Dealing with Work-Related Chronic Pain
Feeling pain long after the physical injury has healed?
You’re not alone—and you’re not imagining things.
Chronic pain after a workplace injury is often complex, and sometimes, even after the body has healed, the pain persists. At Emerging Insights Psychological Services, we help injured workers understand the nature of chronic pain and develop effective, research-backed strategies to manage it. Cognitive-behavioral therapy for chronic pain is covered benefit under California workers’ compensation law and supported by ACOEM and MTUS guidelines.
What is Chronic Pain?
Chronic pain is pain that lasts beyond the normal healing period, typically persisting for more than 3 to 6 months. It might show up as:
Back pain, neck pain, or joint pain
Headaches or muscle tension
Numbness, tingling, or burning sensations
Pain that seems to "move" or doesn’t match up with findings from an MRI or X-ray.
The pain you’re feeling is absolutely real, but it often involves neuroplastic pain, or pain that continues not because of ongoing tissue damage, but because the brain and nervous system remain "stuck" in a pain response loop.
What is Neuroplastic Pain?
Neuroplastic pain (also called “central sensitization” or “learned pain”) arises when the brain continues to misinterpret safe signals as dangerous. The nervous system becomes hypersensitive, and pain pathways are reinforced over time—even when there’s no physical damage left.
The good news? The brain can unlearn pain. With the right support, many injured workers experience real relief and can reclaim their lives.
Did you Know?
Psychological treatment is an effective intervention for chronic pain, even when physical therapy or medications haven't worked.
You do not need a separate mental health diagnosis to receive care for chronic pain under workers’ compensation.
You’re entitled to treatment that aligns with MTUS/ACOEM guidelines—we follow them closely to ensure quality and compliance, and to reduce headaches later on.
How Psychological Treatment Helps
Psychological approaches to chronic pain are evidence-based, non-invasive, and often essential to long-term recovery. We use approaches recommended by the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) and the Medical Treatment Utilization Schedule (MTUS), including:
Psychoeducation & Mind–Body Integration
Learn how pain works, why it persists, and what you can do to change it. Knowledge really is power when it comes to chronic pain.
Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT)
You can actually retrain your brain to reinterpret pain signals as non-dangerous, which can reduce pain intensity over time.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for Chronic Pain
Helps you to identify and shift thought your patterns that may be amplifying pain and stress. You can build skills to manage flare-ups, anxiety, and fear of movement.
Activity Pacing & Goal Setting
Avoiding activity can worsen pain in the long run. We work with you to build confidence and gradually increase safe movement (if recommended by your physician and/or physical therapist).
Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) for Work-Related Injuries
Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) is an innovative, evidence-based approach that helps patients understand how the brain and nervous system can continue to generate pain even when no ongoing tissue damage is present.
We use PRT to help patients retrain the brain to interpret signals from the body more accurately to actually reduce the experience of pain, not simply manage it. This therapy is especially useful for neurologically maintained pain, back pain, neck pain, headaches, and other conditions where pain remains despite normal imaging or recovery from physical injury.
How we can help you:
We can help by providing cutting-eduge evidence-based mental health care in alignment with the MTUS and AECOM Guidelines. We are here to support not just symptom relief, but functional recovery, so that patients can reclaim their confidence, stability, and work readiness after a traumatic event.
We recognize the unique challenges faced by injured workers, as well as the responsibilities held by their support teams, including attorneys, claims adjusters, physicians, and return-to-work support systems. That’s why our care model is collaborative, timely, and goal-oriented, ensuring that every stakeholder receives clear communication, clinical documentation, and coordinated support for return-to-work planning.