Orthopedic Psychology

I first introduced the term “Orthopedic Psychology” in 1995, in my book Finding Your Balance: Caring for Mind, Body and Soul in Times of Discomfort, Instability and Surgery, the original release of Healing Hip Joint and Knee Pain, published by North Atlantic Books in 1998.

In many discussions of integrative health, body is seen as the vehicle for the mind and heart to interface with our physical environment. Orthopedic Psychology specifically explores how the quality of orthopedic health, mobility and comfort affects the sense of self. For example, leg strength and stability often influences one’s sense of confidence and ability to move through the world. Healing Hip, Joint, and Knee Pain, is a broad and very personal discussion of how the dynamic interdependent processes of thought, emotion and the moving body can be brought into greater awareness and used for health, comfort and well-being.

You are invited to learn about your skeletal support system – or inner architecture – and how it facilitates your day-to-day activities. This provides you with specific tools for accessing your body’s innate intelligence and strengths.

Your are also encouraged to take time to honor your emotional experience: Understanding and respecting the emotional impact of your physical challenges supports your physical comfort and improvement. This balanced approach has proved to enhance recovery by supporting true self-care and the feeling of being at home in your body, more and more.

The Birth of Orthopedic Psychology

I have special interest in working with people living through orthopedic and mobility challenges, inspired by my personal experience with congenital hip dysplasia and partial hip replacement with 1968. The procedure in 1968 was my last surgery. I have lived the experiences that people in pain are facing. I know intimately the issues of vulnerability, physical instability and uncertainty.

My approach is precise, compassionate, and above all, practical. The tools I share have been tested and proven effective in reestablishing, improving and maintaining my own and others’ mobility, comfort and stamina. I know that we can recover far beyond our expectations: I have done so and I have helped others do the same.

I am dedicated to bringing the relief, empowerment and satisfaction of self knowledge and self care to those with physical challenges.

I coined the phrase Orthopedic Psychology in 1993 to name the dynamic in which our sense of self is shaped by the strength and stability of our inner architecture (our skeleton), and conversely how the functionality of our structural strength and stability is  enlivened by our sense of self.

Read the book introducing Orthopedic Psychology, Healing Hip, Joint, and Knee Pain, a self-care manual praised by patients, doctors, and adjunct health care professionals.

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