As bodyworkers we all treat people in pain and most of the time successfully. But what if your client has had pain for more than 3-6 months and is not responding to your or any other treatments?

It’s possible that it’s neuroplastic pain (also known as neural circuit pain, central sensitization, TMS (tension myoneural syndrome)

Neuroplastic pain results from the brain misinterpreting safe messages from the body as if they were dangerous. In other words, neuroplastic pain is a false alarm. Though the pain can be addressed through various practices, this does not imply that the pain is imaginary. The pain is REAL!

“The relationship between pain and the state of the tissues becomes weaker as pain persists”  Dr. Lorimer Moseley

In other words the longer the pain persists the higher the chance it’s being caused by the brain and nervous system. Without the brain there is no pain.

Neuroplastic pain is caused by a brain/nervous system which has gotten stuck...

My client, Nancy came in the other day and was concerned about her left arm and left hand. She'd been doing bicep curls with her trainer sitting at a machine, using  a 15 pound bar and she experienced pain and lack of strength in her left arm/hand.

She has a history of an ulnar nerve injury in that arm and experiences flare ups now and then.

Her personality type is one that pushes herself hard, a high achiever and sets very high standards for herself.

I just completed my Movement Specialist Certification and there were some really handy tools in there including a  Movement Threat Screen Assessment.

I asked Nancy to visualize doing the exercise the same way she had just done it with her trainer and asked her if that caused her any worry, fear, or pain.  She reported that it did and was amazed that a visualization could produce the same experience.

But as we all know, the brain really doesn't know the difference between past, present, or future. It's always in the now.