Why Isn’t Anything Helping My Pain?

Understanding When Chronic Pain Needs a Different Approach

You've tried everything.

Your doctor at Saint Luke's ran all the tests. The MRI came back normal. You found a great chiropractor in Blue Springs who helps a little, but the relief never lasts. You've done physical therapy, tried medications, changed your diet, and even explored acupuncture.

And you're still in pain.

Maybe the pain makes your daily commute from Lee's Summit to downtown Kansas City feel impossible. Or it keeps you from playing with your kids. Or it's just always there, a constant reminder that something is wrong even though no one can tell you what.

You're exhausted. You're frustrated. And you're starting to wonder if this is just your life now.

If this sounds familiar, you're not alone. And here's something important: the fact that nothing has helped yet doesn't mean nothing will help. It might mean your pain needs a different kind of treatment.

What Happens When the Medical System Can't Find a Cause

Most of us grow up believing that pain always has a clear physical cause. If something hurts, there must be damage or injury causing it. That's true for acute pain, like a broken bone or a fresh wound. But chronic pain often works differently.

When you've been through multiple doctors, specialists, and treatments without finding relief, it's common to hear things like "the tests look fine" or "there's no structural damage." This can feel invalidating and confusing. You know the pain is real. You're living with it every day.

Here's what's actually happening: most chronic pain is what researchers now call neuroplastic pain or primary pain. This means the pain is real, but it's not coming from ongoing tissue damage. It's coming from the way your brain has learned to interpret signals from your body.

Your brain is always receiving information from your body. When you were first injured or when you first started experiencing pain, your brain correctly identified danger and created the sensation of pain to protect you. But sometimes, even after the original injury has healed, the brain continues to send pain signals. It's like an alarm system that keeps going off even when there's no fire.

This is what chronic pain is for most people—not ongoing damage, but a brain pattern that needs retraining.

Is My Pain Really All in My Head?

This is the question almost everyone with chronic pain worries about. And the answer is both yes and no.

Yes, the pain is generated by your brain. But no, that doesn't mean you're imagining it or that it's not real.

All pain is generated by the brain. Even when you stub your toe, the pain you feel is your brain's interpretation of the signals coming from your toe. Your brain decides how much danger you're in and creates the pain sensation accordingly.

With neuroplastic pain, your brain has become overly sensitive to signals from your body. It's interpreting normal sensations as danger when there isn't actually a threat. This isn't your fault. It's not a character flaw or a sign of weakness. It's a learned pattern that your nervous system has developed, often in response to stress, past injuries, or emotional experiences.

The good news is that learned patterns can be unlearned.

Can Stress Really Cause Physical Pain?

Yes. And this often surprises people.

Your brain doesn't separate emotional experiences from physical ones. When you're stressed, anxious, or dealing with difficult emotions, your nervous system responds. Your muscles tense. Your breathing changes. Your brain becomes more alert to potential threats.

For some people, chronic stress or unresolved emotional experiences contribute to the development of chronic pain. The pain is a physical expression of what's happening in your nervous system.

You might notice your pain gets worse during stressful times. Maybe it flares up before a big work deadline or during family conflict. Maybe it started during a particularly difficult period in your life and never fully went away.

This doesn't mean your pain isn't real or that you should just "relax more." It means your brain and body are connected in ways that most traditional medical treatments don't address.

This is where therapy can help.

How Does Therapy Help Chronic Pain?

Therapy for chronic pain isn't about convincing yourself the pain doesn't exist. It's about retraining your brain to interpret sensations differently.

The approach I use is called somatic tracking. This is a specific way of paying attention to the sensations in your body while reminding your brain that you're safe. Over time, this helps your brain stop treating normal sensations as dangerous.

Here's how it works:

We start by helping you notice what you're feeling without judgment. You learn to observe the sensation without panicking or trying to make it go away. This is harder than it sounds, because when you're in pain, your natural response is to avoid or fight it.

Then we gently explore what might be contributing to your pain. This could include stress, past trauma, difficult emotions, or patterns in how you think about and respond to pain. As you develop awareness and begin to feel safer, your nervous system starts to calm down.

The goal isn't to ignore your pain or "think positive." The goal is to help your brain recognize that the pain signals are outdated and unnecessary.

What Does Progress Look Like When Treating Chronic Pain with Therapy?

Progress doesn't always look the same for everyone, but here are some common patterns I see:

Reduced pain intensity. Many people notice their pain becomes less severe over time. The sharp, unbearable moments become less frequent.

Better functioning. Even if the pain doesn't completely disappear right away, people often find they can do more. They can make that commute from Independence to Kansas City without dreading every mile. They can play with their kids again. They can sleep better.

Less fear around pain. One of the biggest shifts is when people stop being terrified of their pain. When you're not constantly worried about when the next flare-up will happen, you can start living your life again.

Greater understanding and control. You start to notice patterns. You learn what helps and what doesn't. You feel less helpless and more capable of managing your experience.

Progress isn't always linear. You might have good days and bad days. But over time, the trend moves in the right direction.

You Don't Have to Keep Suffering

If you've tried everything and nothing has helped, it doesn't mean you're out of options. It might mean you need a different kind of treatment—one that addresses the way your brain is interpreting signals from your body.

Chronic pain is real. It's exhausting. And it deserves treatment that actually works.

Therapy for chronic pain isn't about minimizing what you're going through or suggesting it's "all in your head." It's about understanding how pain works and giving your brain the tools to heal.

If you're ready to try something different, I'm here to help.

Begin Chronic Pain Therapy in Lee's Summit or Anywhere in Missouri

At Aspire Counseling, we offer chronic pain therapy both in person at our Lee's Summit office and through secure online therapy for clients across Missouri. You don't have to figure it all out before reaching out. That first step can be as simple as scheduling a consultation. We'll take it from there—together.

Aspire Counseling’s Chronic Pain Therapist

Adam White, LPC is a licensed counselor with over five years of experience supporting clients in the Kansas City, Missouri area. Before becoming a therapist, Adam worked as an engineer, which gives him a unique perspective on how complex systems—including the nervous system—function and can be recalibrated. He specializes in treating anxiety, depression, trauma, and chronic pain using evidence-based approaches like somatic tracking and Internal Family Systems (IFS).

At Aspire Counseling, Adam is committed to providing compassionate, expert care that helps clients reconnect with their lives and find relief from pain that has felt impossible to treat. He sees clients both in person at the Lee's Summit office and through secure online therapy across Missouri.