A central tenet of chronic pain rehabilitation is that what initially caused your pain is often not now the only thing that's maintaining your pain on a chronic course. Let’s unpack this important statement. It’s no accident that healthcare providers commonly refer to chronic pain syndromes as complex chronic pain or complicated chronic pain.

People often equate rehabilitation with physical therapy. It’s something a patient does following an injury or a complicated surgery. Still others think of rehab as a treatment for alcoholism or drug addiction. A few years ago, a British soul singer had a hit single with the song “Rehab." The lyrics were about whether to check herself into substance dependence treatment or not. Rehabilitation can also be a form of vocational counseling. Injured workers re-learn how to go back to work in what’s called vocational rehabilitation.