When something hurts, our natural assumption is simple: “If it hurts, I must be damaging it.” Sometimes that's true. But especially after an injury, pain and tissue damage aren't nearly as closely linked as most of us assume. One of our favorite ways to explain this comes from pain researchers Lorimer Moseley and David Butler. They call it the Twin Peaks Model. And understanding it can completely change how you think about recovering from an injury. Butler and Moseley's Twin

How stress, thoughts, sleep, and movement can influence the way we experience pain. When something hurts, it is natural to focus on the painful area. If your back hurts, you think about your back. If your knee hurts, you think about your knee. And when pain sticks around, it is easy to start asking questions like, “What did I do?” “Am I making it worse?” or “What if this never goes away?” Those questions are completely understandable. Pain gets our attention for a reason. But