity to metabolize fructose. However, it stimulates the production of dopamine which makes us want it more and is why food manufacturers put it into so much of our processed foods.

Robert H. Lustig, M.D., M.S.L. is Emeritus Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology, and Member of the Institute for Health Policy Studies at UCSF. Dr. Lustig is a neuroendocrinologist, with expertise in metabolism, obesity, and nutrition. He is one of the leaders of the current “anti[1]sugar” movement that is changing the food industry. Dr. Lustig graduated from MIT in 1976, and received his M.D. from Cornell University Medical College in 1980. He also received his Masters of Studies in Law (MSL) degree at University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 2013. He is the author of the popular books Fat Chance (2012), The Hacking of the American Mind (2017), and Metabolical: The Lure and the Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern Medicine (2021). He is the Chief Science Officer of the non-profit Eat REAL, he is on the Advisory Boards of the UC Davis Innovation Institute for Food and Health, the Center for Humane Technology, Simplex Health, Levels Health, and ReadOut Health, and he is the Chief Medical Officer of BioLumen Technologies, Foogal, Perfact, and Kalin Health.   

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom talks with neuroendocrinologist and bestselling author Rob Lustig. He shares how he first got interested in nutrition when he studied the role of the hypothalamus in driving obesity in pediatric patients with brain cancer. He discusses the symbiotic role of gut bacteria in our digestion, immune response and even the experience of pain. He explains six importance benefits of fiber in keeping the gut microbiome healthy, regulating appetite and protecting the gut.

Robert H. Lustig, M.D., M.S.L. is Emeritus Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology, and Member of the Institute for Health Policy Studies at UCSF. Dr. Lustig is a neuroendocrinologist, with expertise in metabolism, obesity, and nutrition. He is one of the leaders of the current “anti[1]sugar” movement that is changing the food industry. Dr. Lustig graduated from MIT in 1976, and received his M.D. from Cornell University Medical College in 1980. He also received his Masters of Studies in Law (MSL) degree at University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 2013. He is the author of the popular books Fat Chance (2012), The Hacking of the American Mind (2017), and Metabolical: The Lure and the Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern Medicine (2021). He is the Chief Science Officer of the non-profit Eat REAL, he is on the Advisory Boards of the UC Davis Innovation Institute for Food and Health, the Center for Humane Technology, Simplex Health, Levels Health, and ReadOut Health, and he is the Chief Medical Officer of BioLumen Technologies, Foogal, Perfact, and Kalin Health.Pain, Chronic Pain, Healing,

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom continues his discussion with Charlie Merrill, a physiotherapist, clinician educator and consultant to startup Lin Health.  He outlines his collaborative approach with patients. This begins with a physical assessment to look for a pattern that makes sense. If his findings don’t add up, the pain could be due to psycho-social factors. He uses treatments that interrupt the brain’s reaction and creates new wiring. He changes the physical treatment as the client’s nervous system calms down. Throughout the treatment process, he shares the science of pain with his clients and helps dispel myths about their pain and reduce their fear. He has found that people heal best when they let go of their anger.

Charlie Merrill is a Boulder, CO based physiotherapist synthesizing mind/body strategies to treat acute and chronic pain symptoms. He supports clients across the life span, including elite athletes, in un-learning symptoms by addressing their fear about the pain itself as well as fear about the emotions related to life stress and change.  In addition to teaching clinicians, Charlie’s work with startup Lin Health is normalizing, scaling, and improving access to the idea and treatment strategies that acknowledge and address the ways in which emotions manifest as physical symptoms. For more information, visit: lin.health.  

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom talks with Charlie Merrill, a physiotherapist, clinician educator and consultant to startup Lin Health. He shares how he has created a practice of treating chronic pain that is based on building a strong and trusting relationship with the patient. He helps patients understand the dynamics of pain by explaining the issue in a systemic way, reduce their fear and establish greater autonomy in their own healing process. Along the way to developing his current approach, he had to unlearn much of his traditional medical education around the treatment of chronic pain.

Charlie Merrill is a Boulder, CO based physiotherapist synthesizing mind/body strategies to treat acute and chronic pain symptoms. He supports clients across the life span, including elite athletes, in un-learning symptoms by addressing their fear about the pain itself as well as fear about the emotions related to life stress and change.  In addition to teaching clinicians, Charlie’s work with startup Lin Health is normalizing, scaling, and improving access to the idea and treatment strategies that acknowledge and address the ways in which emotions manifest as physical symptoms. For more information, visit: lin.health. 

In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom continues his discussion with author and consultant Gillian Riley.  She details the approach she uses to help clients control overeating. Some of the key elements include: getting clients to understand what drives their cravings and why they need to create new neural pathways to control them; developing self-agency and avoiding unsolicited advice; showing them how they can be in charge of their diet and their relationship to food; encouraging them to take small steps and think about how overeating will make them feel afterwards.

After teaching a program on quitting smoking for 12 years, Gillian Riley ran her first course on “How to take Control of Overeating” in 1997. She held weekend workshops in London for 20 years, delivered the course through webinars since 2017, and is now about to begin her 18th 6-week online course. Her work has as its focus the extraordinary and often ignored role of the mind in behavior change such as stopping smoking and eating less. For more information, visit: https://eatingless.com/.