Pain Management
Healing Chronic Pain: It’s Not Just Physical
Understanding the brain-body connection is the first step in managing and resolving chronic and centralized pain.
The Brain-Body Re-Wiring
Like the work championed by pioneers in the field (such as Curable Health), we recognize that chronic pain—pain lasting more than three to six months—is often a **learned signal** in the nervous system, not ongoing tissue damage. This is called **Centralized Pain** or Neuroplastic Pain.
Your brain, acting as an overprotective alarm system, keeps sending pain signals even after the initial physical injury has healed. The path to recovery involves using **neuroplasticity** to teach your brain that you are safe.
Pain is Stored in the Body
This phrase means that our unprocessed emotional responses, stress, and past trauma don’t just exist in our minds; they manifest as **physical tension, stiffness, and chronic symptoms**. The body holds the score. Learning to safely release this stored emotional energy through somatic (body-based) and emotional techniques is crucial for lasting relief, as it calms the nervous system’s danger response.
Key Therapeutic Modalities for Relief
CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy)
Challenging Pain Catastrophizing
CBT helps you identify and modify the negative thought patterns and behaviors that intensify pain signals. By addressing **fear-avoidance**, focusing on small behavioral changes, and challenging **catastrophizing** beliefs, you can lower the perceived threat level of your pain.
Polyvagal Theory Techniques
Creating Internal Safety
This approach focuses on regulating your autonomic nervous system (ANS). We learn to recognize when your system is in **”fight, flight, or freeze”** (a high-alert state that generates pain) and use techniques (like breathwork, tone of voice, and body posture) to return to the **”social engagement system”**—a state of calm and safety.
IFS (Internal Family Systems)
Befriending the Pain Parts
IFS views pain as a protective “part” of your inner system, often trying to distract you or protect you from deeper emotional pain. By engaging these parts with compassion and curiosity (from your core **”Self”**), you can unburden them, allowing the pain signal to naturally decrease and the body to relax.
Mapping Emotions to Sensations: The Emotional Pain Chart
Tools like the Emotional Pain Chart (referencing the model here) are used to bridge the gap between your physical body and your emotional landscape.
How it works:
The Connection
It shows how core human emotions—like **grief, anger, shame, or anxiety**—often correlate with specific areas of physical sensation (tightness in the throat, ache in the lower back, knot in the stomach).
The Goal
By mapping your pain, you learn to shift your question from “What is wrong with my body?” to **”What emotion is my nervous system trying to protect me from?”** This recognition is a powerful step toward deactivating the threat response.