What I help with
Chronic pain in the body that never healed
"It just never fully healed." Maybe it started with an injury, an operation, a fall, or a hard time in your life, and it's been like this ever since. Maybe you're so used to the headaches or tight shoulders that you consider them part of life. Maybe you've thrown everything at it. Scans, physio, painkillers, rest, more physio. And you've been told there's nothing wrong, or that you'll just have to take painkillers forever.
That can be one of the most painful parts. Not being believed, and being left with nowhere to go.
Does this sound like you?
- Pain that has outlived the injury or the operation
- Scans and tests that keep coming back clear
- Headaches, tight shoulders or a back you've learned to live with
- Flare-ups when life gets stressful
- Physio, painkillers, rest, and it's still there
- Being told it's "just stress", when the pain is very real
If you nodded at even one of these, you're in the right place.
Or perhaps your pain is newer, but it hurts far more than the injury seems to explain. That's the nervous system turning the volume up, and it's worth looking at early.
Looking for help with emotional pain or old trauma? See Emotional pain and trauma → Many people carry both. The work is similar, and we start wherever you are.
When the tests are clear but the pain is real
Your pain is real. Do not let anyone tell you different. Even pain that resides 'in your head' and is felt in the body is no less painful than a fresh burn or a new break. Pain is produced by the nervous system, and sometimes the system keeps protecting an area long after the tissue has healed. It stays on guard. That's how a scan can come back clear while you still hurt.
Why I am measuring instead of promising
Jenna Nye on persistent pain, what mainstream pain science says, and why this work is now a pre-registered study. 8 minutes.
How I work with pain in the body
Sessions begin with Havening Techniques®, a gentle psychosensory method that uses the palms of your own hands to calm the system, with me doing it alongside you. Touch is how we first learned we were safe. From there, I use Jentle Soma to work with what the body is still holding, whether it started with an injury or with something that happened around the same time. You don't need to know why before we start.
I work alongside medical care, not instead of it. Please make sure your pain has been checked by your GP or specialist. Physiotherapists, osteopaths, massage therapists and personal trainers refer their clients to me when the pain is more than the body can explain.
What can change
Some clients describe the pain easing or changing, moving more freely or completely resolving. Others notice the pain no longer frightens them in the same way, or no longer feels bigger or more overwhelming than they can carry. Every body is different, and I won't promise you an outcome. The discovery call is where we find out whether this work is right for you.
What people have brought
Not a list of what this work fixes. Nobody can honestly give you one. This is what people have arrived carrying, after the medical route, so you know that yours is not too strange, too small or too old to mention.
These are only some of the things people have brought, not an exhaustive list. If you don't see yourself here, book a call and we'll talk about whether this could be for you.
Before and after
Before
You plan your day around the pain. You choose the chair that hurts least, cut the walk short, and still know you'll pay for it later.
After
For many people the pain eases, or goes altogether, and they stop planning their life around it.
Questions people ask about pain
What if my scan shows nothing but I'm still in pain?
A clear scan doesn't mean your pain isn't real. It means there's no damage the scan can see. Pain is produced by the nervous system, and it can carry on protecting an area after it has healed if the threat is still perceived as real. That's the part this work focuses on. Keep your medical team involved.
Can emotional trauma cause physical pain?
Yes. Stress and trauma keep the nervous system on alert, and a system on alert is more sensitive to pain. Many people notice their pain began, or got worse, around a difficult time in their life. You don't have to work out the link before we start. Some people experience pain that the brain has deemed helpful, deciding that a headache and an afternoon resting is safer than allowing you endless yeses past your capacity, because saying no is too painful. There are a myriad of reasons why we experience pain in the body. They are not always the obvious, 'I've cut my finger'.
Why has my injury never healed?
Sometimes it has, and the protection around it hasn't switched off. Did you know the muscles around an injury can cause significant pain as they brace to protect the area that was hurt? If your doctor or physio has ruled out ongoing damage, the nervous system's part in your pain is worth looking at.
What this is not
This is not medical treatment and I am not a doctor. It is not psychotherapy, counselling or psychiatric care. I do not diagnose, I do not prescribe, and I do not treat any condition, physical or mental.
Keep seeing your doctor. Keep your therapist if you have one. Keep your appointments. Keep taking what you have been prescribed. Follow the advice you have been given. Anything I do sits alongside your care and never in place of it.
This is also not a promise. I do not know in advance whether this will help you, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling you something.
If you are a clinician or a therapist
If you have a patient whose recovery from physical symptoms has plateaued, or a client who understands their history completely and is still carrying it in the body, I'm happy to talk.
I work alongside medical and therapeutic care, I report back to referring clinicians where the person consents, and I'll tell you plainly when someone isn't suitable for what I do.
If you'd like to learn these techniques yourself, I teach them to practitioners through my training site, Jenesis Training.
Is this right for you?
This work is for people whose pain has been medically checked, and who are tired of managing it rather than resolving it.
If you have a new, changing or undiagnosed physical symptom, see your GP first. That is not caution, it is the right order.
Sessions are 90 minutes, in person in Walton-on-Thames or online by Zoom wherever you are in the world. Most people work in a batch of three, six or nine. Experience has shown that most people need three, whether for pain from injury or surgery, or for vertigo and tinnitus. Fees and booking →
Keep reading
Start where you are.
A free 20-minute call to see if this work is right for you. If it isn't, I'll tell you.