MRI Studies Show 60 Percent of People in Fifties Have Disc Degeneration Without Pain
"If you're in your 50s, you have a 60% chance of having disc degeneration. If you're in the 60s, you have an 80% chance of having disc degeneration. With no pain. So if you have no pain and you get an MRI, you see those findings. If you have pain and you get an MRI, you see the same findings. Why would you assume that that's the cause of the pain?"
About this episode
In this episode of Feel Better, Live More, host Dr. Rangan Chatterjee welcomes back Dr. Howard Schubiner, a pain specialist who has spent over two decades researching the mind-body connection and has published more than 100 papers on pain neuroscience. The conversation centers on Schubiner's groundbreaking work showing that most chronic pain is neuroplastic—created by the brain in response to perceived danger rather than structural damage. Schubiner systematically dismantles common medical myths, including the belief that pain always results from tissue injury, that MRI findings like disc degeneration cause back pain, and that chronic pain is irreversible. He presents compelling research showing 60-80% of people over 50 have degenerative disc findings on MRI scans yet experience no pain, challenging standard diagnostic practices. The discussion explores Schubiner's revolutionary five-part treatment model: assessment, education, symptom reappraisal, emotional processing therapies, and life changes. Remarkable case studies include Gary, who recovered from 25 years of severe back pain in six weeks after recognizing his brain was creating the pain, and a woman whose 17 years of headaches resolved when she connected them to childhood trauma from an unpredictable father. Schubiner shares his own experience of back pain following job loss that vanished only after he screamed alone in his car, processing suppressed anger and hurt. The episode expands beyond pain to cover how neuroplastic mechanisms underlie anxiety, depression, fatigue, fibromyalgia, POTS, tinnitus, and dozens of other conditions that plague modern medicine. Schubiner emphasizes that symptoms are messages rather than enemies, and that childhood trauma, people-pleasing tendencies, perfectionism, and unexpressed emotions sensitize the brain's danger signals. The overarching message is one of hope and agency—that chronic suffering once deemed incurable can often be reversed by understanding the brain's protective role and addressing emotional root causes.
Key takeaways
- Schubiner presented case of Gary who recovered from 25 years of severe back pain in 6 weeks after realizing his brain was creating pain neuroplastically.
- Research shows 60% of people in their 50s and 80% in their 60s have disc degeneration on MRI with no pain, challenging standard diagnostic assumptions.
- Neuroscience reveals stress and emotions activate the same brain regions as physical injury, providing physiological basis for neuroplastic pain.
- Schubiner's five-part treatment model includes assessment, education, symptom reappraisal, emotional processing therapies, and making life changes.
- A woman's severe back pain disappeared after therapeutically reimagining and reprocessing a childhood sexual assault memory tied to the pain location.
- Schubiner shared his own back pain from job loss vanished immediately after screaming in his car and processing suppressed anger, hurt, and forgiveness.
- Neuroplastic mechanisms can create not just pain but also anxiety, depression, fatigue, fibromyalgia, POTS, tinnitus, and dozens of other chronic conditions.