How your nervous system can keep pain going
Why your pain has not gone away
If you have been in pain for more than three months, you have what is known as chronic pain. And the chances are, you have been told it is coming from somewhere in your body: a disc, a nerve, a joint, your posture.
Research shows that many findings on scans, such as disc bulges and wear and tear are common in people with no pain. So, the structural cause you have been given may not be what is driving your pain. The pain is real but for many people with chronic pain the nervous system plays a much bigger part than they have been told.
So if the pain is not coming from your body, where is it coming from?
How pain actually works
Pain is an output of the brain. It is not a signal that travels from a damaged body part to your brain. It is a protective alarm that your brain generates when it believes you are under threat.
Think of it like a smoke alarm. The alarm does not go off because there is a fire. It goes off because it has detected something that might indicate danger. It is reacting to potential threat, not to actual damage.
Pain works the same way. The brain perceives a threat, whether physical, emotional or psychological, and produces pain as a warning signal. In acute injuries, this is exactly what you want. But in chronic pain, the alarm keeps going off long after the danger has passed. The nervous system has become hyper-alert, stuck in a loop it cannot switch off by itself.
What is neuroplastic pain?
Neuroplastic pain is pain that is generated in the brain rather than by ongoing tissue damage. The brain is a learning organ. It learns patterns. Once pain has been produced often enough, the brain gets very good at producing it, even when the body is completely safe.
This is not imaginary pain. It is not weakness, and it is not all in your head in the dismissive sense. It is a real, physical experience created by a real, physical process. The difference is that the process is happening in the brain, not in the tissue.
And because the brain learns to produce pain, it can also learn to stop.
The most common factor that keeps chronic pain going is the fear-pain-fear cycle. Pain causes fear and anxiety. Fear and anxiety increase the brain's perception of threat. Increased threat perception produces more pain. More pain produces more fear. The cycle feeds itself.
Pain is driven by a stress response. The other factors that drive chronic pain include unresolved stress, past trauma, emotional tension that has nowhere to go, and the accumulated effect of a nervous system that has been on high alert for too long. None of these are character flaws. They are patterns the nervous system has learned, and patterns can be unlearned.
How Neuroplastic Pain Reprocessing works
Neuroplastic Pain Reprocessing Therapy is an evidence-based approach that works with the brain and nervous system to break the pain cycle. By helping your brain understand that your body is safe, the alarm can finally be switched off.
It is not about managing your pain. It is about recovering from it.
The work draws on neuroplasticity: the brain's ability to change and form new neural pathways. By learning to approach pain sensations without fear, and by addressing the underlying psychological and emotional contributors to the pain, the brain gradually stops treating the body as a source of danger.
The No More Pain Programme
The No More Pain Programme uses Neuroplastic Pain Reprocessing to guide you through a structured recovery process. Many people notice changes within the first few weeks but everyone is different.
The programme is delivered primarily online and is tailored entirely to your circumstances. Find out more about what is involved.
Your Questions Answered
BACK PAIN EXPLAINED
WHAT IS CHRONIC PAIN
INJURIES EXPLAINED
Can nerves cause pain? An irritated or compressed nerve can cause symptoms such as pins and needles, numbness or weakness, and these sometimes need medical attention, so please see your GP. But pain itself is produced by the brain, as a protective response. That is why a nerve finding on a scan often doesn't match how much pain someone feels, and why a sensitive nervous system can keep pain going.
What do we mean by Chronic Pain? Chronic pain is described as long-term pain symptoms. It could refer to something like Chronic (ongoing/coming and going) headaches/migraines, irritable bowel syndrome or ongoing structural pain such as back or knee pain.
What does Acute mean? An acute injury is something that has just happened, such as breaking a bone or having an accident. You need immediate attention. Often we hear people use the word acute to explain a level of pain. This is actually incorrect as pain is just pain, it has no other label.
Do structural problems cause pain? Pain is produced by the brain, as a protective response. Some problems, such as a fracture or a fresh injury, need medical care, and the brain will naturally protect you while they heal. But research shows that many things seen on scans, such as disc bulges, "wear and tear" and cartilage changes, are very common in people who have no pain at all. So a scan finding doesn't explain why pain persists.
Are there different types of Chronic Pain? No and this is because pain is produced by the brain wherever we feel it. So in that sense, a headache and back ache work in a similar way.
How long does an acute injury take to heal All injuries heal - the time just depends on the type and severity of injury. For example, a cut on the hand takes 10 - 14 days after which it's fully healed. A broken bone, however, can take 6 - 8 weeks to heal. Normally with a fracture there's a set rehabilitation protocol which needs to be followed for optimal healing.
What is Sciatica Sciatica means pain that travels down the back of the leg. It is often blamed on a trapped nerve, but scan findings in the lower back are common in people with no leg pain at all, and pain itself is produced by the brain. Most cases settle with time. When leg pain carries on for months, a sensitised nervous system is often what keeps it going. Seek urgent medical help if you have numbness around your bottom or genitals, problems controlling your bladder or bowels, or weakness in both legs.
Why do I get ongoing pain? Ongoing pain is normally a response to what we have been diagnosed with and the things we have been told we can’t do because we might cause more damage. We then continue to tell ourselves the same negative message about how ‘broken’ we are and those message raises our stress levels (fight or flight). Because our brain wants to protect us it gives us a pain sensation to stop us doing the things we’ve told ourselves are wrong or dangerous.
Is there always pain with Injury? No there isn’t. Injury doesn’t necessarily mean we will have pain sensations. Our pain is entirely dependent upon the response our brain makes to this injury.
Ready to understand your pain?
If you would like to find out whether the No More Pain Programme could help you, book a free discovery call. We will talk through your pain history and I will give you an honest assessment of whether this approach is right for you.
Free Discovery Call
A relaxed, 30 minute, no obligation video call to talk about your pain and find out whether the No More Pain Programme is right for you
Duration: 30 minutes
Price: Free
If you decide to go ahead, the No More Pain Programme runs in two parts at £450.00 (no VAT added) each with 1-1 sessions included