Signs that your Pain is Neuroplastic and NOT Purely Physical…

Here is the crux of trying to get out of chronic pain:

The exhaustive cycle of trying to find answers and manage your pain IS LIKELY A MAJOR FACTOR THAT’S PERPETUATING YOUR PAIN.

Constantly managing your symptoms and planning your day, week, and life around your pain can make your life smaller and smaller. It also keeps you in a state of high alert and fear, which feeds and reinforces the pain cycle.

Scroll down for signs that your pain is not purely from a physical cause.

​Chronic pain can steal years from your life, stripping away your quality of life.

Neuroscience research is showing that most cases of chronic pain actually have little correlation with structural tissue damage.

As crazy as this may sound, promising studies are showing that chronic pain is usually a result of faulty communication between the brain and nervous system, rather than a purely physical cause.
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NEUROPLASTIC PAIN is when the brain misinterprets safe signals from the body as dangerous, and sends out pain signals when you are not actually in danger, such as being in pain long after an initial injury has healed.

It’s a safety mechanism brilliantly administered from brain to body through the nervous system, letting us know that there’s something dangerous, and to act accordingly, even when there is no danger.

Fear-based management of your pain a danger signal to the brain, which is fueling the pain cycle and keeping you stuck in a cycle of fear, preoccupation, and pain.

This is good news, because it means that you have the power to break this cycle and to retrain your nervous system and brain.

With evidenced based mind-body tools, it is possible to reduce your symptoms and live with more ease.

Chronic pain in this context can also include chronic conditions such as chronic fatigue, dizziness, POTS, tinnitus, vertigo, irritable bowel syndrome, insomnia, and other related chronic health conditions. Please see your doctor to make sure you don't have an underlying condition.

Here are the signs that your pain has some neuroplastic component, and that it is NOT purely a physical cause:

• Pain originates during a stressful time.

  • Stress puts the brain on high alert and can trigger pain.

• Pain originated without an injury.

  • Pain with no injury is a strong sign that pain is neuroplastic.

  • If there was an initial injury, but the pain persists after the injury has healed, it doesn’t make sense to still have structural pain.

• Symptoms are inconsistent.

  • Structurally caused pain does not have significant variations such as...

    • Pain is not always present – it comes and goes.

    • Varying intensity of pain level even when doing the same physical activity.

    • Pain is only present (or increases/decreases) on certain days of the week or certain times of day.

• Multiple symptoms.

  • Having 2,3 to 4 unrelated physical conditions is improbable assuming you don’t have underlying systemic disorders such as MS, lupus, etc.

  • For example, if you have irritable bowel, frequent headaches or migraines, and hip pain all at the same time with no rhyme or reason for it, it’s likely your pain is neuroplastic.

• Symptoms spread/move around.

  • You have pain in your left shoulder for a few days/weeks/months, and then you feel it more in your low back, and then it moves to your knee.

  • Symptoms spreading from a small area to a larger area.

• Triggered by stress.

  • Pain comes on or worsens when you are under stress.

  • On the flip side, the pain decreases when you are engaged in an enjoyable activity.

• Triggers that have nothing to do with the body

  • Time of day such as feeling worse in the morning than the afternoon.

  • Weather – barometric pressure.
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• Symmetrical symptoms

  • When pain develops on the same part of the body but simultaneously on opposite sides.

  • Example, pain developing in both wrists instead of just one.
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• Pain with delayed onset

  • When you feel pain after an activity but not during.
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• Childhood adversity

  • If you have chronic pain and experienced abuse or neglect in childhood, it’s likely your pain is neuroplastic.

  • It isn’t MAJOR trauma that always leads to neuroplastic pain.

  • Anything that made someone feel unsafe can predispose them to developing a chronic pain condition later in life because the brain and nervous system become sensitized to perceived threat.
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• Common personality traits – If you have chronic pain and can identify with these personality traits, consider that you may have neuroplastic pain

  • Prone to self criticism, self pressure, and worry

  • Perfectionism

  • Conscientiousness

  • People pleasing

  • Anxiousness
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• Lack of physical diagnosis

  • Doctors are unable to find any apparent cause for your symptoms

  • Even if you have been given a diagnosis, don’t despair. A lot of people who have what we consider structural abnormalities such as bulging discs and disc degeneration, have no pain.
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​This week's practice:

I invite you to consider the above bullet points, and begin to write down any evidence that your symptoms fit into any of the above categories.

Keep this evidence sheet with you.

We are BIOLOGICALLY WIRED to believe that the experience of pain is linked to a direct physical cause.

When you are having a hard day, please review your sheet to remind yourself that you can gain some control over your pain by reducing your patterns of fear and management of your symptoms.

If you struggle with chronic pain, healing is possible for you.

Pain Reprocessing Therapy is an evidenced based approach that can be supportive for anyone, even if your symptoms are indeed rooted in a physical or physiological cause such as autoimmune disorders, pain from a previous injury, viral or bacterial infection such as long Covid or Lyme, cancer pain, and other similar conditions.

This approach will likely help, and certainly will not harm.