September is Pain Awareness Month, a time to reconsider a common assumption: that pain always signals ongoing injury or damage in the body. But what happens when an injury has healed, or no clear injury exists, yet the pain persists? According to Dr. Eric Anderson, a neurologist and Chief Medical Officer of Lin Health, sometimes the pain itself becomes the disease.
"Pain is always real, but it doesn't always mean there is ongoing damage in the body," says Dr. Anderson. "Sometimes, the brain and nervous system can become stuck in a persistent pain-alarm loop, continuing to send danger signals long after an injury has healed, or when there is no injury at all." This phenomenon is known as central sensitization, a condition where the brain and nervous system amplify pain signals. It plays a major role in chronic nociplastic pain conditions such as fibromyalgia, chronic migraine, sciatica, and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
Dr. Anderson likens it to a fire alarm that has become overly sensitive: "That high-pitched shriek is definitely real, but it may be going off when there isn't actually a fire." The good news is that evidence-based approaches, like those offered by Lin Health, can help retrain the nervous system to process pain differently. "The pain is very real, and the goal is to help the nervous system become less reactive to signals that it has learned to interpret as dangerous," he explains.
This brain-first approach targets the nervous system processes that contribute to persistent pain. Lin Health delivers this through a medication-free virtual program combining behavioral therapy, one-on-one coaching, and structured daily modules, all accessible via an interactive app. For Pain Awareness Month, Dr. Anderson emphasizes that understanding central sensitization is a crucial first step for individuals living with persistent pain. "The pain is always real, but understanding why it persists may open the door to more effective approaches to treatment," he says.
Lin Health, founded in 2021, is a physician-led virtual care platform that partners with health systems like Mayo Clinic and WellSpan Health to provide multidisciplinary care for chronic pain. The model integrates physician evaluation, structured behavioral pain recovery, personalized coaching, and continuous patient engagement. This approach aligns with clinical guidelines but is rarely implemented effectively in traditional systems due to access limitations, clinician shortages, and fragmented care pathways. Lin Health aims to bridge that gap by delivering scalable, affordable care that is broadly covered by insurance and designed to produce measurable outcomes.
Dr. Anderson, a nationally recognized leader in telemedicine, has been instrumental in advancing virtual care models. He was among the first to demonstrate remote stroke assessment using a smartphone, laying the groundwork for modern tele-neurology. At Lin Health, he focuses on whole-person care that addresses the biological, behavioral, and social drivers of chronic pain, moving beyond symptom management toward measurable recovery. For more information, visit Lin.Health.
