The Chronic Pain and Diet Culture Connection Nobody's Talking About with DK Ciccone, Author of You're Meant to Move

I'm joined by DK Ciccone — comprehensively certified Pilates instructor, pain reprocessing therapy practitioner, and author of You're Meant to Move — for a conversation that is both deeply personal and clinically rich. We talk about what chronic pain actually is, why so many people have been dismissed or mislabeled, and what it looks like to rebuild a relationship with movement that isn't driven by fear, punishment, or diet culture.

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In this episode:

DK's journey with chronic pain and her past as a dancerHow chronic pain forms and why the pain is real even in the absence of ongoing tissue damage

The nervous system science behind pain sensitization — and why catastrophizing physically amplifies pain

Kinesiophobia: the fear of movement that develops after chronic pain, and how to work through it

Somatic tracking and pain reprocessing therapy as tools for understanding pain signalsHow to explore the difference between pain and discomfort

DK's "refuge and reach" framework for rebuilding a movement practice incrementally

Exploring functional movement versus "exercise"The research debunking weight loss as a solution for chronic pain

Why restriction and dieting actually increase chronic pain risk — and the clinical evidence behind it

How trauma and disconnection from the body compound the chronic pain experience

What embodied movement looks like when you're coming back from years of diet culture messaging