It’s Not In Your Head, But It Might Be In Your Nervous System!

Pain and other persistent pelvic health symptoms are complex. If you’re navigating persistent pelvic pain, IBS, urinary urgency, prolapse, or other conditions that don’t seem to have one clear and consistent mechanical cause, you’re not alone. These symptoms may all involve ‘nociplastic’ changes in the nervous system— changes in how the nervous system processes signals from the body, brain and environment. Understanding nociplastic pain can be a game-changer in your journey toward finding relief and getting back to living life.

What is Nociplastic Pain?

Nociplastic pain arises from shifts in how the brain and nervous system process signals. Unlike pain caused primarily by ongoing tissue damage or inflammation, nociplastic symptoms often persist long after an injury has healed or inflammation has passed. It can be unpredictable, sometimes flaring without clear triggers like movement or mechanical stress. Stress and emotional factors can also amplify this type of pain, making it a significant factor in many chronic conditions.

Why Understanding Nociplastic Pain Matters

Even when structural issues, inflammation, or nerve irritation are present, nociplastic factors can play a significant role in how you experience discomfort. Symptoms are rarely straightforward; they’re influenced not only by the body but also by the brain and nervous system. Recognizing and addressing the nociplastic component allows for a more comprehensive, effective approach to managing persistent pelvic health challenges.

It’s Not “All in Your Head”

If you’re experiencing nociplastic pain, know this: your pain is real. It’s not imaginary or a product of overthinking. Instead, it’s a result of changes in how your nervous system processes signals, leading to amplified sensations. The good news? These processing patterns can be retrained, offering hope for meaningful relief.

Evidence-Based Approaches to Address Nociplastic Symptoms

Addressing nociplastic symptoms involves strategies that target both the body and the nervous system and benefits from evidence-based psychological approaches to managing pain including:

1. Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT): Helps you reframe thoughts and perceptions related to pain, reducing its emotional impact
2. Mindfulness and Meditation: These practices calm the nervous system, regulate pain perception, and reduce stress
3. Graded Exposure Therapy: Gradually reintroduces activities that might be avoided due to pain, helping to desensitize the nervous system
4. Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT): Focuses on retraining the brain’s response to pain signals to reduce their intensity
5. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): Encourages living a meaningful life despite pain, fostering resilience and reducing vigilance around sensations

Spotlight on Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT)

PRT is a newer approach that reshapes how the brain and nervous system processes pain. It includes:

1. Education: Understanding how sensation is processed and can become sensitized
2. Mindfulness and Awareness: Observing pain signals and other sensations with curiosity rather than fear
3. Cognitive Reframing: Shifting perceptions of pain and sensations to create a sense of safety
4. Gradual Exposure: Safely re-engaging with activities that may have triggered pain utilizing the above skills to retrain a sense of safety with triggering activities

*PRT has shown success in reducing chronic pain, improving functionality, and enhancing emotional well-being with pain and other persistent symptoms that have a nociplastic component

Somatic Tracking: Building a New Relationship with Pain

Somatic tracking is foundational to PRT. It is a mindfulness-based technique that involves observing and experiencing bodily sensations with curiosity and compassion. This practice can:

1. Help you reconnect with your body and understand what sensations might be communicating
2. Reduce fear and anxiety around pain, breaking the cycle of chronic discomfort
3. Re-establish safety with sensations previously interpreted as threatening
4. Promote acceptance and emotional resilience, empowering you to navigate pain with greater ease

Book a free discovery call here to determine if this approach is right for you!

Lara Desrosiers is an Occupational Therapist and owner of Pelvic Resilience. She supports individuals across Ontario struggling with pain and pelvic health challenges to get back to living life.