Elite Sports Performance & Non-Invasive Pain Management
Publications
Dr. Raymond J.Petras, Ph.D
Newspaper Articles, Interviews As A Media Expert
- Mental Training For Performance Enhancement and Injury Management.
- Injury: A Mind/Body & Spirit Relationship? A Need.
Complete Articles Below:
- A way to rein in pain. (Youngstown Vindicator, Yo, OH)
- Doctor uses brain to kill pain. (Trumbull Chronicle, Warren, OH)
- Verbal Techniques-Eliminate Pain, Permanently-Medical Model. (The Edge, Twin Cities, MN)
A way to rein in pain
The YSU grad has worked
with Olympic athletes
and members of the NBA.
By ROB TODOR
VINDICATOR SPORTS editor
PHOENIX Ever wish you could simply think a pain away?
Well, thanks to some revolutionary research by a Campbell native, that idea isnt as far-fetched as it may seem.
Raymond J. Petras, a graduate of Ursuline High and Youngstown State University (Class of 1972), has been at the forefront of a technique called psycho-neuro pain response, or Taking Away Pain.
Essentially, Petras teaches patients mental techniques that speed healing, eliminate pain and improve range of motion.
"There are four steps," said Petras, who moved to this city two years ago after splitting his practice between here and Minneapolis. "The first is to define pain. What is pain? Its a signal to your brain that you have a problem.
"The second step, then, is to show the individual how to control the pain. My contention is, that if its OK for the pain to go away, it will happen," Petras added. "The minds job with the body is to protect you, so once you know that, you dont need it any more."
The third and fourth steps involve determination if the patient can, indeed, eliminate or reduce the pain, and to deal with any stress the patient may experience.
Petras background is as interesting as his technique.
From engineering to psychology
He graduated from YSU with a degree in chemical engineering. He was employed by DuPont and 3M as a research and development engineer, and while with the latter, he returned to college at the University of Minnesota to take psychology courses. He has a doctorate in psychology.
"My job at 3M was to come up with new ideas," Petras said. "I got so good at it I was getting patents and developing products. A cancer specialist saw me and asked if I could use this mental stuff to relieve pain. His patients were so drugged up, they were basically not living, theyre just existing. The literature said this is possible, and we were very successful at it.
"My love has always been sports," he added. "The football coach at St. Thomas University in Minnesota asked if I could help them with injuries.
"The first three players I saw, one had a partial shoulder separation, one had a partial shoulder separation and meniscus damage, and the third had a Grade 2 ankle sprain. I saw them for about 20 to 30 minutes each, and when I was done, they had full strength, no pain and full range of motion. They went out the next day and were able to suit up."
Official associations
Petras also has worked with a number of U.S. Olympic teams (skiing, speed skating and track and field) and hockey and archery athletes, and hes also been involved with the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association.
He was officially tabbed as the team doctor of the World Cup of Speed Skating in 1996, 1997 and 2000; was a member of the Arizona Obesity Programs Governors Workplace Committee in 2004; and presented a program in January 1998 at the NFLs first pre-Super Bowl Scientific Congress.
Petras also has been contracted by the Workers Compensation Division of St. Paul, Minn., and the Pain Clinic of Ottawa, Canada, and has served as a private consultant with several performance-enhancement and injury-management centers in metropolitan Phoenix.
"Its not something thats just related to sports, but were finding using mental techniques is very beneficial in helping relieve pain and speed the healing [process]," Petras said.
He said he always "goes through channels," checking with coaches, team doctors and trainers before beginning his consultations.
"The key is, in working with the doctors and trainers, weve never had one reported bad reaction," Petras added.
Petras even works in the racing community, with jockeys, trainers and yes, the animals.
"What am I going to tell people? That I talk to horses?" he laughed. "It sounds incredible."
Some naysayers
Petras work hasnt been fully accepted, however. The National Football League and most major college programs reject his technique.
"I was basically told by team doctors that if I can do something they cant, it makes them look bad," he said, "and if you hurt somebody, were out of a job, so were not interested."
Petras recently joined the Fiesta Bowl Committee, which puts on the Insight Bowl, the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, and this year, the Tostitos BCS national championship game at University of Phoenix Stadium.
He was selected to serve as chairman of the media golf outing, which will be Sunday.
"Its not always the pain," he said. "When we get really focused in our mind on what we want to accomplish in life, our system starts to change, and if we look at it as a problem, it shuts down. So we need to look at it in that respect, which is different than anything weve ever seen before.
"The doctors that Ive worked with tell me they think it will be the new medicine," Petras added.
Tribune
TrumbullChronicle
Warren, OH
Saturday, January 6, 2007
Doctor uses brain to kill pain
By ED PUSKAS Tribune Chronicle
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The way Dr. Raymond J. Petras sees it, people shouldn’t have to live with pain from chronic conditions or injuries.
Petras has developed a technique called TAP — Taking Away Pain — and treats patients ranging from average, everyday people to small-college football players and jockeys professional athletes.
He even has treated horses.
Petras, a Campbell native and Youngstown State University graduate, is a pain management and performance enhancement specialist in Scottsdale. Now he is part of the Fiesta Bowl and BCS Championship Committee where his home-state Ohio State Buckeyes are vying for the
national title this week.
Petras, who also is the chairman of the Fiesta Bowl Media Golf Challenge at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, met with reporters Friday to talk about helping people use their minds to get over their pain.
It all started when he was working in research and development with 3M in Minnesota after graduating from Youngstown State University in 1972.
‘‘My job was to come up with new ideas and you do that through creativity,’’ he said. ‘‘So I went back to the University of Minnesota and took some courses in psychology, figuring psychology of the mind leads to creativity.’’
It was a watershed moment for Petras.
‘‘I got so good at it I was getting patents and developing products, and I was on television,’’ he said.
A cancer specialist saw a segment on Petras’ work and approached him with a question.
‘‘He said, ‘Hey, can you use this mental stuff to relieve pain? Because my cancer patients are so drugged up, they’re basically not living, they’re just existing,’’’ Petras said. ‘‘I said, ‘Literature says that it’s possible,’ so that’s what we did, and we were very successful at it.’’
After Petras helped those cancer patients, St. John’s (Minn.) football coach John Gagliardi asked him to treat some of his players. That has led to relationships with others in the sports world, including U.S. Olympic athletes and the Phoenix Suns of the NBA.
But Petras stressed that although his work has evolved from pain management to include performance-enhancing work with athletes, TAP continues to aid patients dealing with pain caused by illness or injury.
TAP involves four steps, according to Petras.
‘‘The first is to define pain,’’ he said. ‘‘The second is to show the individual how to control pain. The third is to determine if it is OK for the pain to be eliminated or reduced.’’
That is important, Petras said, because pain is often an indicator that something is wrong. He stressed that pain only should be eliminated if doing so will not put the individual at risk for increased health problems.
‘‘The final step is to deal with any stress the individual may have because of the pain or injury,’’ Petras said.
Sometimes, as he mentioned, the patient is unable to tell him about the pain ... because he or she is a horse.
‘‘In 2000, when I was in Ohio, I had someone ask me about using my techniques with horses,’’ Petras said. ‘‘Then in Minnesota, the same thing happened and someone asked me about treating horses. And when I returned to Arizona, two more people asked me about horses.’’
That was enough to convince Petras there was a need for his services in the equine community.
‘‘I have a state license now to go in and talk to horses,’’ he said.
epuskas@tribune-chronicle.com
(2007) Youngstown Vindicator - A way to rein in pain. Rob Todor
(2007) Tribune-Chronicle - Doctor uses brain to kill pain. Ed Puskas, Warren, OH
(2006) Arizona Republic - Mental Blackout. Sports:The Heat Index. Doug Haller.
(2006) Arizona Republic - Power of selfishness. Sonja Haller.
(2006) Arizona Republic - Just 'mind' your own business. Claire Bush.
(2006) Arizona Republic - Experts' tips to help you maximize fitness time. Sonja
Haller.
(2005) Arizona Republic - When the doc is ... on the phone. Sonja Haller.
(2005) Arizona Republic - Pain-free Advice: Osteoarthritis. Mary Beth Faller.