What is Pain Reprocessing Therapy?
A Guide for Chronic Pain in the Twin Cities
For many people living with chronic pain, the journey is long, confusing, and often discouraging. You may have tried multiple treatments, been told conflicting things, or wondered why your pain persists even when tests come back clear. Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) offers a different way forward—one that finally makes sense.
PRT is a mind-body approach that helps the brain reinterpret pain signals, teaching your nervous system that your body is safe. Instead of chasing structural explanations or assuming something must be “wrong,” PRT gently rewires learned pain patterns so the body can move out of protection and into healing. It’s grounded in neuroscience yet feels approachable, compassionate, and empowering.
How Pain Reprocessing Therapy Works
Chronic pain often sticks around long after the original injury—or even without an injury at all. This doesn’t mean the pain is imagined; it means the brain has become overly protective. When the nervous system becomes conditioned to send repeated pain signals, those pathways can fire automatically.
Pain Reprocessing Therapy helps break that cycle through five core elements:
- Education about pain: Understanding how the brain generates pain reduces fear and promotes calm.
- Somatic tracking: A gentle, curious awareness of sensations without reacting to them.
- Thought reframing: Replacing fear-based beliefs with accurate, supportive ones.
- Emotional repatterning: Identifying stress patterns like perfectionism or self-pressure that amplify pain.
- Re-engaging with life: Returning to movement and activities with confidence rather than fear.
Over time, these skills create new neural pathways that interpret signals more accurately—so the brain stops sounding the alarm when you’re actually safe.
Who Can Benefit From Pain Reprocessing Therapy?
PRT is especially helpful for people experiencing chronic pain that doesn’t have a clear structural cause, or pain that lingers long after the body has healed. Clients often turn to PRT when they’ve “tried everything,” but symptoms don’t resolve.
Common conditions that respond well to PRT include:
- Back, neck, and shoulder pain
- Fibromyalgia
- Chronic headaches and migraines
- TMJ disorders
- Pelvic pain
- Nerve-related pain (including sciatica)
- Widespread or unexplained pain
- Persistent muscle tension
- Pain connected to stress, anxiety, or emotional overwhelm
Many clients come in unsure or even skeptical—but still find themselves experiencing meaningful relief as their nervous system calms.
Benefits of Pain Reprocessing Therapy
Because PRT works with the root cause—the brain’s pain pathways—clients often notice:
Meaningful, lasting pain reduction
Teaching the brain safety reduces the signals that cause chronic pain.
A calmer, more regulated nervous system
Clients gain tools that help them respond to stress with more steadiness.
More freedom in movement and daily life
Fear decreases, confidence grows, and activities become enjoyable again.
Improved emotional well-being
As the pain loop quiets, energy returns for connection, creativity, and joy.
Long-term change
PRT skills become part of your toolkit, supporting your body long after sessions end.
Is Pain Reprocessing Therapy Right for You?
If you’ve been living with chronic pain and feel like you’ve run out of answers, PRT may be the missing link. Grant offers a grounded, personalized, and compassionate approach rooted in evidence and tailored to your unique story.
You’re invited to schedule a free consultation to explore whether Pain Reprocessing Therapy could help you finally move toward relief.
Sources
- Ashar, Y. K., Gordon, A., Schubiner, H., et al. “Effect of Pain Reprocessing Therapy vs Placebo and Usual Care for Patients With Chronic Back Pain: A Randomized Clinical Trial.” JAMA Psychiatry, 2021.
- Moseley, G. L., & Butler, D. S. Explain Pain, Noigroup Publications, 2017.
- National Institutes of Health (NIH): Chronic Pain and the Brain – Research summaries on pain perception and central nervous system involvement.
