Pain Is Not Just a Signal

It’s a Story

Pain is not the body crying out. It’s the brain narrating what it thinks is happening, and what it fears might happen next.

We’ve been told a lie—subtle, widespread, and deeply embedded in how we think about the body: that pain is a signal. A simple, mechanical output from damaged tissue. But neuroscience has rewritten the script.

Pain is not a direct line from skin to brain.

It’s a constructed experience.

And more than that, it’s a story.

Pain Is Meaning-Making

When you touch a hot stove, pain feels instantaneous. But behind the scenes, your brain is doing fast, complex storytelling: assessing threat, recalling similar past experiences, factoring in context (Are you safe? Alone? Stressed? Calm?), and only then delivering the sensation we call pain.

It’s not just what happened to the tissue.

It’s what your brain believes is happening, based on its best prediction. (Apkarian et al., 2009)

A Brain-Crafted Experience

The brain doesn’t wait for confirmation. It fills in the gaps.

That’s why you can feel intense pain without any structural injury.

And why others might walk on a fractured ankle and not feel pain until later.

The brain filters sensory input through:

• Memory

• Emotion

• Prior injury

• Cultural beliefs

• Context

All this becomes the story your nervous system tells you, sometimes to keep you safe, sometimes because it learned that something is dangerous, even when it’s not anymore (Hashmi et al., 2013).

Pain Is Not a Liar — It’s a Protective Narrator

When we say pain is a story, we don’t mean it’s fake.

Pain is always real.

But the story behind it might be incomplete, outdated, or exaggerated—especially in chronic pain.

The brain might still be telling an old story:

“Last time we bent over, something went wrong. Let’s sound the alarm early just in case.”

“This joint has been hurt before, let’s tighten up and protect.”

“This movement might lead to pain, so we’ll produce it now to warn you.”

Rewriting the Story Is Part of Healing

Once you know pain is a story, you can edit the script.

Movement becomes a message: “This is safe now.”

Education becomes a correction: “Pain ≠ damage.”

Language becomes liberation: “You are not fragile, you are adaptable.”

The goal isn’t to silence the pain, but to re-narrate the threat. To update the brain’s protective story with current, compassionate evidence.

Practical Ways to Shift the Narrative

• Learn the science of pain — Knowledge is analgesic. (Moseley & Butler, 2015)

• Use movement as reassurance, not punishment.

• Challenge fear-based beliefs (“My spine is out,” “I shouldn’t bend,” etc.).

• Notice the context where pain flares — What story is your environment telling your body?

• Use metaphors that empower, not frighten (e.g., “Your nervous system is like a smoke detector that needs a sensitivity reset.”)

Final Thought

Pain is a storyteller. But it doesn’t have the final word.

You get to be the author now.

With every new movement, every shift in belief, every moment of understanding, you begin to rewrite the story your body is telling.

And that’s where healing truly begins.

References

1. Apkarian, A. V., Baliki, M. N., & Geha, P. Y. (2009). Towards a theory of chronic pain. Progress in Neurobiology, 87(2), 81–97.

2. Hashmi, J. A., Baliki, M. N., Huang, L., et al. (2013). Shape shifting pain: chronification of back pain shifts brain representation from nociceptive to emotional circuits. Brain, 136(9), 2751–2768.

3. Moseley, G. L., & Butler, D. S. (2015). Explain Pain Supercharged. Noigroup Publications.