Nobody wants to be in pain. It’s distressing by nature—and that’s exactly its purpose. Pain is your brain’s alarm system, designed to grab your attention and protect you from harm.
We all understand pain from a paper cut, a broken bone, or a torn muscle. In these cases, damaged tissue sends signals through nerves to the brain, which responds with pain so we rest and heal. But when pain lasts longer than expected—or appears without any clear injury—it becomes harder to understand.
This is where chronic pain comes in. Chronic simply means the pain has persisted over time. Unlike short-term (acute) pain, chronic pain can feel overwhelming because it’s harder to control. There’s no clear timeline for recovery, and that uncertainty can be deeply discouraging. A torn muscle might heal in weeks or months, but chronic pain can linger for years, making it difficult to plan, adapt, or hold onto hope.
Traditionally, treatment has focused on managing pain—learning to live with it, accepting it as part of life. For some conditions, like advanced arthritis or cancer, this approach may be necessary. But for many people, especially those whose pain continues after healing or has no clear physical cause, this strategy falls short.
This type of pain is now known as primary pain—also called neuroplastic pain, or TMS. It’s driven by changes in the brain and nervous system, not ongoing tissue damage. And here’s the hopeful part: primary pain is treatable.Â
It in not just pain. The brain can produce a huge variety of sensations in the body that also act as part of the threat alarm system. These are also treatable.Â
Our understanding of pain is evolving. We now know that the brain can “unlearn” pain patterns through education, movement, and therapies that retrain the nervous system. Many people have recovered from disabling pain once they understood how it works and engaged with the right support.
Pain is real. But so is recovery.
Chronic primary pain is treatable. There is a growing body of research that demonstrates this and provides us with good, rational, scientific evidence that it is possible and why, and the breakthrough is in the growing field of mindbody medicine. It is estimated that 40% of conditions seen in a GP surgery are mindbody disorders and yet this approach is really not discussed. There is definitely more awareness of mental health issues in society, but these are not considered in the genesis of things like migraine, low back pain, IBS or autoimmune disorders. An understanding of the way our bodies work with our mind, allows us to begin to see the interrelationship between our bodies physiological reactions and the way we think, or process our emotions.
The resolution of chronic primary symptoms is possible and the first step is an understanding of the problem. If you are interested in resolving your chronic pain, or other symptoms, please check these resources out. If you feel that you want help with your recovery, we have pain specialists in physis that can coach you through the process. Addressing pain through the mind body approach is a coaching process that you will not get on the NHS. As you will see, many people recover through simply coming to an understanding of the issues. Many people take a lot longer, with a lot more input from health professionals. There are enough free resources to allow you to work on your own, or you can work with us, and allow us to coach you through the process to help you recover. This process is not easy, but it seems to work.
We have experience treating persistent pain using Pain Reprocessing Therapy, which is a mind-body approach to pain that focuses on the re-appraisal of somatic (body) sensations through understanding and experiencing, as well as Cognitive Functional Therapy, which is a comprehensive bio-psycho-social approach to persistent low back pain. Â We are affiliated to the PPDA, the ATNS and SIRPA.
As an affiliated clinic to SIRPA you can work with us and go through an online chronic pain recovery programme, or just do this on your own. You can access the SIRPA recovery programme here:
Â
Â
If you are interested in a 1-2-1 consultation for your chronic pain please let us know by emailing us on [email protected]Â or phoning 0131 478 4646.
These services are available at our Trinity and Westwood Edinburgh Physiotherapy clinics or on-line.
Â
Expert physiotherapy from professionals, registered with the Health Care Professions Council and all the major insurance companies. Based from four clinics covering all areas of Edinburgh.
©2025 Physis Physiotherapy | Powered by 291 Media