What we treat · Chronic Back Pain
Chronic back pain isn’t a life sentence
You’ve done physical therapy. You’ve been adjusted. Maybe you’ve had injections, or an MRI that "showed something" but didn’t explain why you still hurt. If your back pain has lasted more than three months and keeps coming back, the problem usually isn’t the tissue anymore — it’s a pain system stuck in protection mode. That is treatable.
Why hasn’t anything worked so far?
Most back pain treatment targets tissue: massage it, adjust it, inject it, strengthen the "core." But in persistent pain, research consistently shows the driver is a sensitized nervous system — shaped by guarding habits, fear of bending and lifting, poor sleep, stress, and unhelpful beliefs about a "damaged" spine.
Treatments that ignore that system produce short-lived relief. That’s why the pain keeps coming back the moment you do what you actually love.
What is Cognitive Functional Therapy?
Cognitive Functional Therapy (CFT) is a structured, evidence-based approach that retrains both the beliefs and the movement patterns that keep back pain going. In the 2023 RESTORE trial published in The Lancet, CFT produced large, sustained improvements in pain and disability compared with usual care — results that held at the three-year follow-up.
In practice it looks like this: we make sense of your pain story together, then systematically rebuild the movements you’ve been avoiding — bending, lifting, sitting, whatever your triggers are — in a graded way that proves to your nervous system it’s safe. Then we make you strong there, so the change lasts.
What about my MRI findings?
Disc bulges, degeneration, and arthritis show up on scans of people with no pain at all — at rates that rise with age, like grey hair. Imaging findings matter in a small number of cases (and I screen for those), but for most persistent back pain they don’t explain the pain and they don’t predict recovery.
You are not your MRI. The plan is built around what your body can do and relearn — not around a picture.
Common questions
How is this different from physical therapy?
Sessions are 60–90 minutes one-on-one (not a rushed insurance slot), the approach targets the pain system rather than just the tissue, and the endpoint is your sport and your life — not discharge paperwork.
Is it safe to move if it hurts?
Hurt and harm are not the same thing in persistent pain. Part of the first sessions is showing you — in real time — how much your pain can change with strategy, which is usually the moment people stop being afraid of it.
How many sessions will I need?
Most clients need 6–8 sessions. Chronic, complex cases can take longer, and I’ll tell you honestly which one you are after the first assessment.
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Find out if this is your way out
A 30-minute consultation — your story, my honest read on whether I can help, and a clear plan if I can.
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