Your Nervous System Can Become Overprotective—Especially After Injury, Stress, or Fear

Your nervous system’s #1 job is to protect you. It’s constantly scanning for threats, even ones you’re not consciously aware of. After an injury—or a stressful life event—it can stay on high alert, like a guard who won’t stand down.

This is called sensitization. It means your system becomes quicker to sound the alarm, even when the danger is long gone. Movements that used to feel fine now hurt. Normal sensations feel intense. It’s not that you’re broken—it’s that your system has learned to be cautious.

Stress and fear add fuel to that fire. Emotional trauma, poor sleep, fear of reinjury—all these inputs tell your brain, “Let’s stay ready, just in case.” And pain becomes the signal it uses to keep you safe (Woolf, 2011; Nijs et al., 2014).

But here’s the good news: your nervous system is plastic. It can change. With education, movement, safety, and support, that overprotective system can be rewired to calm down.

You’re not fragile. You’re adaptable. Let’s help your system feel safe again.

References:

Woolf CJ. (2011). Central sensitization: Implications for the diagnosis and treatment of pain. Pain.

Nijs J, et al. (2014). Treatment of central sensitization in patients with chronic pain: Time for change? Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics.