In 2008, Catherine Jacobson Raymond was an investigative journalist whose back was killing her.

She started trying to book herself for surgery.

But then, she started learning more.

She put her training to work and spent six years investigating. She found the

treatments that get prescribed for back pain. Surgery, drugs, you name it. Mostly do

not work. Hugely expensive, often leave people worse off, a lot worse off.

As the story evolved, the journalist in me relished each appalling revelation. As a patient, however, I felt as if I barely avoided stepping

off the curb in front of a bus. That's from page two of her book, Crooked, outwitting the back pain industry and getting on the road to recovery.

Whenever somebody I know post to Facebook, like,

oi, my back is killing me, who knows a good doctor or a chiropractor,

whatever, I immediately send them a link to this book.

And I've wanted to do this story since I first started planning this podcast.

I kept putting it off because I'm so big, I was like, this could be a whole season.

But look I cannot hold out anymore.

This season of an arm and a leg is about self-defense from the cost of health care,

watching your back.

And this story is so big and so important and so crazy and ultimately so helpful.

I could not end this season without it.

Because not only does Catherine

Jacobson Raymond show us the horror stories, she also points to what

actually works. So we're going to hit the highlights here. It's

going to make you mad. It could freak you out a little bit and if you or somebody

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