Can the brain create real, physical pain even after the body has healed? In this conversation, host David Mark, Co-Director of Coaching at the New School of Nutritional Medicine, speaks with Dr Howard Schubiner, physician and author of Unlearn Your Pain, and pain and wellness practitioner Gigi Cockell about neuroplastic pain.

Dr Schubiner explains the neuroscience behind predictive processing and shares research showing that abnormal MRI findings appear at similar rates in people with and without pain, including a study finding that 88 per cent of people with chronic back and neck pain had neuroplastic rather than structural pain. Gigi draws on her own recovery from interstitial cystitis and years of clinical practice to explain how the brain's warning system behaves.

Together they explore how childhood experience, trauma and ongoing stress shape the brain's threshold for danger, why suppressed emotion can show up as physical symptoms, and what it takes to help the brain feel safe again.

Guests
Dr Howard Schubiner
https://unlearnyourpain.com/
Book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bo...
Study: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science...

Gigi Cockell
https://www.thepainpractitioner.com/

Timestamps
00:00 Introductions
04:57 How Dr Schubiner's thinking changed
07:20 What is actually happening in the brain
11:14 Why some people feel pain and others do not
16:20 How to tell the difference
20:16 The one question worth asking
22:11 Making the diagnosis
30:33 Childhood, trauma and the biopsychosocial picture
46:06 Feeling safe in the body
48:33 The role of emotion
59:13 Closing thoughts

New School of Nutritional Medicine
newschoolofnutrition.com