Where Does Pain Live In The Brain? Understanding How Pain Shows Up in the Brain

Where does pain live in the brain? How do we even know we have pain? Can the brain distinguish what type of pain I'm feeling?

It’s a question that we have taken for granted because we just think pain is pain.

If you’ve ever wondered why pain sometimes persists long after an injury heals—or even shows up with no injury at all—you’re not alone.

Let’s give some context on how pain is generated in the brain and what you can do about it.

At Next Level Neuro, we take a brain-based approach to understanding pain. Our focus is on applied neurology, and how your brain processes experiences like pain and how can we use our neurology to help ourselves. 

The Brain’s Role in Pain: “No Brain, No Pain”

In neurology, there’s a saying: “No brain, no pain.” Pain doesn’t just come from one spot in your body, nor is it simply a result of injury or tissue damage. Instead, pain is an output generated by your brain when it perceives a threat to your safety. This can be emotional or physical as the brain can not distinguish one from the other. 

In fact, pain doesn’t live in a single area of the brain. It involves multiple brain regions, all of which create a unique “neuro tag”—a fingerprint-like pattern of activity that corresponds to your experience of pain.

Here are some key areas of the brain involved in generating pain:

1. Motor Cortex

   - Pain often alters the way we move. This is why people in pain may develop compensatory movement patterns that protect the injured area.

2. Sensory Cortex

   - Pain can change how we perceive sensory input, including touch, visual, and even auditory sensations. This might explain why certain areas of the body become hypersensitive during chronic pain.

3. Prefrontal Cortex

   - Chronic pain can impair concentration and focus, making it harder to stay mentally sharp. This is why pain often comes with cognitive challenges.

4. Hippocampus

   - Pain changes how we store and process memories. In painful experiences, we’re more likely to remember how it felt rather than the specific details of the event.

5. Amygdala

   - The amygdala is linked to fear and emotional regulation. When you’re in pain, your brain becomes more sensitive to perceived threats, which can increase anxiety or make you hesitant to move in certain ways.

Pain Is Not Always Linked to Injury

One of the most fascinating revelations from modern neurology is that pain is not always caused by injury or tissue damage. This becomes clear when you look at research on asymptomatic orthopedic injuries.

For example, a large portion of people walk around with conditions like bulging discs, torn menisci, or rotator cuff tears—yet they feel no pain. Research suggests that 50-85% of people with these injuries experience no discomfort at all. How is this possible?

The answer lies in the brain’s perception of safety and threat. If your brain doesn’t perceive the injury as a threat, it won’t create pain. Pain only arises when your brain decides that something is unsafe or unpredictable. This could happen long after an injury has healed, or even in the absence of any detectable damage.

The Pain Pathway: Strengthening the Neuro Tag

Each experience of pain strengthens a unique neuro tag in your brain. The more this neuro tag is activated, the stronger the pain pathway becomes. Over time, this can lead to chronic pain that persists even after the original cause is long gone.

But here’s the good news: You can change your brain’s response to pain. To reduce or eliminate chronic pain, you need to give your brain better inputs—new information that makes it feel safe and less threatened.  This is where our education starts teaching our students how to "train the brain" and what decreasing threat in the brain means. 

How to Reduce Pain: Train the Brain

To break free from chronic pain, you need to help your brain choose a different pathway and learn to feel safe again. This involves giving your brain better inputs in three main areas:

1. Better Movement

   - Move in ways that feel safe and controlled. This may involve slow, deliberate movements that improve mobility and reduce the brain’s perception of threat.

2. Better Thoughts

   - Shift your mindset around pain. Understanding that pain is a brain-driven response, not necessarily a sign of damage, can help reduce the fear that often makes pain worse.

3. Better Sensory Experiences

   - Train your brain to process sensory input more accurately. Focusing on your vision and vestibular (inner ear) systems can provide the brain with more reliable information, helping it feel safe in various environments and movements.

When you give your brain a sense of safety and predictability, it responds with less pain. By addressing the brain’s role in pain processing, you can start to reclaim control over your experience of discomfort.

Final Thoughts: Train Your Brain, Change Your Pain

Pain isn’t just a physical sensation—it’s a complex experience created by your brain. But the good news is that by understanding how pain works, you can train your brain to respond differently.

For more insights on how neuro training can help reduce pain and improve overall performance, visit us here.