ClinicalAthlete Podcast Episode 138: The Dry Forest & Pain w/ Ben Cormack
Feb 6, 2026
Ben Cormack, clinician and educator who created Cor-Kinetic, breaks down a dry forest analogy for understanding pain risk. He explores how stress, inflammation, and behavior interact to ignite pain. Short takes cover radiculopathy, exercise as a systemic tool, boosting self‑efficacy, and practical steps to raise recovery and resilience.
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Dry Forest Explains Pain Risk
- The dry forest analogy explains how risk factors create an environment where small triggers cause big pain events.
- Ben Cormack uses it to show lifestyle and stress make the system more likely to 'ignite'.
Allostatic Load Lowers Pain Thresholds
- Allostatic load creates a pro-nociceptive and pro-inflammatory internal environment that lowers nociceptor thresholds.
- That environment makes small stimuli produce disproportionate pain responses like a wildfire.
Explain Flare Causes, Not Just Movements
- Use explanatory context to help patients understand why a small trigger caused a big flare instead of blaming one movement or posture.
- Explain inflammatory responses and system-level contributors to normalize and guide management.