Healing Is a System Update, Not a Repair Job

You’re not broken. You’re running outdated protective software.

The Old Model: Fix What’s Broken

For decades, pain was treated like a car problem.

Pain = something is damaged → Fix it → Pain goes away.

But when pain lingers long after tissues heal, the “fix-it” model falls apart. That’s because pain doesn’t always mean something is broken. Sometimes it means something hasn’t been updated.

Pain Lives in the Operating System

Your nervous system works like software—constantly scanning, adapting, updating. But like any system, it can get stuck in outdated loops.

In persistent pain, the software doesn’t recognize that the body is safe again.

It keeps running the same high-alert protection programs.

It keeps delivering the same output: pain.

This is why healing isn’t about “repair”—it’s about recalibration (Kosek et al., 2016).

System Glitches That Keep Pain Running

• Hypervigilance: The nervous system stays on high alert, even when there’s no threat.

• Sensory amplification: Normal inputs (like touch or stretch) trigger exaggerated outputs.

• Threat memory: The system remembers pain and runs the old danger response—even in safe conditions.

These aren’t signs of a broken body.

They’re signs of a protective system that hasn’t gotten the message that healing already happened (Nijs et al., 2014).

Healing = Updating the System

So how do we “update” the system?

✅ Movement: not to stretch tissue, but to feed new info to the nervous system

✅ Education: to reframe pain from damage to protection

✅ Safety signals: through breath, social connection, humor, trust

✅ Gradual exposure: showing your brain that previously painful tasks are now safe

The nervous system needs evidence, not arguments.

It updates when experience, environment, and explanation align.

You’re Not Broken. You’re Adaptive.

This new model doesn’t ignore the pain. It explains it better.

• You’re not fragile—you’re protective.

• You’re not dysfunctional—you’re adaptive.

• You don’t need fixing—you need better inputs.

Final Thought

Pain may feel like something’s wrong. But often, it’s something that used to be wrong—and your system just hasn’t caught up yet.

You don’t need to be rebuilt.

You need to be reminded: You are not stuck. You are updating.

References

1. Kosek, E., Cohen, M., Baron, R., et al. (2016). Do we need a third mechanistic descriptor for chronic pain states? Pain, 157(7), 1382–1386.

2. Nijs, J., Van Houdenhove, B., & Oostendorp, R. A. (2014). Recognition of central sensitization in patients with musculoskeletal pain: Application of pain neurophysiology in manual therapy practice. Manual Therapy, 15(2), 135–141.

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