I have to seriously question the accuracy of this study. I'm an obstetrician (cesarean surgeon) and I have never noticed texting to have a positive effect on my patients. From my observations, it seems to cause them a lot of stress (and thus increases the pain) and it almost certainly increases the duration of the procedure (because I'm busy texting and am just sort of jimmying the scalpel around with my other hand).

I had typed out a long reply explaining potential differences between your experience and the results of the study... then I reread your final parenthetical statement...

Somewhat OT, but I don't do pain well. Have asked to be knocked out 100% for oral surgeries. A few years back, I had no one to drive me, and the dentist wouldn't knock me out. I had some local anesthetic, and used my iphone most of the operation. "Oh this will be 20 minutes"... turned in to 90 minutes. I videoed several minutes of my operation (is "surgical selfies" a thing?) mostly to keep me distracted from the pain (yes, I still felt pain). Years later, the dentist still remembers me, even though I'm rarely there ("pink iphone, video the root canal!").

Strangely most people don't want to watch my root canal surgery. It's on picasa - perhaps I should put them on youtube...

I've noticed this about myself. Mental distraction helps with pain. Really useful when doing long distance backpacking and trying to push out the last few miles. I would whip out my phone and type into my journal.

Bravo, That is exactly what it is. Several studies prove it as well. Here is one from Live Science: http://www.livescience.com/18361-distraction-reduces-pain.ht...

I noticed this when I switched from a stationary bike at home (where I used to use my phone while riding) to a stationary bike at the gym where I just listen to podcasts. Actively using my phone was a much bigger distraction and made the rides seem a lot shorter.

Have you tried using a non-stationary bike?

Distraction really works. Meditation works really well. I used it recently when I was having a lot of pain. Also, this works really well but I'll understand if you're skeptical http://breakingmuscle.com/health-medicine/the-most-famous-ac...

This reminds me of the studies that show playing tetris lowers anxiety.

I imagine it's a common theme of distraction lessens the perception of pain (including emotional pain), and most electronic devices - games, phones, etc - are incredibly distracting.

What percentage of surgeries allow a patient to be awake during the procedure?

There are quite a few, and it's always the best option when possible. Most of the complications you hear about from "routine surgery" relate to the management of the patient's airway while they are sedated. An awake patient can maintain their airway.

If you're interested in how these sorts of things can wrong, here's a well done reenactment of such a case: http://emcrit.org/misc/the-new-elaine-bromiley-videos/

Are you counting the ones where the patient, e.g., my wife, wakes up in the middle of surgery and tries to get off the table?

While that is certainly not a good thing, it is not as dangerous as a situation where the patient is unable to breathe and the anesthetist is not able to breathe for them.

If they can do a C-Section with the patient awake they can probably do almost anything that's below midlevel on the spine, or on the arms.

That's probably almost everything except heart or neck surgery. (Even brain surgery is usually done with the patient awake.)

Isn't some brain surgery done awake?

I've had neck surgery while awake.

I happen to be an adult. Just give me a lollipop and I'll be fine.