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pain sensitivity

woman pausing in her car before a holiday family gathering while managing chronic pain

October 20, 2026 · In: Nervous System Regulation

Holiday Family Stress and Your Nervous System: Why Gatherings Can Trigger Fight-or-Flight

Holiday family stress and chronic pain are linked through your nervous system. Before you walk into a family gathering, your body can already be bracing, tensing, and turning up its…

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Woman pausing to check in with her body during a busy day, a small moment of nervous system awareness

September 22, 2026 · In: Pain Science and Healing, Science-Backed Education

Allostatic Load: What Your Body Is Keeping Score Of (And Why It Matters for Chronic Pain)

Allostatic load is the physical wear and tear that builds up when your body’s stress response systems stay activated longer than they need to. It can also build when those…

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woman experiencing pain that moves around the body, chronic pain explained

August 18, 2026 · In: Pain Science and Healing, Science-Backed Education

Pain That Moves Around Your Body: What Your Nervous System Is Trying to Tell You

When pain appears to move around your body, it’s rarely a new injury. A nervous system that’s been on alert in one area long enough can activate nearby regions and…

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Woman with chronic pain considering whether to exercise

June 9, 2026 · In: Pain Science and Healing, Science-Backed Education

How Exercise Helps Chronic Pain Without Making It Worse

Exercise helps chronic pain by activating the body’s built-in pain-quieting pathways, gradually rebuilding the tissue’s capacity to handle load and giving the nervous system new information about what feels safe….

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does soreness mean muscle growth

May 12, 2026 · In: Pain Science and Healing, Science-Backed Education

Does Soreness Mean Muscle Growth (Or Are You Overdoing It)

Muscle soreness is often treated as a sign that a workout was effective, which leads many people to assume that the more sore they feel, the more progress they are…

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should you exercise with pain

April 21, 2026 · In: Pain Science and Healing, Science-Backed Education

Should You Exercise With Pain? How to Know What Your Body Actually Needs

Deciding whether you should exercise with pain can feel unclear, especially when the advice around it seems conflicting. Some sources suggest pushing through discomfort, while others recommend stopping at the…

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Meet Tera

Meet Tera
hi, i'm tera!

I'm a licensed Doctor of Physical Therapy and the founder of PT Complete. I built the Regulate and Rebuild Method because most people trying to get back into their body after chronic pain are told to either push through it or rest completely, and neither one actually works. I write from the clinic and from my own body, since I'm working through my own chronic pain story right now, too. When I'm not working, you'll probably find me managing the regular chaos of life or curled up with coffee and a dessert I can't seem to quit.

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Featured Posts

woman pausing in her car before a holiday family gathering while managing chronic pain

Holiday Family Stress and Your Nervous System: Why Gatherings Can Trigger Fight-or-Flight

woman deciding how to reply to a holiday invitation while managing chronic pain

How to Say No During the Holidays With Chronic Pain and Handle the Guilt

woman testing a gentle movement baseline during a slow walk

What is Gentle Movement? (And Why Most Advice Gets It Wrong)

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@teravaughn22

terasandona

Chronic pain coaching • Ditch the push-crash loop
Licensed DPT • Regulate first, rebuild second, then layer
👇🏻 Free nervous system workbook

It was a Sunday and I woke up feeling good, better It was a Sunday and I woke up feeling good, better than I expected after lifting the day before. I went on a 40 minute walk, did laundry and vacuumed, and had a home leg workout planned for later.

Then around early afternoon, my energy tanked. I could still putter around the house, but the thought of starting that workout felt like more than I had left.

If you’ve had energy for everything except the one thing you planned, I know how much that one can sting.

Looking back, it was hot, I’d barely eaten, and I hadn’t slept well most of that week. Each of those can pull from the same energy you’d use to train, and that day, I had all three. What felt like a motivation problem was my body showing me what the day had already used up.

So I moved the workout to Monday instead of forcing it (and let myself have the day).

Send this to the friend who feels guilty every time a planned workout doesn’t happen.

#chronicpainlife #chronicfatiguesyndrome #lowenergy #paceyourself #functionalcapacity
Nothing about chopping vegetables is urgent and my Nothing about chopping vegetables is urgent and my jaw was still clenched like it was.

If you just checked and your teeth were touching, you’re not doing anything wrong. When you’ve been running on alert for a while, your nervous system can start treating ordinary moments like urgent ones, and your jaw braces right along with it while you scroll, answer emails, or cook dinner.

Over time that can stack into headaches, jaw pain, and neck tension.

You don’t have to fix it the moment you catch it. Right now the goal is to notice it in the everyday moments it tends to hide, so it stops being something your body does without you knowing.

Save this and check your jaw the next time you open your inbox.

#jawclenching #jawtension #nervoussystemhealth #stressandpain #chronicpainawareness
Happy 1st anniversary to my other half 💕 Getting Happy 1st anniversary to my other half 💕

Getting to relive the best day ever, reminiscing through these photos, and visiting our favorite place is more than I could ask for. Can’t wait for many more of these years to come ❤️
I knew going in I wouldn’t make all eighteen holes I knew going in I wouldn’t make all eighteen holes. I could barely handle light weights at the gym. So the day before, I spent about an hour stretching and doing soft tissue work to go in as loose as possible. And I decided ahead of time that I’d stop when my body told me to.

Around hole six, I started taking shots only with a clean lie and skipping the rest. A few holes later, I’d set up over the ball and feel my whole stance bracing, so I’d stand there and breathe for a good ten seconds until some of that tension let go. Somewhere between hole ten and twelve, I called it.

That week of recovery wasn’t a failure. It was the cost of doing something my body hadn’t done in nine months. Stopping when I did is a big part of why it stayed sore instead of turning into a full pain flare.

If you’ve ever said yes to something you love knowing your body would make you pay for it later, you know that math.

Next time, pick your stopping signal before you start, so you’re not trying to decide in the middle of it.

Send this to the friend who’d get it without you explaining.

#golfwithbackpain #womenwhogolf #chronicbackpain #pacingyourself #chronicpainawareness
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