Pain Reprocessing Therapy: A Groundbreaking Treatment for Chronic Pain
Chronic pain is a widespread issue, affecting millions globally, and can persist even after the initial injury has healed. While conventional treatments such as medications, physical therapy, and surgeries can be helpful, many individuals continue to suffer from pain with no clear physical cause. Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) is a new and promising treatment that addresses this problem by focusing on the brain’s role in chronic pain. By retraining the brain, PRT helps people break the cycle of persistent pain.
What is Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT)? And who can benefit from it?
Pain Reprocessing Therapy is a novel approach that targets chronic pain from a neurological and psychological perspective. It recognizes that chronic pain often stems from the brain continuing to generate pain even after an injury has healed. This therapy helps to rewire how the brain processes sensations, turning off the pain signals that no longer have a basis in physical injury. PRT can be particularly effective for individuals suffering from chronic conditions like fibromyalgia, neck and back pain, sciatica, musculoskeletal pain, migraines, CRPS, failed back syndrome, and other pain syndromes where no obvious physical cause can be identified.
How Does Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) Work?
Pain reprocessing therapy is an evidence-based approach, that aims to rewire neural pathways in the brain to relieve and reverse chronic pain. The fact is that all pain, regardless of the cause or location, is processed in and generated by the brain. This means that our brains have a tremendous power to influence when, where and how much pain we experience.
Let’s take a simplistic look at how pain works: If we are injured, the sensory receptors in our body, called nociceptors, collect information which they send up the spinal cord to the brain. The brain then interprets these signals and if necessary, creates pain. When faced with an acute injury, this pain is protective.
Chronic pain (lasting longer than 3 months), however, is very different. It doesn’t follow the rules of acute pain, involves completely different regions of the brain, and responds to different types of treatments. When pain transitions from acute to chronic, changes take place in the nervous system at multiple levels and the brain reorganizes to reinforce pain. Research reveals that the brain plays a central role in the maintenance of chronic pain, which no longer requires the stimulus of an injury, and is cyclic in nature.
The reason that a lot of standard pain management techniques don’t provide lasting relief is because they don’t address how the brain has adapted to pain. This is what Pain Reprocessing Therapy targets. Through a brain-based approach, PRT aims to break the cycle of chronic pain by retraining the brain to “unlearn” the neural pathways that cause and perpetuate it. Through a system of psychological techniques, it teaches the brain to interpret and respond to signals from the body appropriately.
The Evidence:
PRT is supported by growing evidence suggesting its effectiveness. Studies have demonstrated that chronic pain often becomes ingrained in the brain’s neural circuits. Rewiring these circuits is possible, much like breaking a habit, and PRT is designed to accomplish just that.
A recent randomized controlled trial validated PRT as a very effective treatment for chronic pain. In the study, there were 150 chronic back pain patients. Half of them received PRT twice a week for four weeks, and half of them received treatment as usual. In the PRT group, 98% of patients improved and 66% of patients were pain-free or nearly pain-free at the end of treatment. These outcomes were largely maintained one year later.
How to Get Started with Pain Reprocessing Therapy:
At Elevate Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, we recognize that chronic pain is a multifaceted condition that demands a personalized approach. Dr. Arti Panjwani incorporates Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) as part of a comprehensive, multidisciplinary strategy to alleviate pain effectively. If you’ve been struggling with chronic pain and haven’t found lasting relief from conventional treatments, PRT could be the breakthrough solution you’ve been searching for.
If you’re interested in exploring further, the first step is to schedule a consultation with our team at Elevate Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at (516) 464-6049. During your initial consultation, Dr. Panjwani will assess your condition and determine if PRT is the right treatment for you. She will work with you to create a personalized treatment plan that integrates PRT with other therapies, ensuring a holistic approach to healing.