Ben Fedrick Injury Therapy

16/01/2026

Years ago I worked with a 92-year-old lady who came in for a consultation. She wasn’t in much pain beyond some tension in her right foot.

What she did have was what many would describe as “terrible” posture. A pronounced forward head, rounded shoulders, and a stooped spine that had clearly adapted over decades. From a purely structural point of view, you might look at her and assume discomfort, limitation, or fragility.

But none of that was true.

She moved with confidence, felt stable on her feet, and most importantly, she was comfortable in her body. Her posture wasn’t a problem to be fixed, it was simply her body’s long-term adaptation to life, gravity, habits, and time.

This is a powerful reminder that structure alone is not a reliable predictor of pain.

We often assume that poor posture, asymmetry, or “wear and tear” must equal pain, yet this isn’t how the human body works. Pain is influenced by many factors, including nervous system sensitivity, stress, beliefs, movement confidence, sleep, and emotional load. Not just how someone looks or how their spine appears.

That 92-year-old lady is living proof that a body can look far from “perfect” and still feel safe, capable, and pain-free.

Which is why chasing perfect posture, alignment, or structure in isolation rarely solves pain and sometimes distracts us from what actually matters: how supported, resilient, and regulated the body and nervous system feel.

Posture isn't completely irrelevant but it is just part of the puzzle, not the whole picture.

08/01/2026

🧠 Why Chronic Pain Can’t Be Explained by Structure Alone

If scans and X-rays explained chronic pain,
then finding “the problem” would fix it.

But for many people with ongoing pain:
• Scans look “normal”
• The tissue has healed
• Yet the pain continues

This doesn’t mean the pain isn’t real.
It means the nervous system is still protecting.

Chronic pain isn’t just about bones, discs, or muscles —
it’s about how the whole body and brain work together.

Here’s what really matters 👇

🦴 Movement
Avoiding movement teaches the brain that movement = danger.
Gentle, varied movement helps retrain safety.

💪 Strength & Control
Feeling capable reduces threat.
Strength isn’t about pushing — it’s about confidence.

🖐️ Sensation & Body Awareness
When the brain’s body map gets blurry, pain increases.
Clear sensation helps calm over-protective signals.

🧠 Brain Maps & Learning
Pain is learned — and it can be unlearned.
Clear maps = less uncertainty = less pain.

😴 Sleep
Poor sleep increases pain sensitivity.
No amount of treatment overrides exhaustion.

💭 Emotions & Stress
Stress amplifies pain.
Safety, connection, and feeling heard reduce it.

Chronic pain improves when we stop asking:
❌ “What’s broken?”

And start asking:
✅ “What does this nervous system need to feel safe again?”

Pain isn’t weakness.
It’s protection — and protection can be retrained.

07/01/2026

🧠 Why “Left or Right?” Can Help Reduce Pain

Did you know that part of chronic pain isn’t just in the body, it’s in how clearly the brain can map the body?

When someone has ongoing pain, the brain’s picture of that area can become blurred.

When the map is unclear, the nervous system becomes protective… and pain can increase.

✨ This is where laterality training comes in.

Laterality training is simply practicing left vs right awareness, for example:

• Closing your eyes and touching a point on the left side of your body with your right hand, or vice versa

• Have someone brush various parts of your body gently and simply noticing – is that right or left?

Why does this help?
🧩 It sharpens the brain’s body map
🛡️ It reduces uncertainty (which the brain often interprets as danger)
🌿 It tells the nervous system: this body part is safe

For many people, this gentle practice can:
✔️ Reduce pain sensitivity
✔️ Improve confidence with movement
✔️ Calm an overprotective nervous system

And the best part?

It’s simple, safe, and can be done in just a few minutes a day.

Sometimes healing starts not with pushing the body but with helping the brain feel safe again.

18/12/2025

Being told ‘everything looks fine’ can be devastating, especially if you’ve been struggling for a long time.

Many of my clients come to me after scans, appointments, and treatments that didn’t help, often with no clear answers.

Pain with no clear diagnosis is still real pain, you’re never making it up.

My job isn’t to label you.

It’s to understand how YOUR body is functioning as a whole and what you need to move forward.

16/12/2025

Chronic pain doesn’t mean your body is damaged!

If you’ve had pain for 6 months or more, the problem is not always ongoing tissue damage.

In most cases, the body has healed but the nervous system has learned to stay protective.

This doesn’t mean the pain is “in your head”.

It means your system has become very good at keeping you safe.

The good news?

In these circumstance the nervous system can change quicker than most people believe.

If you'd like to have a conversation about your pain please reach out on either of the following:

Email - Ben@BenFedrickInjuryTherapy.co.uk

Mob - 07745 039 485

12/12/2025

Series five of five on why we suffer chronic pain (3–6 months+)

🧠 When Movement Stops, Pain Grows

One of the most misunderstood drivers of chronic pain is reduced movement.

After injury or flare-ups, it’s completely normal to avoid movements that feel risky, but over time, this can lead to:
• Deconditioning
• Increased sensitivity
• Loss of confidence
• Fear of movement
• A nervous system on high alert

This creates a loop where avoiding movement actually teaches the brain that the movement is dangerous… even when it isn’t anymore.

➡️ Key idea: Gentle, graded movement is one of the most powerful pain “retrainers” we have.

11/12/2025

Series four of five on why we suffer chronic pain (3–6 months+)

🧠 The Power of Emotions & Stress
Your emotional world directly influences your pain.

Stress doesn’t just “make it worse” — it changes the chemistry of your nervous system.

When stress, overwhelm, or emotional load increase, we often see:
• Increased muscle tension
• Reduced pain inhibition
• Higher inflammation
• Nervous system hypervigilance

This doesn’t mean pain is “in your head.”
It means your whole system is involved — because pain is a protective output, not just a physical signal.

➡️ Key idea: How safe we feel emotionally can shift how much pain we feel physically.

05/12/2025

04/12/2025

🎄 This time of year, I always notice something strange…

I sleep more, sometimes way more but yet I wake up feeling far less rested.

🌙 The amount of sleep you get is not a good measure of the quality of your sleep.

When we overindulge (hello Christmas food, drinks, late nights, stress, and disrupted routines), our nervous system and digestion work overtime. That means:

🔹 You might fall asleep fast but stay in lighter sleep
🔹 Pain can flare and wake you up during the night
🔹 Your body spends more time “recovering” from what you ate/drank than actually repairing you
🔹 Alcohol fragments deep sleep
🔹 Blood sugar spikes → crashes → restless nights

So yes, you may clock 8–10 hours…
…but wake up with stiff joints, more pain, and that drained “I could nap for a week” feeling.

✨ Quality sleep supports pain reduction.
✨ Quantity alone doesn’t.

This season, instead of asking “How many hours did I get?” try asking:
“Do I feel restored?”

Small habits, calming the nervous system, gentle movement, balanced evenings, make a far bigger difference to pain and sleep than an early bedtime alone.

02/12/2025

Series three of five on why we suffer chronic pain (3–6 months+)

🧠 The Nervous System’s “Prediction System”

Pain isn’t only a response, it’s a prediction.

Your brain constantly guesses what’s happening in the body based on:
• Sensation
• Memory
• Emotion
• Context

When pain has been present for a while, the brain can begin to predict danger before it happens, leading to:
• Pain during normal movements
• Pain that shows up “out of nowhere”
• Pain that feels bigger than the situation

This is the same system that helps us learn to ride a bike or type faster, only difference is here, it’s learning protection.

➡️ Key idea: Chronic pain is often a “prediction error,” not ongoing damage.

26/11/2025

Series two of five on why we suffer chronic pain (3–6 months+)

🧠 The Role of Thought & Meaning

Pain isn’t just a physical sensation, the brain interprets it based on context, memory, and meaning.

If we’ve had pain for a long time, the brain can start to predict danger even when there isn’t any:
• Past experiences (“This always flares up”)
• Fear (“What if this means damage?”)
• Hypervigilance (“Is it getting worse?”)

These thoughts aren’t your fault — they’re your brain trying to protect you. But when the brain believes you’re under threat, it can increase the pain message to keep you safe.

➡️ Key idea: The brain learns pain just like it learns anything else… and with the right input, it can learn something new.