You’ve only heard of marketable pain treatments

And they’re not marketable because they work.

When we’re in pain — because of an injury, or who knows why — we want something that will reduce the intensity and duration, and we would be happy to pay whatever we can afford for that result.

Or more than we can afford.

And so there are countless services, products, and ideas that make that offer in one form or another. Supply for one of the most potent of all demands.

Which is why you’ve mostly only ever heard of bullshit treatments and therapies for pain — because they exist to improve someone’s bottom line, and only the sexiest and simplest ideas can compete in that valuable marketplace. Only the ideas that are the best at convincing you to open your wallet have survived to become known. They have outcompeted a thousand others by virtue of aggressive promotion and/or by being simplistic and emotionally appealing enough.

The point 👉🏻 It’s impossible to overstate how much marketing, hype, and clickbait have defined pain and injury treatment.

This has been happening since the patent medicine era, more and worse with every decade. No bad idea ever dies — not if you can still sell it! The grift goes on and on.

An example of a well-marketed product that I bought despite my cynicism

This stuff is just another form of spice therapy, “Tiger Balm” sold with the “ancient wisdom” of Native Americans instead of the Chinese. I think it’s ridiculous, probably even offensive … but I bought it! Partly so I could honestly claim to have tried it for a writing project, but also because I have pain to treat and — yeah, I admit it — the excellent packaging got me. I am a sucker for good quality typography, design et cetera … but literally everyone is, because this stuff works on us even when we are cynically aware! But you know what does not work? The one active ingredient here: capsaicin. This product category has been a best-seller for centuries because it has a trivial but very real effect on pain … which makes it really easy to sell. Even to me! 😜

What happens to the good ideas?

Good rehab and pain medicine mostly gets drowned out. It isn’t branded or marketed, because it’s too complex and nuanced. It literally requires humility, comfort with uncertainty, and critical thinking skill (and thinking critically is a skill). It’s both nerdy and emotionally mature.

And so the good stuff cannot be bottled or packaged, and defies easy definition and standardization. The power to deliver it cannot be had from a workshop; no school (or school of thought) can consistently produce practitioners that good, not even close.

And all of that practically guarantees the rarity of one of the few things in this business that is actually helpful to patients in pain: a competent and compassionate guide and troubleshooter, with a ton of knowledge and a good bullshit detector.