Nashville physical therapist reports year of pain-free living

More than 30% of the global population suffers from chronic pain, according to research from the National Library of Medicine. That statistic represents 2.4 billion people. One of them is Allyn Minton, a licensed physical therapist in Nashville, Tennessee, who says she has been free of pain for a full year.

Minton opened Swell Studio after turning to low-impact exercise in her 20s. She initially injured her back while transferring a patient. She managed the pain through daily core-strengthening exercises and physical therapy. For a long time, that regimen worked. Then the pain returned on a predictable schedule.

“Over the years, as I would get stressed through times in my life, my dad getting cancer and passing away, my back would start to just go out on me,” Minton said. “I went to the doctor, and he said, ‘Allyn, you were here last year to the day.’”

The annual cycle of debilitating pain continued until one year ago. Minton began focusing on the connection between her mind and body. She started calming her nervous system and examining her thoughts. She used affirmations, noting that the repetition was key to the process.

“As I started calming the nervous system and looking at those thoughts, slowly with the repetition of affirmations, it’s that repetition that’s key, my thoughts started to change. And my back pain disappeared,” Minton said.

A 2022 review of multiple studies in the Harvard Gazette supports this approach. It explains that adding psychological therapies to physical ones can change how the body feels pain. These psychological therapies include reframing negative thoughts. Research on neuroplasticity, or the brain's ability to rewire itself, shows that repeated thoughts and behaviors can build new neural pathways. These pathways can alleviate chronic pain.

Minton says the physical state matters just as much as the mental one. “If the body is tense and in fight or flight, it doesn’t feel safe enough to let the mind relax and open and be receptive to change,” she said. She now spends 20 minutes a day on affirmations. She believes this simple step helps calm the nervous system. Her experience offers a data point for the millions of people living with chronic pain.