Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain

Chronic pain is not a mystery — it's a changed nervous system.

Fibromyalgia is characterised by widespread musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, sleep disruption, cognitive difficulties and heightened sensitivity to pressure and sensory input. It affects a significant proportion of the population and remains one of the most misunderstood and undertreated conditions in conventional medicine — often dismissed, delayed in diagnosis, and managed primarily through medication with modest results.

Understanding fibromyalgia as a condition of central sensitisation — a changed state of the nervous system rather than a problem with the tissues themselves — is the starting point for more effective management.

Central sensitisation and the nervous system

In chronic pain conditions including fibromyalgia, the central nervous system becomes sensitised — meaning the pain processing system is turned up, and normal sensory input is amplified into pain. This is not a psychological phenomenon — it's a measurable neurological change, with documented alterations in brain connectivity, neurotransmitter levels and the threshold at which the nervous system fires pain signals.

This matters for treatment because approaches that work well for acute tissue pain — local treatment, anti-inflammatories, rest — are less effective when the primary driver is central sensitisation. What's needed instead are approaches that work with the nervous system directly: reducing its overall activation level, improving the body's capacity to regulate itself, and addressing the musculoskeletal contributors that are feeding into the sensitised system.

How Dr Chase approaches it

Treatment for fibromyalgia and chronic pain begins with understanding the person's full picture — the history, the triggers, the nervous system state, and the musculoskeletal patterns that have developed over time. This is not a condition that responds to aggressive treatment — the approach needs to be calibrated carefully to avoid flaring the sensitised system.

Sessions draw from gentle cranio-sacral therapy, somatic therapy, myofascial work and nervous system regulation — approaches that work with the body's sensitivity rather than against it. The aim is to progressively reduce the overall activation level of the nervous system, improve sleep and autonomic regulation, and address the musculoskeletal holding patterns that are contributing to the pain load.

Fibromyalgia and chronic pain are not conditions to simply endure. With the right approach — one that takes the nervous system seriously — meaningful improvement is achievable for most people.