Hey there! 

I’ve had so many conversations lately that start something like:

“I’ve been feeling really low... and then my pain flares. They're like dominoes."
“It’s like the stress just triggers everything.”
“I’m so tired of pretending I’m okay.”

Sound familiar?

When I do free consults with folks living with CRPS, emotional health comes up a lot—but almost always as a footnote. Like it’s a side character in your healing story instead of one of the leads.

But here’s the thing:
Chronic pain doesn’t just hurt physically. It takes up emotional space.

And just like with physical pain, there are generally two kinds of experiences I see when it comes to emotional wellbeing:

1) You’ve been powering through.

You’ve gotten really good at “coping” or "managing"—maybe too good. You show up, get things done, smile when you need to… but it’s heavy, it’s isolating, it’s exhausting.
You might even wonder if it’s “normal” to feel like this all the time (hint: it’s not). 

2) You're deep in the emotional toll.

Maybe the anxiety, depression, fear, and frustration have become louder than the pain itself. Or they’ve started to blur together. The nervous system is so good at holding onto survival mode… but that can make healing harder.

But what if you didn’t have to “suck it up” emotionally to get through CRPS?

Just like with physical pain—what if we took a holistic approach here, too?

Because emotional health isn’t optional.
It’s part of your recovery.

Your nervous system craves safety, regulation, and connection—and when it has that, everything else (pain, movement, flares, sleep) can start to shift.

This is why we integrate nervous system work, trauma-informed movement, and emotional regulation tools into our programs. Because it’s all connected. Because you are a whole person.

 If you are looking into psychology resources, here is our Youtube playlist with what our psychology team is all about at re+active.

Cheers to being the expert of your own body! 

Michael Chung PT, DPT 
CRPS Program Director
[email protected]