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The amazing story of the man who gave us modern pain relief

1,809,302 views | Latif Nasser • TED2015

For the longest time, doctors basically ignored the most basic and frustrating part of being sick -- pain. In this lyrical, informative talk, Latif Nasser tells the extraordinary story of wrestler and doctor John J. Bonica, who persuaded the medical profession to take pain seriously -- and transformed the lives of millions.

For the longest time, doctors basically ignored the most basic and frustrating part of being sick -- pain. In this lyrical, informative talk, Latif Nasser tells the extraordinary story of wrestler and doctor John J. Bonica, who persuaded the medical profession to take pain seriously -- and transformed the lives of millions.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

About the speaker

Latif Nasser

Radio researcher

See speaker profile

Latif Nasser is the director of research at Radiolab, where he has reported on such disparate topics as culture-bound illnesses, snowflake photography, sinking islands and 16th-century automata.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.