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PainEase Coaching
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Demystifying Pain: Pain Neuroscience Education 101
Neuroscience shows us that pain is complex and multifaceted, but understanding it is the first step to relief. Pain neuroscience education (PNE) is recognized as a crucial component of a comprehensive, multimodal approach to chronic pain. Below, is a breakdown of the main types of chronic pain that will relate to the three programs we offer at PainEase Coaching.
At PainEase Coaching, programs are tailored to your pain type—helping you move from struggle to strength.
Chronic Pain Types
Non-Structural Neuroplastic Pain
This primary chronic pain arises from changes in the brain and nervous system's pain processing, generally without ongoing tissue damage—it's like a "learned" pain signal that persists. Also known as nociplastic pain, neural pathway pain, mind-body syndrome, (MBS) or Tension Myositis Syndrome (TMS).
Some examples include:
- Fibromyalgia (Fibro-Focused program)
- Back and neck pain, including most disc bulges and degenerative changes
-Tension headaches/migraines
-Irritable bowel syndrome
In PainEase Coaching, the RISE Program and the Fibro-Fundamentals Program is designed for neuroplastic pain, helping to rewire brain pathways, soften nervous system over-protection, optimize emotional processing and potentially resolve symptoms, fostering emergence into a pain-reduced life.
The RISE Program (neuroplastic/non-structural focus) — [Learn more HERE]
Fibro-Fundamentals (fibromyalgia support) — [Learn more HERE]
Structural- Nociceptive Pain
This type of pain occurs when actual organic damage is found in the biology and structure of the body. It stems from inflammation and/or tissue damage in the body's structures (e.g., muscles, joints, or organs). It's often localized and responds to physical triggers.
Some examples include:
- Cancer pain
-Some arthritic conditions
-Some neurodegenerative conditions
Autoimmune conditions:
-Inflammatory bowel disease: Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis
-Systemic lupus erythematosus
-Ankylosing spondylitis
-Rheumatoid arthritis
-Psoriatic arthritis
At PainEase Coaching, the FLOW Program optimizes management for structural pain, helping you build emotional resilience, social enhancement and ease daily discomfort through targeted lifestyle and mindfulness strategies.
The FLOW Program (mixed pain: body + brain) — [Learn more HERE]
Neuropathic pain is a type of pain that comes directly from damage or disease in the somatosensory nervous system, which includes the nerves, spinal cord, and brain. Unlike other pain types that signal tissue damage, neuropathic pain is caused by the nerves themselves malfunctioning. They send faulty, amplified signals to the brain, leading to a variety of unusual and often intense sensations.
People describe neuropathic pain with words like:
Burning
Shooting or stabbing
Electric shock-like
Tingling or "pins and needles"
Numbness
Some examples include:
-Multiple sclerosis
-Diabetic neuropathy
-Sciatic (often mixed with neuroplastic pain)
-Trigeminal neuralgia
-Postherpetic neuralgia
At PainEase Coaching, the FLOW Program optimizes management for structural pain.
The FLOW Program (mixed pain: body + brain) — [Learn more HERE]
Chronic Pain Analogy: The Car Alarm
Think of your brain as the alarm and your body as the car:
Structural nociceptive pain → Imagine someone smashing the bonnet with a hammer. The car is damaged and the alarm goes off. Here, the problem is structural, so the solution is to repair the body of the car and maintain the long-term damage.
Structural neuropathic pain → Now imagine the alarm wiring is faulty. It sends random bursts of sound of the alarm on and off—quiet for a while, then suddenly loud again. This represents damaged alarm-nerves, and it needs an “auto-electrician” to manage this problem.
Non-structural neuroplastic pain → Finally, picture a feather landing on the car. Even though nothing is wrong, the alarm screams constantly. The issue here isn’t the car—it’s the alarm system itself (the brain). This requires a “car alarm specialist” to reset and retrain the system.
Different types of pain require different methods of treatment but very often, due to the complex nature of pain, pain presents with more than one type- Mixed Pain.
Mixed Pain
This type of pain occurs when both structural types (nociceptive or neuropathic) and non-structural (neuroplastic) pain combine in how they present in the body making it complex and multifaceted regarding treatment. Examples of mixed pain types include a person with rheumatoid arthritis (structural inflammatory pain) who also has fibromyalgia (non-structural neuroplastic pain) or multiple sclerosis (nerve damage neuropathic plus amplified nervous system pain processing-neuroplastic).
The FLOW Program supports people with mixed pain, working on lifestyle optimization, resilience, and nervous system regulation to reduce the burden of pain.
