Dr. Echterling’s 5 Steps to Introduce Patients to Pain Signaling Therapy

One in five Americans live with chronic pain that’s not effectively treated.

For WellSpan Health, a Pennsylvania-based health system with more than 250 care locations, that represents more than 122,000 patients seeking treatment for chronic pain.

Dr. Chris Echterling shared with Lin Health how he guides patients toward relief and empowers them to have hope that they will get better:

#1 Acknowledge their Experience:

"I know you’ve struggled with pain for a long time and the treatments you’ve tried have not helped you regain the life you want; this is very frustrating.”

#2 Introduce the Science:

"We are learning from new pain research that pain we thought was due to other things is actually a form of Chronic Primary Pain. Chronic pain is often generated by the nervous system rather than structural issues like arthritis, inflammation, or a herniated disc. When pain persists for a long time, the brain can mistake benign nerve signals as danger, and thus pain, even when there’s no longer any danger.  This results in REAL PAIN – ALL PAIN IS REAL – even when no structural tissue damage is present in the place we feel the pain. This distinction is crucial because it opens up all new treatment options that you haven’t even tried yet.”

#3 Make the Connection (Confidence is Key): 

“Do you ever notice pain is worse when you are in a certain place, with a specific person, at a specific time of year, or under stress? That’s really important because given recent training I received on new pain research, I understand your pain in a new way. I have a high degree of confidence that your chronic pain is being driven by the nervous system rather than <mention the structural cause we have been treating, such as back pain, IBS, etc.>. We now know that treating pain solely at the site of discomfort often fails because we aren’t addressing the true major cause of the pain – the nervous system.”

#4 Explain the Approach:

"Pain Signaling Therapy is a proven approach based on this new understanding that our nervous system plays a key role in interpreting pain signals. This treatment retrains the body’s response to nerve signals, providing relief without the side effects and risks of medications or invasive procedures. By addressing the nervous system, this treatment can offer relief for any type of pain, regardless of how long you’ve had the symptoms. Lin Health has successfully helped patients from other health providers like Mayo Clinic, and now this treatment is available to you too."

#5 Encourage a 1 Month Trial:

"Most patients (75%) start seeing significant improvement in a few months. It’s a different way to treat pain, but one that has helped many people like you decrease or, in many cases, eliminate their pain. Even if you are unsure, I urge you to give it a try, at least for a month.  I think this approach has a very good chance of finally helping you with the suffering you have had for so long.  I am confident you won’t regret it.  Are you open to giving it a try?"

Conclusion:

By encouraging your patients to consider a new virtual approach, they can access evidence-based chronic pain care that’s covered by insurance, immediately accessible from home, and has helped many regain their quality of life. This offers a new path to relief – one that aligns with the latest pain science and provides hope where other treatments have failed.