Harnessing Neuroplasticity to Alleviate Chronic Pain

Chronic pain can take over your life, touching everything from work to sleep to relationships. It is understandable to feel frustrated or hopeless when pain persists despite every test, treatment, or medication. But there is another way to understand what is happening. Research shows that the brain and nervous system play a key role in how we experience pain, and the brain has the ability to change. When the nervous system senses danger or remains stuck in a protective state, it can amplify pain signals even when the body is safe. The hopeful part is that both the brain and the nervous system have the capacity to change.

Understanding How the Brain Learns Pain

In chronic pain, the brain’s danger alarm sometimes gets stuck in the “on” position. Even after an injury heals, the nervous system can continue sending pain signals because it has learned to associate certain sensations, movements, or emotions with threat. The nervous system does this with good intentions because it believes it is protecting you from harm. Over time, this ongoing state of alert can keep the body tense and reactive, making pain feel louder and more persistent.

Neuroplasticity-based therapies help retrain these pain pathways so the brain can calm the alarm and relearn a sense of safety in the body.

Neural connections in the brain illustrating neuroplasticity

The Mind and Body Connection in Healing

When pain persists, it is often not only physical. Emotions such as fear, grief, or stress can reinforce the pain cycle and keep the body in a state of protection. When the nervous system feels unsafe, it continues to send out danger signals that increase muscle tension and pain sensitivity. By calming the nervous system and teaching it to recognize safety again, pain signals can begin to settle. Working with the mind and body connection can help you begin to gently shift out of that loop.

Therapies that support this process include:

Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) Teaches the brain to reinterpret pain sensations as safe rather than dangerous.

Somatic Experiencing (SE) Helps the body release stored tension and survival energy related to chronic stress or trauma.

Mindfulness and gentle movement Encourage awareness and curiosity about sensations without judgment, helping the nervous system settle.

These approaches work with your body’s natural capacity to heal and restore regulation.

How to Tell if Your Pain May Be Neuroplastic

Understanding the nature of your pain can be an important step toward healing. Neuroplastic pain is real pain, but it comes from changes in the brain and nervous system rather than ongoing injury or damage in the body. Recognizing certain patterns can help clarify whether your pain might have a learned or brain-based component.

Some common signs that pain may be neuroplastic include:

Pain that continues after the body has healed. The tissue injury has resolved or is minimal, yet the pain persists because the brain has learned to stay on high alert.

Pain that moves or changes location. It may shift to different areas of the body or fluctuate in intensity without a clear physical explanation.

Pain that seems out of proportion to medical findings. Tests or imaging might show little or no structural cause for the level of pain you experience.

Pain that increases with stress or strong emotions. When the nervous system is activated by fear, worry, or emotional strain, pain often intensifies.

Pain sensitivity that feels heightened. Even mild touch, pressure, or temperature changes may trigger significant discomfort.

If these patterns sound familiar, your brain may have developed protective responses that are no longer serving you. The good news is that these patterns can change. Through therapies that work with the mind and body connection, such as Pain Reprocessing Therapy and Somatic Experiencing, the brain can relearn safety and ease, allowing pain to gradually quiet and healing to take root.

Therapy room designed for brain and physical rehabilitation

How I Integrate Neuroplasticity Work in Therapy

You can take active steps to encourage your brain to rewire itself and reduce chronic pain. Here are some actionable recommendations:

In my practice, I use a blend of Pain Reprocessing Therapy, Somatic Experiencing, and EMDR, depending on what feels most supportive for each person. These methods all honor the wisdom of the body while helping the brain release old patterns of fear and protection.

Through this integrative work, clients often begin to experience small but meaningful shifts, such as a sense of ease returning to places that once felt tense or moments where the pain softens as the nervous system learns it no longer needs to guard against threat.

Healing through neuroplasticity is a gradual process, but change truly is possible.

Supporting Brain and Body Healing

Beyond therapy, there are everyday ways to reinforce what you are learning in sessions.

Move gently and regularly. Movement helps the brain relearn safety and decreases pain sensitivity.

Practice mindfulness and breath awareness. These tools calm the nervous system and strengthen new brain pathways.

Connect with others. Safe relationships help the brain feel secure and supported.

Rest and restore. Sleep and nourishing routines allow your system to recover and integrate healing work.

Small, consistent practices build new neural pathways that support lasting change.

Reclaiming a Sense of Safety and Relief

Chronic pain is real, and so is your capacity to heal. As the nervous system learns safety and regulation, it no longer needs to sound the alarm through pain. Understanding that pain lives in the brain and body, and that both can change, offers a compassionate and empowering path forward. With the right support, it is possible to quiet the alarm, restore a sense of trust in your body, and live with greater comfort and freedom.

If you are ready to explore this kind of healing, I offer therapy for chronic pain and mind body connection in person in Los Angeles and online throughout California.