How Chronic Pain Gets Stuck in the Nervous System

Feb 20, 2026

Explores how chronic pain can become a neuroplastic problem when the nervous system learns a danger-pain loop. Covers Pain Reprocessing Therapy and seven techniques to retrain the brain. Introduces somatic tracking, safety messages, and ways to notice and replace fearful thoughts. Discusses signs that pain may be neuroplastic and how to safely build tolerance and expect setbacks.

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ANECDOTE

Nail-Through-Boot Pain Story

A construction worker felt intense pain after stepping on a nail even though the nail hadn't touched his foot.
The story shows fear and expectation can produce real pain without tissue damage.

INSIGHT

How Pain Gets Stuck

Neuroplastic pain happens when danger and pain pathways wire together and get stuck 'on'.
Fear, expectation, and conditioning can escalate pain into a self-reinforcing loop.

INSIGHT

Diagnoses Can Fuel The Pain Loop

Structural diagnoses often don't explain chronic pain because many pain-free people have similar imaging findings.
Labels can increase threat, hypervigilance, and conditioned pain responses even when tissue damage is incidental.

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Back pain and other chronic pain can be managed with pain reprocessing therapy. Alan Gordon’s book The Way Out can teach you how to retrain your brain to manage chronic pain

The Pain Psychology Center: https://painpsychologycenter.com/ The Way Out book: https://a.co/d/053sW1L0

Chronic Pain Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiUrrIiqidTXq4l8CetR1bQqoQfONrh4c

Somatic Tracking Exercise: https://youtu.be/HeNRMr8uJbI

Learn the skills to Regulate your Emotions, join the membership: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/membership

Chronic pain isn't "just in your head"—it's often neuroplastic pain caused by a nervous system stuck in a danger-pain cycle. Discover Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) from Alan Gordon's book, The Way Out.

Learn the 7 techniques to retrain your brain and find relief from chronic back pain, neck pain, and headaches. Find out how somatic tracking and messages of safety can help you unlearn pain and heal your nervous system.

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Therapy in a Nutshell and the information provided by Emma McAdam are solely intended for informational and entertainment purposes and are not a substitute for advice, diagnosis, or treatment regarding medical or mental health conditions. Although Emma McAdam is a licensed marriage and family therapist, the views expressed on this site or any related content should not be taken for medical or psychiatric advice. Always consult your physician before making any decisions related to your physical or mental health. In therapy I use a combination of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Systems Theory, positive psychology, and a bio-psycho-social approach to treating mental illness and other challenges we all face in life. The ideas from my videos are frequently adapted from multiple sources. Many of them come from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, especially the work of Steven Hayes, Jason Luoma, and Russ Harris. The sections on stress and the mind-body connection derive from the work of Stephen Porges (the Polyvagal theory), Peter Levine (Somatic Experiencing) Francine Shapiro (EMDR), and Bessel Van Der Kolk. I also rely heavily on the work of the Arbinger Institute for my overall understanding of our ability to choose our life's direction.

And deeper than all of that, the Gospel of Jesus Christ orients my personal worldview and sense of security, peace, hope, and love https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/comeuntochrist/believe

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