Chronic Pain Treatments: Understanding and Healing Neuroplastic Pain

By Dr. Levy, Integrative Wellness Center of Jacksonville

Chronic pain affects more Americans than diabetes, heart disease, and cancer combined. Yet despite its widespread impact, treating chronic pain remains one of the most difficult challenges in modern medicine. Why is that?

The answer lies in the complexity of pain—especially when it comes to chronic pain. What many people don’t realize is that most chronic pain isn't due to an active injury or structural problem in the body. In fact, much of it originates in the brain itself. This is called neuroplastic pain, and it is a completely real, validated, and treatable condition.

What Is Neuroplastic Pain?

Pain is processed in over 40 different areas of the brain. When someone experiences neuroplastic pain, their nervous system and brain are misinterpreting safe signals as dangerous. Pain, at its core, is the brain’s protective mechanism—it's how the brain tells us, “something might be wrong.”

But in the case of chronic pain, the brain continues to send out danger signals even when there’s no injury left to heal.

Let’s take a common example: You injure your back 20 years ago. The physical injury should have healed within months, yet you still experience daily pain. Why? Because your nervous system has learned pain. It’s become wired into your neural pathways. The longer you’re in pain, the more sensitized and reactive the nervous system becomes.

This is not “all in your head” in a dismissive way. It’s very real. The pain is real. But the root cause is often a misfiring danger alarm in the nervous system—not damage in the tissues.

How We Treat Chronic Pain at Our Clinic

At the Integrative Wellness Center, we approach chronic pain differently—because it demands a different approach.

We combine a cutting-edge neuroscience-based approach with holistic treatments that target the root causes of pain at both the brain and body level:

1. Acupuncture

Acupuncture has been shown to downregulate the nervous system, calm inflammation, and help desensitize pain pathways. It’s a foundational tool in our chronic pain protocols.

2. Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT)

Dr. Levy is trained in Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT)—a revolutionary therapeutic method that helps patients retrain their brains to interpret safe signals correctly, thus turning off the pain alarm system.

The Boulder Back Pain Study, a landmark clinical trial, showed that people with long-term chronic pain who underwent PRT experienced profound and lasting relief—even when conventional treatments had failed.

3. Pain Coaching and Emotional Support

Our team, including Dr. Suffield—who worked with pain patients in the ER at UF Health—uses pain coaching techniques to guide patients through the emotional and cognitive patterns that often reinforce pain.

4. BEMER Therapy and Red Light Therapy

These technologies help enhance microcirculation, reduce inflammation, and support tissue repair—while also calming the nervous system.

5. Functional Lab Testing

We look at deeper contributors to pain—such as inflammation, hormone imbalance, gut dysfunction, and micronutrient deficiencies—to develop a personalized plan for each patient.

6. Bodywork & Manual Therapies

Targeted bodywork can help release physical tension and restore mobility, while also working in tandem with the brain-based treatments to create whole-body relief.

The Future of Pain Treatment Is Here

At our clinic, we believe that healing is possible—even if you’ve been in pain for years or decades. Chronic pain is not a life sentence. With the right tools, education, and support, the brain and body can unlearn pain, and you can reclaim your life.

Integrative Wellness Center of Jacksonville

Dr. Melissa Levy, DAOM, AP, CFMP