Dr. Joe Tatta:
Okay, everyone. Welcome to today’s episode of the Healing Pain Summit. I have a very special guest today. Her name is Dr. Elizabeth Lombardo and we’re going to be talking about the missing link to optimal healing. So let me first tell you, Dr. Lombardo Has both a master’s degree in physical therapy as well as a Ph.D. in psychology, and she’s on a mission to help people before they need the proverbial shrink couch. NBA champions. Shaquille O’Neal says Dr. Lombardo is my head coach for happiness. She is often seen on the today show and Dr. Oz. She consults with individuals and corporations to boost their psychological, physical, and financial wellbeing. Her newest bestselling book is titled better than perfect seven strategies to crush your inner critic and create a life that you love. What a great title, Doctor on the Martyr, welcome to the healing pain summit today.

Dr. Lombardo:
Oh, thanks so much. It’s an honor to be here.

Dr. Joe Tatta:
So it’s great to have someone who is both a physical therapist as well as the psychologist because putting those two together I think are so key when it comes to healing either chronic pain type syndromes or you know, any type of chronic health condition. Um, so one of the, one of the four things that you’re going to teach us today is how you can heal just with the power of your mind, your thoughts as well as your emotion. So I guess the first question is to tell us what does psychology have to do with our physical health?

Dr. Lombardo:
You know what? I can’t tell you how many times clients have come into me looking like this angry and bitter because their perception of why they’ve been referred to me is that they’re making it up in their heads. And I am here to say if you have pain, if you have discomfort, if your body isn’t working, even if you don’t understand it medically, it is, it is real. And so talking to someone like a psychologist and hearing what I’m going to say is not because you’re crazy, it’s not because you’re making it up. It is because our minds and our bodies are so interconnected that you really need to address both ads. I mean, let’s just put it out there. Think of like 16 year old and pornography. Yeah. I’m not going to say anymore about that, but that is a great example of mind and body working, right? It’s very, very powerful. And the beauty is you can use your mind to help heal your body.

Dr. Joe Tatta:
So I understand that of course. And I think many of the people attending, we have both clinicians as well as patients and clients watching today on the summit. Um, but correct me if I’m wrong, going to see a psychologist is not always the first step that people are kind of geared toward when it comes to healing and pain or chronic condition.

Dr. Lombardo:
Yeah. Not at all. Which is why a lot of times when they finally come to me, they’ve gone to clinician after clinician as your clinician and still don’t understand what’s going on. Or still don’t have the answers, still don’t have the plan on how to fix or correct what’s going on. Personally, I think people benefit from coming in to see someone like me a lot sooner. You know, just think for example about stress and how stress affects the body. Even a body that’s completely healthy, stress increases inflammation. And we know that inflammation is a huge contributor to physical pain. Even if you don’t have, you know, a disease process going on. Stress, I don’t know. I remember I was, um, when I was defending my, my dissertation for my PhD, I remember I walked by a mirror one day and I realized that my shoulders were touching or my ears. I had so much stress in my body that I didn’t even know. And all of that stress is psychological in that it’s what we’re saying to ourselves. And that’s why it’s so important to really be looking at the psychology, the emotions, the cognitive, what you’re saying to yourself in addition to some of the physical treatments that I know you talk about, a lot of yellow conditions are talking about.

Dr. Joe Tatta:
So let’s let you, so you’re talking about stress, which obviously is a big topic when it comes to physical therapy or physical medicine and pain. People suffer stress on a daily basis. They get muscle tightness, they get pain and they get fatigue. Give us a couple of quick strategies on how someone can go about alleviating stress in their life to help kind of quiet down that pain.

Dr. Lombardo:
Yeah, so I like to think of, um, I’d like to think of a toolbox. You know, when you have stress management, you want to have a very hefty toolbox. And just like if you had a toolbox, I don’t, let’s say it’s a beautiful red toolbox and you open it up and inside is the best hammer in the world. It’s shiny and beautiful. It’s the best hammer in the world. This hammer is not going to build a house. You need more than one tool. So we’ll talk about some tools. What’s important to remember is what tools work for you. So I was on, I was on dr Oz a couple months ago and the segment was on toxic worry. Um, and toxic worry is a source of course, of stress. And one of the things that we did was, um, we had people do some deep breathing. We know that deep breathing is so powerful.

Dr. Lombardo:
And why is that? Because it actually tells your brain to decrease the stress. There’s a physiological component that goes on. So one of the things you can do is do some deep breathing. You can also blow bubbles. And actually on the segment we had little bubbles that were glowing. And if you actually watch the segment, you will see that I was not able to get a single bubble out. But that’s a whole nother story. So blowing bubbles, whether it’s bubblegum or it’s, um, you know, the little one thing, that kind of thing can be fun and it’s a great way to reduce your stress. Another great day exercise. Now I used to say that exercise was against my religion. I was not an exercise person. And we’re not saying go out running for, you know, a marathon. We’re not saying go lift weights for an hour moving body in any way that works for you. Working around your pain, you know, it may just be sitting up for some people it may be standing and maybe walking, you know, even halfway across the room and maybe jumping on the bed. It may be dancing around, but I call it exercise non pharmalogical. Xanax is the annex of those anti-anxiety pills that people take. Great stuff. And it’s so easy to do.

Dr. Joe Tatta:
So coming from a physical therapist, that’s huge. Cause obviously, you know, we talk about exercise all the time, but as you’re slowly transitioned more and more into the psychological realm, you, I know you talked to people a lot about their emotions and how your emotions are, the things that you’re thinking, your thoughts themselves, how they can kind of either spark pain or how they can actually quiet pain. So talk to us about, you know, a couple of emotions that we should be on the lookout for and how we can tackle them.

Dr. Lombardo:
Yeah. So let’s talk about worry. You know, a lot of times when people develop, um, pain syndromes or their bodies and healing the way they want to, they go to that horrible place. It’s never going to get better and I’m always going to be like this, and then they start playing through what that means. I’m going to lose my home because I can’t work. My kids are not going to want to be with me, you know, my husband or my partner is going to leave me and they go from where they are right now to the fear of where they are going to be. They think they’re going to be, we call them in psychology, fortune, talent. You’re predicting the future negatively, I call it putting your winter coat on in summer.

Dr. Joe Tatta:
Yeah,

Dr. Lombardo:
in summer when it’s a hundred degrees, even going a couple of months, it’s going to get cold and a Jack is appropriate. If you put your winter coat on in summer, you are miserable and that’s what worry is when you emotionally react as if what you fear is going to happen is already happening. So the way to combat that is just to be very present. Let’s go on right now. What am I saying to myself that’s causing me to have this stress? And how much of it is fortune-telling or thinking about what might happen in future and how much of it is really happening in the here and now?

Dr. Joe Tatta:
What are the things, to kind of piggyback on what you said, one of the things I tell my patients and clients is that you have to have a plan for pleasure. Cause if you don’t have a plan for plus you in your life, you’re going to wind up in a painful place or even a painful state. So how do you kind of gear people towards, um, making a plan for, you know, pleasurable activities in their life?

Dr. Lombardo:
Yeah. And so, you know, my first book was unhappiness and a lot of people were like, Oh, I’m cute. Happiness. But when we are happier, when we have a fulfilled life, when our meaning and purpose are consistent with who we are, that allows our bodies to heal more. So absolutely looking for and scheduling things that bring you joy. It may be for me, I love Jimmy balance. So if I’m feeling a little stressed, I will just get on YouTube and watch. Did you meet Fallon movie takes three minutes, changes my psychology, reduces my, I’m ready to go. Laughter’s a great thing to do for other people, connecting with, with others and whether that’s online and maybe a support group or in person, which is a great thing too. Um, doing pleasurable activities. Um, you know, what kinds of hobbies do you like? So often we did hobbies when we were kids, but as we get older, we don’t have time.

Dr. Lombardo:
That’s frivolous. Giving yourself permission to have hobbies regardless of how good you are. Maybe it’s playing the guitar or maybe it’s knitting or photography, whatever it is, allowing yourself the permission to do this. It’s not frivolous. It will actually help change the physiology in your body. So the key is why figure out what you want to do and then to give yourself permission. It’s not being self centered. It’s very important to your healing. And then three, schedule it out. Just like a doctor’s appointment. Just like anything else that you are prioritizing. Put it in your calendar. This is my time from, I don’t know, you know, 12 to 1220 I am going to and put it in there and enjoy that process.

Dr. Joe Tatta:
I think that’s great cause so many people they go through their entire week with, you know, the house, the kids, the job, the deadlines, the financial pressures. And I never scheduled and let me give themselves that permission. I never make that plan for something that’ll take their pain away, which could just be something that brings them joy in life. So you mentioned your first book now your second book, which is just out better than perfect. Oh, we’ve got a copy. Great.

Dr. Lombardo:
Oh wait, here it is.

Dr. Joe Tatta:
Nice cover. Tell us how we can crush our inner critic and how’s that going to alleviate pain in our life?

Dr. Lombardo:
Yeah. So you know, it’s interesting because a lot of people with chronic pain have a perfectionistic all or nothing mentality. Um, I saw a lot of it with my clients. Oh I need to help other people. I shouldn’t take time for myself, all or nothing, as opposed to saying, you know what? I take that result and I help other people. Um, that inner critic that that’s “shoulding” on yourself, you should do more. You should be able to handle this or “shoulding” on other people. You know, my, my partner should be more appreciative or should know what I need right now. It’s this huge inner critic that causes stress and tension and inflammation in your body, toxicity in your brain. Um, we all have an inner critic just because you have one. Does it make it horrible? It’s what you do with it. And I like to think of your inner critic as feedback.

Dr. Lombardo:
So remember that game when you, maybe we played when you were young, it was called operation and there was this man who had a big red nose and he took out a bone. But if you hit this side with the metal tweezers that knows what you know, it would light up and you hear a noise. To me, that’s your inner critic. When you are saying something that isn’t kind to yourself, it’s just feedback. What you’re going to critic wants is for you to happy. Well, your inner critic wants is for you to be healthy. So you’re saying to yourself, Oh, you know, I’m no beating yourself up, or maybe not exercise or maybe not sticking with maybe a new diet regimen that you’ve chosen to help heal your body. If you quote mess up once, it’s not failure, it’s data, it’s just data, and just look at that.

Dr. Lombardo:
Guys, he goes, is lighting up? If you ever played that game and the Noah’s lit up, you probably didn’t sit on my God, I saw I’m completely worthless. It’s hopeless. You will probably said something like, Oh, I went too far to the right this time. I’ll go to the left. It’s just feedback. So when you hear your inner critic or when you feel your inner critic, all you have to do is say, what am I saying to myself and how can I use that in a positive way to motivate me to make the positive changes that I want?

Dr. Joe Tatta:
That’s great. Thank you for that. I’m sure everyone appreciates that because when you dealt with persistent pain or chronic pain over so many years, chances are you’ve been to a number of doctors, a number of therapists, you’ve been through cognitive behavioral therapy, and it can be really tough to kind of stay connected to the process. Oftentimes people will try physical therapy for a couple of weeks and they won’t do very well. So let’s say, well, it didn’t work that time so I shouldn’t try it again. Or that therapist, the cognitive behavioral therapy, it didn’t really work so much this time. You know, why would I try it again? So it’s really important to listen to that inner critic as you said, and maybe take the next step to find that path or find that one thing that can help you transform.

Dr. Lombardo:
Absolutely. Absolutely. The other part of that inner critic, is that what you were just referring to, the all or nothing mentality? Oh, that you know, that didn’t work with that particular PT. So physical therapy doesn’t work for me. I’m very all or nothing. And we find is, especially in the psychology research, that it’s, it’s so much about the connection that you have with the therapist in addition to the techniques that you’re learning. And as a PT, I definitely saw this too. Um, if it didn’t work with one person, that doesn’t mean that whole approach isn’t good for you. It just means it didn’t work with that one person. You try again with someone else.

Dr. Joe Tatta:
Sure. So to start, to kind of wrap up, you know, one of the questions that I have and I’m sure people are wondering, is, is it possible to overcome your chronic pain just by changing your inner thoughts and your emotions on a daily basis?

Dr. Lombardo:
Absolutely. Absolutely. I had a client who came in with chronic pain and when we looked at his MRI and we could see the herniated disc in his neck so we could see a biological reason for this pain. It doesn’t really matter because it was really him anyway. And he was so focused on the pain. That’s all he could focus on. And, and when I talked to him about, you know, making pain, not the center of your life, but part of your life, he looked at me like, are you crazy? How do I do that? But I taught him how to do that. And one of the things I asked him is, if you didn’t have pain, what would you do? And he said, well, you know what, I would, yeah, I would laugh more with my wife and I would fly a plane. And I said, cool, let’s take both of those.

Dr. Lombardo:
And how do you start doing them regardless of the pain? How can I do that? So we worked through the whole process and what we found was his desire to laugh more with his wife completely transformed his marriage. Because as you well know, a lot of times people with chronic pain have a huge, huge stresses on their, on their marriages, their relationships that change, even though we weren’t doing anything to his neck. The second thing, he wanted to be a pilot, he had always dreamed about flying. And so we worked with his healthcare provider to get down on the medications. So that he could, and he said every time he took off in that plane, he felt no pain at all. Now because it wasn’t real. Not because he was making it up, but because his focus was elsewhere. When you change your focus, the pain literally decreases.

Dr. Joe Tatta:
Right? So I think there’s probably going to be one of, if not the most powerful interview, I’ve done the entire healing pain summit just because, just by changing a couple of thoughts and a couple of habits on a weekly basis, you can eradicate pain and chronic disease from your life. So dr Elizabeth Lombardo, who’s a physical therapist as well as a PhD in psychology, tell us where people can learn more about you and the great things that you do.

Dr. Lombardo:
Yeah, so they can go to Elizabeth lombardo.com/ttp that’s better than perfect health. And there’s actually a free video that I want to share with people on specific tips of how you can change your brain that takes minimal time, don’t cost a thing that will help you start to see real changes in your body.

Dr. Joe Tatta:
Great. So that’s Elizabethlombardo.com/betterthanperfect
We’ll have that link available for everyone as well. Dr Lombardo, it’s been great having you on the Healing Pain Summit. I hope we can do it again and we’ll see you in the next interview.

Dr. Lombardo:
All right. Thanks so much.