We are excited to welcome Dr. Tim Flynn to the Real Brian Show! The doctor is in the studio with Brian in this installment and together they walk through what it really means to manage pain. Pain is not a disease, it's a symptom of something your body is attempting to draw your attention to. Using stories from Brian's life, and interesting encounters Dr. Flynn has had over his career, we hear a well-rounded discussion of how pain management is a body, mind, and brain battle.
In this Episode
- A little about Dr. Flynn
- Nerding out about the body
- Everything is so connected
- Pain management the wrong way
- Mind over matter and visualization...
Manage Pain
Dr. Tim Flynn is a leader in musculoskeletal physical therapy and has an extensive background in evaluating, treating and helping patients to manage pain in the thoracic spine and rib cage. He is board certified in Orthopaedic Physic Therapy (OCS), 
a Fellow of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Manual Physical Therapists (FAAOMPT), and a frequent research presenter at state, national and international meetings. In addition to seeing patients like Brian, Dr. Flynn is involved with the company Evidence in Motion and teaches musculoskeletal management, advanced manipulation skills, and evidence-based practice to Doctor of Physical Therapy students at South College in Tennessee.
Whether you're dealing with chronic pain or perhaps just deal with the occasional injury here and there, this discussion is a great, comprehensive view of the many factors that go into pain management. Pain is the body's way of alerting us there is a problem, and just in the many ways we can react poorly to alerts raised in other aspects of life, there are right and wrong ways to respond to pain.
More than just a discussion about pain management, Dr. Flynn and Brian draw out just how prevalent and relevant the topic of understanding our bodies is in modern culture. With Google and WebMD at our fingertips, it's easy to freak out about the wrong thing, right? Have you ever plugged symptoms into WebMD and it tells you something along the lines of having a rare form of abdominal fungus? Me neither.
Every body will respond differently to treatments and exercises, so it's not a one-size-fits-all sort of application. This is a great area to build confidence in because without at least a baseline of understanding, we can often focus our time and money into the wrong things. We still may do so, in the end, even if we do have an understanding, but we give ourselves the best chance by taking the time to familiarize ourselves with options for pain management and with whom we are deciding to trust our health.
A huge thank-you to Dr. Flynn for joining us this week! Use the links below to find out more about Dr. Flynn and the organizations he's involved with.