Why a Physical Therapist Started Listening to the Nervous System
When the tests don’t tell the whole story
For most of my career, I was trained to find what was broken and fix it. A stiff joint, a weak muscle, a gait that needed retraining. That work matters, and I still love it.
But the body kept teaching me something the textbooks didn’t fully explain. I’ve seen it most clearly with back pain. Two people can have nearly identical MRIs, with the same disc changes and the same wear and tear, and one is in constant pain while the other has never felt a thing. Many of us carry structural changes in our spines that never cause a problem. A large review of imaging studies found these changes are common in people with no back pain at all, and they become more common with age.
And for people who do hurt, I noticed that their pain often rose and fell with what was happening in their lives: a difficult season at work, a frightening diagnosis in the family, months of poor sleep. Their spines hadn’t changed. Something else had. When they finally felt safe enough to soften, their backs often softened too.
I saw the same pattern in people living with chronic illness. Their scans came back clear and their labs looked normal, yet they were still exhausted, still hurting, still not themselves. Many had been told, in one way or another, that nothing was wrong. But something was. Their bodies had been through so much that their nervous systems were still on guard, long after the tests said they should be fine.
That’s when I began to understand that structure and lab values are only part of the story. The nervous system decides how loudly the body sounds the alarm.
Thirty years of listening with my hands
I’ve been a physical therapist for thirty years. I’ve worked with children learning to move through the world, with adults recovering from injury, and with people living with rare and complex diseases.
Across all of it, one pattern kept showing up. When someone felt safe, their body softened. Muscles let go. Breathing slowed. Movement that had been impossible a moment earlier became possible.
When someone was frightened, exhausted, or bracing for the next bad thing, the opposite happened. No amount of stretching or strengthening could fully reach them. Their body was holding on, and it had good reasons to.
What the nervous system taught me
That pattern led me to study the nervous system more deeply. What I learned changed how I see every person who comes to me.
Your nervous system’s first job is to protect you. When it has been through illness, pain, surgery, or years of uncertainty, it can stay on high alert long after the original threat has passed. It keeps sounding the alarm, and you feel that alarm in your body: as pain, fatigue, tension, poor sleep, or a gut that never settles.
This isn’t “all in your head.” It’s your body doing exactly what it was designed to do, just for longer than you need it to. And here’s the hopeful part: a nervous system that learned to stay on guard can also learn to feel safe again.
When the load on the nervous system lightens, the physical symptoms often follow.
How I work now
Today I bring two things together: three decades of understanding how bodies move and heal, and gentle, body-based ways of helping the nervous system settle. I’ve completed advanced training in Somatic Experiencing and I’m certified in Pain Reprocessing Therapy, but you don’t need to know what those words mean to benefit from them.
In our sessions, we go slowly. We notice what your body is telling you, without forcing anything. We build moments of ease and safety, and we let your system learn that it can rest. Sessions are virtual, so you can do this work from home, where your body already lives.
I work with people living with chronic pain, chronic illness, and cancer, including life after treatment, when the scans are clear but your body hasn’t gotten the message yet. If you’ve ever been told your tests look fine while you still feel far from fine, I want you to know that I believe you.
Where we go from here
This is what I’ll be writing about here: how the body and nervous system talk to each other, why symptoms can linger, and small, practical ways to help your system feel safer. Some posts will be about pain, some about life with illness, and some about the strange in-between after treatment.
If something here sounds familiar, I’d love for you to stay. Subscribe to The Listening Body so the next letter finds you, or, if you’re ready for more support, you can book a free consultation at eveannette.com.
Your body has been working hard to protect you. It may be ready to rest.
Further reading: Alan Gordon’s The Way Out and Adriaan Louw’s Why Do I Hurt? are both wonderful, accessible introductions to how the brain and nervous system shape pain. You’ll find more books I recommend on My Bookshelf.