Back pain at work - A Neuroplastic Pain Perspective

More than 80% of people will experience back pain at some point in their lives and for many people, it starts or becomes chronic at work.

We’re told it’s:

• The chair

• The desk setup 

• Our posture

• Our discs

But, if back pain was caused by sitting or posture, why hasn’t fixing chairs and desks eliminated chronic back pain? If the problem was really the setup, we’d fix it before people started working and back pain wouldn’t exist.

B ut, back pain does exist.

So, what if the pain isn’t coming from the chair…but from the alarm system?

Pain works much the same as a smoke alarm as it monitors and manages danger. Think

about it, a smoke alarm goes off not because there’s a fire,

but because someone burnt the toast. The smoke alarm reacts to the

potential danger rather than the level of damage that may or may not have occurred. 

Pain works the same way.

The pain is real, but it doesn’t automatically mean something is broken.

Modern pain science shows us that pain is an output of the brain, created when the nervous system believes we are under threat. Not just physical threat, emotional threat too.

This is where Neuroplastic pain comes in. 

Our brain is a learning organ. It learns patterns and once pain has been switched on often enough, the brain gets very good at producing it even when the tissues are safe.

Now let’s talk about stress.

• Not deadlines. 

• Not emails

• Not long hours

Those exist, of course. But, they are like the last straw rather than the whole load. I’m talking about the stress stored deep in the nervous system like files saved on a hard drive you don’t consciously open anymore.

As a child, you learned:

• I need to be good

• I need to perform

• I must not fail

• I need to please my parents

You didn’t label this as stress. You just thought, this is how life works. But, our nervous system remembered.

Fast-forward to adulthood.

• Your boss applies pressure. 

• Expectations rise

• Your bonus depends upon productivity

• Your family rely on your income

And your nervous system reacts the same way it did years ago because the brain doesn’t care about time, it cares about familiar danger. It’s like stepping on the same emotional landmine again and again.

Inside you, there’s a conflict.

• One part of you – the inner child - wants to protest, shout, cry or say “What about me, this is too much, I don’t want to be here.”

• Another part of you – the inner adult – wants to take control and says, “Keep going, be professional, keep it together, don’t mess up”

That clash creates internal tension – your EGO

• I can’t scream or throw a tantrum

• I can’t say what I really feel

So, the conflict has to go somewhere. And that’s when it shows up as physical symptoms.

Imagine driving a car with one foot on the accelerator and one foot on the brake. That’s what unresolved emotional conflict feels like to the nervous system.

Over time, the system overheats. When the nervous system stays switched on for too long, it becomes hyper-alert like a guard dog that starts barking at everyone, even the postman.

And when the brain can’t express or resolve emotional threat, it often converts it into a physical signal.

Pain

The brain itself doesn’t feel pain. Instead, it sends messages and the body becomes the messenger.

• Tight muscles.

• Burning

• Aching

• Stiffness

Now let’s come back to the chair.

• The chair didn’t cause the pain.

• The chair was the trigger

You blame the chair because it’s visible, it feels logical and it gives us something to point at. But the chair is irrelevant it’s like blaming the toaster for the smoke alarm.

The nervous system was already on edge, the chair simply gave the brain a believable story.

This is how predictive processing works. The brain is constantly guessing what will keep you safe.

And if it has learned that back pain equals protection, it will keep using that strategy even when the spine is strong and healthy.

That’s why posture changes, exercises, and ergonomic fixes often help temporarily… but the pain comes back. You’re treating the alarm, not the system that keeps setting it off.

Healing neuroplastic pain isn’t about fixing your back. It’s about retraining the nervous system to recognise that it is safe. When the brain no longer perceives danger, it stops producing pain.

And that’s when the alarm finally switches off.

Don’t be one of the 80% in pain, contact me to arrange a free discovery call to find out more about my Neuroplastic Pain Treatments

https://calendly.com/neuroplasticosteopathy/discovery-call

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