Ben Fedrick Injury Therapy

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.

25/11/2025

🌿 Your Nerves of Social Engagement & Chronic Pain 🌿

Did you know that the way you connect with others can directly influence how much pain you feel?

Our social engagement system is the part of the vagus nerve network that helps us feel safe, connected, and understood. This plays a huge role in how our body processes stress and pain. When this system is activated, our heart rate settles, our breath softens, and our nervous system shifts from “survive” to “restore.”

But when life gets overwhelming?
We withdraw.
We tense up.
Our nervous system goes into defence mode… and chronic pain can increase.

The good news?
❤️ Gentle connection - eye contact, supportive conversation, shared laughter, mindful breathing with others can literally turn down the volume on pain signals.

At Ben Fedrick Injury Therapy, we build these moments of connection into our sessions alongside our movement work. Small, repeated practices that calm the nervous system, boost vagal tone, and create real change in how your body feels whilst moving will make a huge lasting change to chronic pain.

✨ Because you’re not meant to heal alone.
✨ Safety is medicine.
✨ And your nervous system can learn a new way.

If you’re curious about how social engagement and vagus nerve work can support your chronic pain, or overall wellbeing, reach out. Your body will thank you.

20/11/2025

💭 Ever had this happen?
You wake up in the middle of the night, reach for your glass of water on your bedside table… and realise your arm’s completely dead.

No feeling. No movement. Nothing.

The strangest part about this is that you think you’re moving it, you can feel it reaching out in the darkness, but then… thud 💥

Your arm lands heavy on your lap, and you realise it hadn’t been moving at all.

Weird, right?
That’s your brain at work. 🧠

Even when your arm’s “asleep,” your brain still feels like it’s there! The brain still sends and receives messages as if everything’s normal.

This same process helps explain phantom limb pain, when someone feels pain in a limb that’s no longer there. The brain’s neuromatrix still holds a map of the missing limb, and that map can produce very real sensations, even pain, without any tissue damage.

Pain isn’t just about the body. It’s about the brain’s interpretation of what’s happening.

That’s why pain can persist long after an injury heals, or appear even when there’s no damage at all.

The good news? 🧘‍♀️
If the brain can create pain, it can also learn to calm it.

Movement, breath, awareness, positive reframing, they all help reshape those brain maps.