Chronic pain is one of the topics that has made me reflect the most since I started training as an Alexander Technique teacher. Current neuroscience tells us that pain isn’t simply a direct signal of physical damage. It’s an experience created by the brain, based on its assessment of whether there’s a real threat or not.
This might sound counterintuitive. If it hurts, something must be wrong, right? Not always. The body constantly sends information to the brain, but it’s the brain that decides whether that information warrants producing pain. Sometimes this alarm system becomes hypersensitive and keeps going off even when there’s no real danger anymore – like a house alarm triggered by a draft or the family pet walking by, with no actual intruder.
From “chronic” to “persistent”: a word change that carries weight
There’s a language nuance I think is important to share. We usually talk about “chronic” pain, a word that sounds like a permanent sentence, something with no solution. But current neuroscience prefers to talk about “persistent” pain – a pattern that has repeated and consolidated, yes, but still a pattern, not a fixed and unchangeable condition.
It’s not just semantics. The brain has the ability to change its connections throughout life (what’s called neuroplasticity). If pain is a pattern learned by a hypervigilant system, it can also be a pattern that we can unlearn. That doesn’t mean it’s easy or immediate, but it does mean “forever” isn’t guaranteed.
I started exploring these ideas during an 8-week course on the neuroscience of pain for Alexander Technique teachers, which I took between February and March 2024. It was almost at the end of the course when I discovered the outreach work of Dr. Arturo Goicoechea, a Spanish neurologist who published El dolor crónico no es para siempre (Chronic Pain Is Not Forever) in 2023, developing these ideas for the general public.
Goicoechea is a pioneer in Spain in the study of so-called “medically unexplained symptoms” and pain neurobiology. He led the Neurology Department at Santiago Hospital in Vitoria until his retirement in 2011, and has dedicated himself to public outreach ever since. According to figures he cites himself, chronic pain affects approximately 30% of the world’s population – so these ideas are relevant to a great many people.
Why does this matter to me as an Alexander Technique teacher?
Because it fits perfectly with what we do in every lesson. When we work with that pause before reacting automatically, we’re not just changing posture. We’re offering the brain new information: that moving isn’t dangerous, that it doesn’t need to protect itself so much, that the danger it perceived is no longer there.
Persistent pain, seen this way, isn’t a life sentence. It’s a learned pattern, and what’s learned can be unlearned – exactly the principle our entire work is based on.
What has surprised me most:
That simply understanding this already has a therapeutic effect. When someone understands that their pain doesn’t necessarily mean something is breaking, the fear of movement starts to decrease. And that fear is, very often, what keeps the cycle of tension and pain going.
If you’re interested in exploring this further from a more scientific and accessible angle, I recommend Dr. Goicoechea’s book. It’s written for the general public, in Spanish, and can help you understand why your body does what it does – and why change is possible.
A pause, not a stop
This summer I’m pausing individual lessons while I look for a space in Málaga (city and province), but I’m using the time to keep training with reference teachers in the Alexander Technique. I’ll keep sharing what I learn here.