Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/494122
F r e e S O A P n o t e s w i t h M a s s a g e B o o k f o r A B M P m e m b e r s : a b m p . u s / M a s s a g e b o o k 57 At the age of 30, Jayson Simon-Jones suffered a debilitating back injury that was hard to explain to fellow mountain guides because it was virtually invisible—he had no cast or crutches or other visible signs of injury. To address the injury, he tried everything from Rolfi ng to epidural injections. When those didn't work, he elected to have back surgery, which eliminated his leg dragging but didn't eliminate the pain completely; in fact, a six-Vicodin-a-day fl are-up was not out of the question. Simon-Jones, like 100 million other Americans, then faced the challenge of living with chronic pain. 1 I had the good fortune to interview Simon-Jones in 2006 and then again in 2015. Though he still sometimes suffers from severe pain, he continues to work at his dream job as a mountain guide. More than inspirational, his story provides valuable lessons that massage therapists can apply to improve the quality of treatment for clients with chronic pain. BIOMEDICAL MODEL VERSUS BIOCULTURAL MODEL Experts agree that in the United States we operate under a biomedical approach to medicine. A biomedical approach focuses on treating the patient's disease, and a biomedical approach to pain primarily views and treats pain as a function of tissue damage. A biocultural approach to medicine goes a step further, taking into account the patient's psychological and social factors when treating disease. A biocultural approach to pain includes treating the person in context to his community, not just the biological aspect of his pain. There is evidence to suggest that a biocultural approach to treating pain is better for the chronic-pain sufferer. A 1997 cross-cultural study comparing chronic pain attitudes between New Englanders and Puerto Ricans found that New Englanders were more likely to feel stressed and alienated under medical care. 2 The New England doctors treated their patients using a biomedical model, whereas the Puerto Rican doctors operated under a biocultural model. Initially, Simon-Jones experienced treatment-related stress in the same way that many New England participants had in the 1997 study. "The fi rst surgeon I met with was like a mechanic," he says, describing the meeting that left him feeling agitated, confused, and dejected. But Simon-Jones persevered, searching until he found a surgeon who could answer all of his questions. "He treated the person," Simon-Jones explained, "not just the symptoms." Simon-Jones had found a surgeon who practiced medicine in a biocultural way. What lessons can we take away from Simon-Jones's reactions to the surgeons he interviewed?