Dr. David Hanscom is a board certified orthopedic surgeon specializing in complex spine problems in all areas of the spine. He has expertise in adult and pediatric spinal deformities such as scoliosis and kyphosis. A significant part of his practice is devoted to performing surgery on patients who have had multiple prior spine surgeries. He works for Swedish Neuroscience Specialists in Seattle, WA with eight neurosurgeons and a physiatrist.

Dr Hanscom completed his medical degree from Loma Linda University in 1979, .a residency with internal medicine in Spokane, WA from 1979-1981, an Orthopedic surgery residency was at the University of Hawaii from 1981-1984, .a six-month orthopedic trauma fellowship in 1984 at UC Davis in Sacramento, CA. and completed his spinal deformity fellowship in Minneapolis, MN at Twin Cities Scoliosis Center in 1986.

He is the founder of the “DOCC” project. It stands for “Defined, Organized, Comprehensive, Care.” This is a structured rehabilitation protocol for chronic pain, which involves improving sleep, managing stress, engaging in long-term conditioning, obtaining adequate pain control with aggressive medication management, re-setting goals, and educating the patient so as to regain control of their decision making.

He is the founder of the Puget Sound Spine Interest group, which was formed in 1987. It is a non-profit educational group, which provides a regional forum for physicians to share ideas regarding optimum spine care.  “Awake at the Wound” is a process, which brings athletic performance principles into the operating room. He co-founded the program with his golf-instructor, David Elaimy, in 2006. David Elaimy is also a performance coach who has been giving golf-based performance seminars in the financial sector for over fifteen years.

He had written many articles and his latest book Back in Control: A spine surgeon’s roadmap out of chronic pain, publish in 2012 is still a top seller on Amazon.