Entries by The Pain PT

The official definition of pain highlights 2 things most people don’t believe

When we have pain or a physical symptom in the body, most people believe two things. All physical symptoms (pain) are just unpleasant physical sensations, and They’re related to something physically wrong in the body. But what many people don’t understand are two other things related to pain or physical symptoms. Symptoms (pain) are not […]

New emotional circuit discovered in the brain relates to pain

The neuroscience around the brain and pain (symptoms) keeps evolving and our understanding continues to grow and change as more new evidence comes forth. Today I want to share some of this new evidence from a study done at the Salk Institute.  The article states: “Researchers at the Salk Institute have now identified a brain […]

Talking with Tanner Murtagh about Neuroplastic Symptoms

I appreciate Tanner having me on his channel to discuss neuroplastic symptoms and my path as a PT (physio) into doing this work. Have a listen if you like and I look forward to interviewing Tanner next year on my channel. So be on the lookout for that one.   Podcast Link:  

How to BEAT Neuroplastic Symptoms

I’ve been working to consolidate what we know about the brain and neuroplastic symptoms and structure that into an approach that people can utilize to change their brains which will change their pains or neuroplastic symptoms. I’ve decided to call this BEAT. It has a nice ring to it how to BEAT neuroplastic symptoms. But […]

Highly Sensitive Brain Associated with Chronic Pain

One of the things I see in a lot of patients I work with is high sensitivity. Many have heard of the highly sensitive person (HSP) and you may think of yourself as one. Studies show relationships between high sensitivity and neuroplastic symptoms. In one sample of adolescents who reported chronic pain, the proportion of […]

Emotion Regulation and Self-Compassion in Relation to Symptoms

Let’s go to the evidence!  After taking a break through the summer and fall I am getting back to sharing the evidence with you all to support the work I do here with neuroplastic symptoms. Let’s look at this study today. This recent paper (July 2025) titled: “The Relationship Between Difficulties in Emotion Regulation, Self-Compassion, […]

The amygdala plays a role in pain and neuroplastic symptoms

Many people believe pain is just physical- meaning it’s your body. What most people don’t understand is the role of the brain in physical pain and neuroplastic symptoms- physical symptoms that are produced by the brain not the body. In this video I review a paper from 2020 (link here) that looked at the role […]

Join me LIVE September 10th on TMS Roundtable Recovery

Please join me live tomorrow September 10th at 10am Pacific 1pm Eastern time. I will be talking about about the mind-body relationship on the TMS Roundtable Recovery. I am grateful to host Doc Tovah and co-host Jeannie Kulwin for having me on. If you are interested in joining the broadcast live or watching later here […]

Catastrophizing and why it’s important to shift it

One of the well-studied mental-emotional constructs with chronic pain and symptom disorders is called pain catastrophizing. It is a cognitive distortion where one thinks for the worst when it comes symptoms. Here I lay out some of the strong evidence which shows the negative power of catastrophizing and why we need to shift for healing. […]

What Emotion Are You Feeling Now?

Emotions are undercurrents running in our bodies. Many times emotions sit underneath thoughts, physical symptoms, behaviors and actions. Research indicates we are feeling at least one emotion 90% of the time during the day. Some research also shows many people (upwards of 50%) with chronic pain and other medically unexplained physical symptoms have what’s called […]