"Your imaging is normal. So where is this pain coming from?"
If you've been asked that question like it was an accusation, this is for you.
On Bendy Bodies, I sat down with Dr. Dacre Knight of UVA Health to dismantle one of medicine's most persistent and harmful myths.
Pain equals damage. No damage, no pain.
It sounds logical. It is wrong.
Here is what the science actually shows:
People with significant structural damage often feel nothing. People with no visible abnormality on MRI, X-ray, or CT can be in debilitating pain. Both are real. Both are physiological.
Pain is not a direct readout of tissue injury. It is a signal produced by the nervous system, shaped by sensitization, inflammation, prior injury, and neurological processing. A "normal" image does not mean a normal experience.
This is not fringe thinking. This is where pain science has been moving for decades. Medicine is just slow to catch up at the bedside.
So if a provider has ever held up your imaging and implied your pain was an exaggeration or an invention, they were working from an outdated model.
You were not.
💬 Have you ever been told your pain did not match your imaging? What happened next?
#BendyBodies #ChronicPain #EDS #EDSAwarenessMonth #PainScience
📌 This content is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. Always consult your healthcare provider for personalized care.
VD: Video clip of Dr. Linda Bluestein and Dr. Dacre Knight discussing the disconnect between pain and structural damage, and how medicine is evolving in its understanding of pain.
