I remember the first time I went to the chiropractor and they said I had degenerative disc disease. I remember from that appointment on, somehow my pain just got worse and worse and worse. And it was the fear and it was the anxiety surrounding it that I felt like tightened up my muscles.

What's actually happening when people feel really stiff in their back? When you burn your finger, you don't feel pain in your hand. The nerves in your hand send a message to your brain. And the message says one thing, the sensory environment has changed. Now, in your brain now, we have to interpret, is that change good or bad?

It's expressed through your finger. You are feeling it in your brain. What happens when you are told that something is wrong with you is that you will start to attach meaning and dread and fear to the thing. The problem with chronic pain is it keeps us in fight or flight.