If you’re reading this with a crick in your neck, a dull ache in your lower back, or a wrist that protests every text message you send—congratulations! You are officially part of the modern human experience. Welcome to the club.
I recently sat down with Dr. Andrea Furlan, a pain medicine specialist, on the show to chat about chronic pain, my own budding collection of aches, and why my mid-forties seem determined to remind me that I’m, well… in my mid-forties. What followed was a conversation that completely flipped my understanding of pain, movement, stress, and whether I should be rethinking my “there’s a pill for that” approach to managing discomfort.
https://www.youtube.com/@DrAndreaFurlan
“Aging = More Pain” Is a Myth (Sorry, No Excuses Here)
Dr. Furlan wasted no time in dismantling my first assumption: that pain is just part of getting older. “Teenagers get chronic pain too,” she told me. “Children even.” Turns out, pain isn’t the exclusive property of those of us who have spent a few too many decades on Earth. In fact, chronic pain doesn’t play favorites—it affects all ages, genders, and professions.
What has changed, however, is our perception of pain. A hundred years ago, people were hunched over typewriters, not laptops. There were telegram operators locked into rigid postures for hours at a time. Yet, back then, you didn’t hear as much about widespread chronic pain. What gives?
According to Dr. Furlan, stress is the real game-changer. The modern world has introduced a psychological load that amplifies our physical discomfort. It’s not just the bad posture—it’s the email overload, the 24-hour news cycle, the constant “doing.” Pain, she explained, isn’t just about nociception (the body detecting tissue damage); it’s about how your brain interprets those signals. And let me tell you—if your brain is stressed, it will crank the pain dial up to 11.
So… Is There a Magic Pill for This? 
Nope. And trust me, I asked.
Instead, Dr. Furlan gave me a prescription I wasn’t expecting: better sleep, smarter movement, mindful stress management, and a diet that doesn’t look like a science experiment.
- Sleep: It’s free, it’s effective, and your body literally heals while you do it. Yet, most of us treat it like an afterthought. Chronic sleep deprivation doesn’t just make you tired—it sensitizes your nervous system, making pain feel worse.
- Movement: If your pain started with an injury or a tight muscle, avoiding movement is the worst thing you can do. Pain feeds off immobility. The more you fear movement, the more your body locks up, making things worse.
- Food: Ultra-processed foods (you know, the ones that somehow never expire) fuel inflammation and increase your pain sensitivity. If it has a shelf life longer than a small dog’s lifespan, maybe reconsider.
And then, of course, there’s the mind-body connection—arguably the most overlooked but most powerful tool in pain management.
Your Brain is the Ultimate Drama Queen (And It’s Time to Call Its Bluff) 
Here’s where things got interesting.
Dr. Furlan explained that chronic pain is less about what’s happening in your tissues and more about how your brain is interpreting pain signals. For many chronic pain sufferers, the original injury or muscle strain healed long ago, but the brain keeps the pain party going, often turning mild discomfort into a full-blown emergency.
It’s like an overzealous security system that starts blaring sirens because a butterfly flew by the window.
One of the best ways to “reset” this system? Activate the parasympathetic nervous system.
- Deep breathing: The vagus nerve is the direct hotline to your body’s relaxation system. Controlling your breath—slowing it down, deepening it—flips the switch on chronic stress mode.
- Mindful movement: Walking (without your phone glued to your face), stretching, or yoga sends reassuring signals to your brain that you’re safe.
- Self-massage: Not an excuse to book a spa day every weekend (unfortunately), but rolling out tight muscles with a foam roller or using a massage tool can calm overactive pain signals.
The Slippery Slope of “I Can’t”
One of the most powerful takeaways from our conversation was about avoidance.
When people develop chronic pain, they start making a list of “I can’t” activities.
❌ “I can’t run anymore.”
❌ “I can’t sit for too long.”
❌ “I can’t pick up my grandkids.”
Before they know it, their world shrinks—not because of actual physical limitations, but because of fear. Dr. Furlan sees this all the time in her clinic. “Avoidance creates more disability than the pain itself,” she explained.
And here’s the kicker: the more you avoid movement, the worse your pain becomes.
It’s the same phenomenon we see in ICU patients who lose muscle mass after just five days of bed rest. If you don’t use it, you lose it—and in chronic pain, that applies to confidence, function, and mobility.
So, Is There Hope?
Absolutely. Dr. Furlan has seen lifelong chronic pain sufferers reclaim their lives—not with a single magic fix, but by gradually rewiring their nervous systems, addressing underlying stress, and re-engaging with life.
For some, this means learning to trust movement again. For others, it’s learning to process past traumas. For many, it’s simply understanding pain differently—not as a terrifying signal of damage, but as something that can be nudged, managed, and ultimately turned down.
My Takeaway? I’m Taking a Walk.
After this conversation, I did what any sensible person would do: I went for a mindful walk. No phone, no podcasts, no email checking—just walking, breathing, noticing. And you know what? My neck pain actually felt better.
Coincidence? Maybe.
But I think Dr. Furlan is onto something.
So, if you’re someone who’s been carrying around nagging pain, consider this: maybe your body isn’t just broken. Maybe it’s trying to tell you something.
And maybe, just maybe, the way out of chronic pain isn’t in a bottle, but in the way we move, breathe, eat, and think.
So go ahead—breathe, stretch, walk a little. Your brain might just thank you.
