Chronic Pain Therapy and Coaching
Pain Reprocessing Therapy
An evidence-based treatment for chronic pain. Rooted in neuroscience, Pain Reprocessing Therapy aims to rewire neural pathways in the brain in order to deactivate pain signals.
What is Neuroplastic (neural based) pain?
The newest research demonstrates that chronic back pain, neck pain, headaches, fibromyalgia, repetitive strain injuries and other forms of persistent pain are most often the result of neural pathways in the brain that have been activated by danger signals and can be reversed through brain-based treatments. This is great news and should give hope to the millions of individuals living with chronic pain!
Pain is a danger signal. Normally, when there is an injury in our bodies, it sends us signals that let us know that there was tissue damage. Our brain receives these messages and create pain to keep us from doing further damage. However, the brain can also make a mistake! Neuroplastic pain is when the body misinterprets safe signals from our body and creates pain even when there is no damage or danger. Our brain is trying to keep us safe, but misinterpreting the information.
Why would our body misinterpret safe physical (body based) messages as dangerous? Unfortunately, in the world that we live in, our minds and bodies are under immense and often continuous stress. Stressors coming from our fast-paced lives, past traumas, mental health conditions and what is happening in our daily lives can all put our nervous systems and brains in a constant state of alert and danger making it more likely for our brains to misinterpret body signals as dangerous and create chronic pain.
While Neuroplastic pain can be addressed psychologically by retraining neural pathways, it does not mean that the pain is not real. All pain is REAL and can even be viewed within the brain using neuroimaging studies. Let me say that one more time. ALL pain is REAL. The best news is that neural based pain can be unlearned. Unlearning chronic pain means that you can get back to living your best life!
What is Pain Reprocessing Therapy?
Pain Reprocessing Therapy is a system of psychological technigques that train the brain how to respond to safe signals in the body (sensations) in appropriate ways. Retraining these neural pathways breaks the cycle of chronic pain.
Pain Reprocessing Therapy is comprised of these 5 important features:
Education about the origin of pain and the ability to deactivate pain signals.
Assessing whether the client’s pain is neuroplastic and gathering personal evidence of the nature of his or her pain.
Reevaluate sensations from a perspective of safety.
Address personal emotional or environmental threats.
Move toward more positive feelings, sensations and outlook.
My Story
Why am I so passionate about Pain Reprocessing Therapy and helping individuals escape chronic pain?
In 2019, I suffered several consecutive back injuries that resulted in debilitating pain. I went from living a full and vibrant life to being unable to play with my children, exercise, drive, or even sit without intense pain. My pain lasted for 18 months and during that time, I tried many of the usual treatments for back pain such as physical therapy, medications, massage therapy and strengthening my core muscles. None of these treatments worked and often left me in more pain and feeling frustrated. I was told that I needed to have major surgery and undergo a spinal fusion to eliminate my pain. My innate resilience and a belief in my own body to heal led me to keep researching and looking at the science.
By looking deeply into the newest science, I learned that pain lasting more than 3-6 months is actually caused by changes in the brain and nervous system. I also found that once a body creates pain for a several months, it can actually get stuck in a “pain state” and become too good at creating pain. When the injury has healed, the brain and body can remain in that state unless the brain is retrained. Most importantly, I learned that I wasn’t doing anything “wrong” or “missing an important cure”, my body and brain just needed help to recover from a terrible injury. Chronic pain can happen to anyone.
This new science gave me incredible hope and I started practicing what I was learning. I found new ways to calm my nervous system and retrain my pain signals. Within months, I was not only out of the chronic pain cycle, but I was again able to lift weights, rock cliimb, hike and paddle board without fear of reinjuring myself. However, the most important thing I had gained was the ability to be the mom I was before. I was able to sit hours in the stands watching my kids play their sports, drive them where they needed to go and enjoy family vacations again. Through my chronic pain journey, I learned how to move from surviving to thriving with compassion for myself and my story. While I would never want to be back in pain, I have learned to be thankful for what pain has taught me. I didn’t settle with going back to the life I had before, I have more gratitude, compassion and joy because of my journey.
I now get to teach others in pain these techniques and give them new hope. I am an advanced level Pain Reprocessing Therapist and deeply understand the challenges that come with chronic pain. I am ready to help you break the pain cycle. The best is yet to come!