What’s My Knee Pain Story?

 “You have perfectly healthy knees which will serve you well for many years to come.”

Sounds like a great statement to hear from an orthopaedic surgeon, right? Yes, I was so pleased that on the MRI scan physically everything was looking good. But the big question was, why had I suffered the most excruciating pain I have ever felt in my life, when technically there was ‘nothing wrong’?

I’ve always loved reading and research. As a journalist I interviewed on and wrote about a huge range of topics from coasteering to climbing. I’ve worked for fitness, triathlon and outdoors magazines and have devoured any information to do with health, nutrition and exercise.

But, I had never, ever heard of neuroplastic pain.

Neuroplastic pain

In a nutshell, any pain that has gone on for longer than three months is called chronic pain. This can be as a consequence of an injury or sometimes a traumatic event (mine was an suspected injury but I’ll get to the trauma part too).

Nearly all chronic pain is neuroplastic pain. This is when your brain sends messages to your body to produce pain to stop you from damaging itself further: even though it doesn’t need to. This could be your knees, your back, your hip, your neck… wherever you can feel pain.

The fascinating thing is, your body has healed and yet your brain is worried you will damage it again!

My story

About twenty years ago I was running down a mountain, which put huge pressure on my knees. The next day I was in excruciating pain and on high level pain killers. But eventually I got back to running, hockey and triathlons. In April 2023, I wore heels two weekends in a row which caused some pain, and this was aggravated by driving.

But it was after a visit to a private physio and carrying out her recommended exercises for five days that I was sitting in the dark on the landing contemplating calling an ambulance because I thought I might pass out from the pain.

Since then I visited an orthopaedic surgeon, private physios, an acupuncturist and numerous doctors. There was a small breakthrough when an NHS physio diagnosed patellofemoral pain syndrome – finally I had a name for what was wrong! Cue lots and lots of research, much of which was helpful, but it still didn’t explain why I was getting pain all the time in my knees. 

Another private physio explained the analogy of a car alarm going off in the wind. The alarm doesn’t need to sound for a burglary but it is an overreaction.  Every time I tried to do something using my knees, even just walking, my body was sending pain as an alarm saying ‘stop, stop!’ even though it wasn’t necessary.

Turning point

But it wasn’t until I spoke to a young GP about my reaction to antidepressants (prescribed because the mental impact of chronic pain sent me into a spiral, more on this later) that something clicked. He didn’t have to, but he took the time to ask me why I needed the antidepressants. He said: “Have you heard of Tame the Beast?”

And from that moment on, things changed. Tame the Beast is a resource created by Lorimer Moseley and Dave Moen to inform people about chronic pain. From this website I found a pain coach in Australia and from more research I discovered the work of the Pain Reprocessing Center in Los Angeles, and American researchers Dr John Sarno and Dr Howard Schubiner.

Finally it the pain made sense – but the hard work was only just about to begin. My new-found knowledge of neuroplastic pain didn’t solve my problems overnight. But it did set me on the path I’m on now. I’m not recovered – far from it. But this led to a major change – and that was hope. After eight months of excruciating pain levels, disappointments, misinformation, incorrect treatments, panic, and ultimately depression…. there was hope.

Raising awareness

I am still shocked that none of the health professionals I spoke to originally about my condition knew about chronic/neuroplastic pain. This is the blog I needed when this all began and the blog I hope will help anyone else who is suffering.

Chronic pain affects 30% of people globally. But fortunately there is more and more research and awareness of this debilitating condition. Things are slowly changing.

If this blog helps just one person trying to navigate the darkness of chronic pain and all its consequences, it’ll be worth it.