Many people are told their scans look normal yet still experience significant, sometimes overwhelming pain. This can be deeply confusing and frightening. If nothing shows up on an MRI, X-ray or blood test, then why does the pain continue?
Modern pain science, including work by Lorimer Moseley, Dr Howard Schubiner and Dr David Clarke, shows that pain is not only a signal from the body. It is produced by the brain when it believes the body is in danger — even if the tissues themselves are healthy.
Pain as a protective warning system
Pain is your body’s protection system. In acute injury, this system works perfectly. You hurt your ankle, and pain encourages you to rest and protect it.
In chronic pain, however, the protection system becomes oversensitive. It begins sending danger signals in situations where the body is actually safe. This can happen even when:
- There is no structural injury.
- Scans do not show anything concerning.
- Movement is physically safe.
Moseley calls this “a protective system that has learned to overreact.” The pain is real, but the threat it warns of is no longer present.
How fear and uncertainty amplify pain
Pain intensity is influenced not just by the body but by context — meaning, emotions, memory and fear. This is why symptoms often feel worse during:
- Stressful periods
- Uncertainty about a diagnosis
- Poor sleep or exhaustion
- Moments of fear (“What if this gets worse?”)
These factors do not create pain deliberately. They simply increase the nervous system’s sense of threat, which makes it more likely to produce stronger pain signals.
Why feeling safe matters so much
The brain’s primary job is to protect you. When it senses safety, pain naturally reduces. When it senses danger — physical or emotional — pain increases.
This is why many neuroplastic approaches focus on helping the brain feel safer: relaxation, breathwork, somatic awareness, emotional processing, guided imagery and gentle movement.
Neuroplastic practitioners emphasise that understanding the process itself often brings relief. When you realise your body is not damaged, the brain begins to ease its alarm system.
The hopeful takeaway
Pain that persists despite normal scans is extremely common — and it has a clear, science-based explanation. It does not mean your pain is imagined. It means your protective system has learned to stay on high alert.
And because this sensitivity is learned, it can be unlearned. Neuroplastic approaches help the nervous system recalibrate so it no longer misinterprets everyday sensations as threats.