Brendon Lundberg – Dealing with “It’s All in the Head” and Foggy Brain
Brendon Lundberg is no stranger to chronic pain. As a teenager, he began experiencing low back pain that worsened as he reached his twenties and thirties. Rather than seeking conventional solutions such as medications, injections, and surgical interventions, he simply lived with the pain. A new technology inspired him to co-found, with Harvard-MIT trained physician David Farley, MD, Radiant Pain Relief Centres in the Portland, Oregon area. Their vision was to build the safest, most consistently effective, and appealing solution to the epidemic of pain. With the success of the first center, plans for expansion nationally and internationally are in the works.
Brendon holds a BS in business marketing and an MBA. He serves as President and CEO of Radiant Pain Relief Centres. He and Dr. Farley have authored an Amazon Bestselling book, Radiant Relief – A Case For a Better Solution to Chronic Pain.
Prior to co-founding Radiant, Brendon played key operational and business development roles in two Portland Business Journal and Inc. Magazine Growth Award-winning companies and was the Director of Sales and Marketing for another Portland-based medical device start-up company.
His own experience with chronic pain and his commitment to finding solutions led Brendon to gain extensive education on the neuroscience of pain.
In this episode of The High Tech Wellness Podcast, Brendon will share his insights on the brain-pain connection and describe the unique therapy used at Radiant Pain Relief Centres to address this connection.
Highlights include:
5:15 Pain originates in the brain
23:20 Scrambler Therapy
32:10 The Starbucks of Pain Management
TIME Key Questions About Scrambler Therapy
Here’s a sneak peek at some of Brendon’s insights:
Pain originates in the Brain
In Brendon’s case, a neurological deficiency in his right eye that went undetected for many years was the root cause of his pain. His brain prompted his body to adapt in subtle ways that created his pain problem. Modern pain science demonstrates that pain, while felt in the tissues, originates in the brain as a survival tactic.
While this is critical in acute situations, chronic pain indicates that the brain has become wired to expect it, even when the damaged tissues have healed. Then the pain becomes, literally, in the head.
“It’s not in the brain in the sense that I made it up and I’ve wished it upon myself but It does become a psychological component because it starts to impact your ability to be present at work, or in your relationship, or with your kids, or function, or move.”
The development of chronic pain isn’t a linear process. Brendon compares it to a credit card that can serve a useful purpose until it’s over the credit limit.
“A simple injury can put us in this place where the nervous system goes ‘oh my gosh, buddy, we’re at or over the limit. And if we don’t change course we’re going to die.’”
When pain is prolonged, the wiring in the brain can change and the body perceives pain as the new normal. Eventually, low-level chronic pain develops into a bigger problem.
“if the brain is experiencing pain, the tissues are on high alert, expecting to look for pain and then it becomes a feedback look because it’s validating the pain experience and it becomes a viscous cycle.”
Scrambler Therapy
The pain solution used at Radiant Pain Relief Centres is a technology that the medical literature calls “scrambler therapy.” This technology involves the attachment of electrodes to the skin in the area of the pain when then provides the brain with new information that can change the pain experience.
“It acts like an artificial nerve, this technology, and it generates a dynamic and changing set of information, which is why it’s called scrambler therapy.”
The messages being sent aren’t static; during an extended therapy session the message scrambled and resent many times, Brendon says.
“Their brain is flooded with changing information, scrambling information, and that causes the brain to have to work, to interpret and try to make sense of this information.”
Because the therapy is an hour a day for several days in a row, there is a great opportunity for education as well.
The Starbucks of Pain Management
Because Radiant Pain Relief Centres are built around the device used for scrambler therapy a business model has been built that serves the therapeutic experience, much like Starbucks elevated the coffee experience, Brendon says.
“They created this new environment and that’s similar to what we are doing with Radiant through a business structure.”
The first treatment is free, as is an hour-long consultation to discover goals and priorities for the patient. This removes barriers, such as skepticism around whether the treatment is worth the investment.
“Our whole business structure is centered around how do we crate the best experience for the client that’s nurturing, that’s educational, that’s empowering and consistent…”
Although there is just one center currently, the goal is to have five or six others open across the country in 2020.
Key Questions About Scrambler Therapy
Because of issues between the inventor of the technology, the patent holder, the former licensee, and the manufacturer, there are very few – somewhere around 50 – installed devices for scrambler therapy across the country, Brendon says. And many of those aren’t being used, due to lack of marketing, insufficient training, and the dynamic and sometimes difficult nature of people in chronic pain.
That makes knowing the right questions to ask crucial in finding a facility that will know how to properly use the device.
“If you dabble in it, you’re never going to have the same level of acumen as somebody who does it full time, day in and day out.”
Connect with Brendon Lundberg
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