Thirty years ago he was cutting people's backs open in the hope of curing their pain; however, he began to realize that only certain people were helped by back surgery and many, the vast majority, were not. With this in mind, he began exploring new avenues for healing while still a back surgeon. When he began to tell people that a large component of back pain was mental, and that back pain was actually a psychosomatic disorder, and some people were spontaneously cured.