Healing Chronic Pain 

       While many people find Feldenkrais to be a powerful somatic modality for healing chronic pain,  advances in neuroscience have recently added a groundbreaking new modality for healing chronic pain --  Pain Reprocessing Therapy, or PRT.

       PRT is based on the work of mind-body pioneer,  Dr. John Sarno, and a host of very recent studies showing that most chronic pain is not usually the result of structural or physical issues but rather  of neurological miscues in which the brain interprets misinterprets normal body signals and/or environmental cues as dangerous and sends pain as a warning signal.  
       Chronic pain is an indication that the brain may have learned pain as a habitual response to certain triggers.  This is referred to as neuroplastic pain or brain generated pain.  People with neuroplastic pain do experience real pain, not imagined pain, but it is pain generated by the brain rather than by a physical issue. 

        A groundbreaking study was done at University of Colorado Boulder in 2022 using  Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) with 50 people who'd had chronic back pain for 10 years or more, including a former football player who hadn't been able to stand, sit or walk without pain for 30 years.   To the surprise of the study doctors, upon examination not one of the patients had a structural cause for the pain (although many had been told that a structural issue was the cause of their pain).    This was confirmed when, after recieving only 8 sessions of Pain Reprocessing Therapy (2x/wk for 4 weeks)  98% of the patients improved, and 75% were cured of their back pain -- a result that was not thought possible prior to the study.   

      A medical search for the cause of back pain will often result with a diagnosis of things like herniation or disc bulges, with the doctor and the patient both believing the traditional medical understanding that these conditions are causing the pain.  
        But a study in New England Journal of Medicine (331, no. 2)  showed that 64 percent of people with no back pain have disc bulges, protrusions, herniations and degenerations.  These structural issues are normal and usually unrelated to pain.    Fifty percent of 30 year olds have degenerative disk disease with no pain.   According to Dr. Howard Schubiner, developer of PRT,  doctors are typically testing people with pain and assuming a correlation (between the pain and the structural condition)  that is not born out by the studies.
        Pain that has a physical/structural cause, from an injury for example, usually heals relatively quickly with proper rest and treatment.  Chronic pain is an indication that the pain is likely neuroplastic in origin -- generated by the brain rather than by a structural/physical issue.

       This is good news for those who suffer chronic pain.  What the brain learns can be unlearned.    

         Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT)  was developed by Dr. Howard Schubiner, director of the Mind Body Medicine Center at Providence Hospital in Southfield, Michigan, and is based on the pioneering work of Dr. John Sarno, a professor of Rehabilitation Medicine at NYU School of Medicine, who published several influential books, including "Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection" which became a bestseller.
          You can listen to an interview with Dr. Schubiner here.   Two good books on PRT are "Unlearning Your Pain" by Dr. Schubiner and "The Way Out" by Alan Gordon.

          Kevin has received professional training Pain Reprocessing Therapy from Dr. Schubiner and now offers PRT as part of his Feldenkrais practice.  

           Within a few weeks of completing the PRT training Kevin was able to use PRT to significantly diminish ten years of significant IBS related food triggering and related sleep difficulties.  He was able to end a highly restricted diet, and once again eat anything, and experience a significant reduction of symptoms  ... with the likelyhood of eventually completely eliminating symptoms.

           Some of the conditions that are now understood usually to be neuroplastic in origin and which tend to respond well to PRT are:

Chronic Pain Syndromes: tension headaches, migraine headaches, back pain, neck pain, whiplash, fibromyalgia, TMJ syndrome, abdominal and pelvic pain syndromes, chronic tendonitis, vulfoynia, piriformis syndrome, sciactic pain syndrome, repetitive stress injury, foot pain syndromes, myofacial pain syndrome.

Autonomic Nervous System related disorders:  Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Irritable bladder syndrome, Postural othostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), inappropriate sinus tachycardia, complex regional pain syndrome, functional dyspepsia

Other Syndromes:  Insomnia. Chronic fatigue syndrome, paresthesias (numbness, tingling, burning), tinnitus, dizziness, spasmodic dysphonia, chronic hives. anxiety, depression, OCD, PTSD.

         Many of the symptoms and syndromes listed above can also be caused by physical disorders that do require medical treatment, and an assessment from your doctor combined with that of a mind-body specialist trained in PRT can help you sort out whether your pain is structural/physical or neuroplastic in origin. 

        Neuroplastic pain, while real, can be reversed by targeting the brain rather than the body.   Again, most chronic pain is neuroplastic pain, meaning that it responds well to treatment with PRT.     The goal of PRT is to change your relationship with pain, and with fear of pain, and even with fear itself!  

           In a single PRT session an assessment can be made as to whether your pain is neuroplastic or structural/physical in origin and a PRT treatment begun.  Even many people with structural pain find that their pain is significantly reduced with PRT because they gain a better neuroscience-based understanding of how pain works and how to minimize it.

        PRT assessments will initially be offered for $75, through Sept 30, 2024.      To arrange a PRT assessment, contact Kevin.