Alan Spanos, MD, MA

I am a British doctor who has lived in the USA since 1979. I graduated in medicine from Oxford University in 1973 after taking a Master's degree in Philosophy and also a Postgraduate Diploma in the History and Philosophy of Science. I did a residency in Internal Medicine at Oxford, then worked in developing countries for two years, and then I spent a year training in Anesthesiology at the University of Singapore. After that, I was invited to Duke to do a two-year Fellowship in Infectious Diseases. I completed that, but I didn't like being so specialized, so I "went back to school," and did another residency training, this time at UNC. This was in the discipline of Family Practice: the broadest and most diverse medical specialty. Over the next few years I developed an interest in the treatment of chronic pain, and joined with several other practitioners to create a clinic in Raleigh dealing specifically with back pain. That was in 1986.

In 1989 I moved on to create a practice dealing with chronic pain in general. It was called Blue Ridge Clinical Associates, because it was located on Blue Ridge Road in Raleigh. In 1996 the office moved to Chapel Hill, but kept the old name.

Along the way, I learned some specific techniques for treating chronic pain. I learned clinical hypnosis at Duke, acupuncture at UCLA, myofascial pain treatment from the revered Dr. Janet Travell, and back home in Great Britain, I learned spinal manipulation. I also learned to respect the work of alternative medical practitioners, and I enjoy collaborating with them to better help people in pain.

In recent years, I have been invited all over the USA to teach doctors and nurses about pain treatment. Institutions that have asked me to teach their staff include Johns Hopkins Medical Center, the Cleveland Clinic, Duke University Medical Center and UNC School of Medicine.This experience has enabled me to see a very wide variety of pain clinics around the country, and to learn from them.

Since I have very wide training and interests, I don't stress any one particular treatment for my patients. My job is to work out what will help them best, whatever that may be. Often there is no one best approach, so I involve the patient in deciding which to use. A certain amount of trial and error may be necessary. We sometimes have to try this, try that, backtrack, and think again before the patient and I are confident that we've arrived at the best treatment. In the end, it's the patient's own experience that is the best guide to what the treatment should be.

Alan Spanos, MD, MA