Why Do I Still Hurt After My Injury Has Healed?
If you’ve ever been told, “Everything looks normal, you should be fine,” yet you still hurt every day, it can feel confusing, invalidating, and lonely.
Many people in the Twin Cities land here after months or years of chronic pain—even though their injury has technically healed. So what’s going on?
This is where the idea of neuroplastic pain comes in.
When the Body Has Healed but the Pain Continues
In an acute injury (like a sprained ankle or muscle strain), tissue usually heals within weeks or months. But for some people, pain persists long after those tissues are structurally sound.(1)
Doctors might say things like:
- “Your MRI looks normal.”
- “There’s nothing serious going on.”
- “You’ll just have to live with it.”
The problem? Your pain is still very real.
Chronic pain without an ongoing structural cause is often driven by changes in the nervous system rather than damage in the body. This is what we call neuroplastic pain—pain that’s generated by the brain, not by an active injury.(1)
What Is Neuroplastic Pain?
Neuroplastic pain happens when the brain and nervous system develop learned pathways of pain. The brain misinterprets safe signals from the body as if they were dangerous and keeps sounding the alarm—even when tissues are okay.(1)
Some key points:
- All pain is real. Brain-generated pain isn’t “imagined” or fake.
- The brain has simply become overprotective, stuck in “danger mode.”
- Just as the brain can learn pain pathways, it can also unlearn them.
Common Signs Your Pain May Be Neuroplastic
Every person is unique, but there are some common patterns we see at Rhubarb Holistic Health in the Minneapolis–St. Paul area:
1. Pain That Outlasts Normal Healing Time
Your original injury has had more than enough time to heal, but the pain hasn’t followed the usual timeline.
2. Normal or Mild Imaging Findings
Scans might show nothing significant—or only age-typical changes (like mild disc bulges or “degeneration”) that many pain-free people have.(1)
3. Pain That Moves, Fluctuates, or Acts Inconsistently
One day it’s your low back, another day your neck, or the intensity jumps around in ways that don’t quite match a structural pattern.
4. Pain That Flares with Stress, Fear, or Exhaustion
You might notice pain gets worse when:
- Work is overwhelming
- Relationships are tense
- You’re not sleeping well
- You’re worrying about pain itself
This doesn’t mean pain is “just stress”—it means your nervous system is involved, interpreting all of this as danger.
5. You’ve Tried Many Treatments with Only Temporary Relief
Hands-on work, injections, or medications may help for a bit, but the pain returns, or new symptoms pop up somewhere else.
How Pain Reprocessing Therapy Helps When Pain Won’t Go Away
Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) is a structured, evidence-informed approach designed specifically for neuroplastic pain. It helps retrain the brain’s pain pathways so the alarm system can finally stand down.(2)
In PRT, we typically:
1. Clarify What’s Going On
We look at your history, patterns, and medical workup to assess whether neuroplastic pain is a likely contributor.
2. Reframe Pain as a False Alarm (When Medically Appropriate)
When it’s safe to do so, we help you understand that your pain—though very real—may not be signaling damage. This shift lays the foundation for change.
3. Use Somatic Tracking to Bring in Safety
We introduce skills like somatic tracking—a gentle way of noticing sensations with curiosity instead of fear. Over time, this teaches the brain that these sensations are safe, and the alarm can soften.(3)
4. Work with Fear, Emotions, and Daily Life
We explore the thoughts, expectations, emotions, and daily triggers that keep your nervous system on edge. Step by step, we build more capacity, safety, and resilience.
You’re Not Broken—Your System Is Overprotective
If you’re in Minneapolis, St. Paul, or the surrounding Twin Cities communities, and you’re still in pain after your injury “should” be healed, the next step isn’t to blame yourself.
It’s to get curious.
Your pain may not mean your body is broken. It may mean your nervous system needs support, reassurance, and new experiences of safety.
Sources
- Painreprocessingtherapy.com. Neuroplastic Pain.
- Sharon Reynolds. National Institutes of Health (NIH). Retraining the brain to treat chronic pain.
- Painreprocessingtherapy.com. Somatic Tracking 101 — What to Do When Pain Flares.
