From Chronic Pain to Zero: Nora Rodden on the Biopsychosocial Model and the Nervana App

Dr. David Rosenblum sits down with Nora Rabah Rodden, founder and CEO of Nervana, a digital health app for people living with chronic pain and other persistent symptoms. During her senior year at Cornell, Nora was hit by a car, which led to five years of mid and low back pain. She tried radiofrequency ablation, PRP, steroid injections, chiropractic care, physical therapy and acupuncture, and none of them gave her lasting relief.

While earning her MBA and MS in Biotechnology at Harvard, Nora enrolled as a participant in a clinical study of Psychophysiologic Symptom Relief Therapy (PSRT), led by Dr. Michael Donnino. The study combined pain education, graded exposure and journaling. Within weeks her pain dropped from a 7/10 to zero, and her insomnia and digestive problems improved too.

Topics covered:

• How Nora went from a skeptical pain patient to building an app around the biopsychosocial model
• How Nervana works: pain neuroscience education, a voice-to-voice AI coach, journaling, meditation and somatic exercises. The app does not diagnose or prescribe.
• Why the app is "meant to be deleted," and how patients can export a one-page summary for their clinician
• The gap between how much the biopsychosocial model is emphasized in medical school and on the boards, and how hard it is to apply in a busy interventional practice
• A clinical story: a patient who asked for an injection for abdominal pain one month after losing her baby
• Why a diagnostic block is only a snapshot, and how life stressors can change pain scores
• How to bring up the emotional side of pain without making patients feel dismissed
• Why a pain physician should never tell a patient "there's nothing I can do for you"

Bottom line: chronic pain is real, but the brain can turn the volume up or down. Understanding the biopsychosocial model helps clinicians offer patients more than procedures alone, and never leave them feeling there is nothing more that can be done.

Guest resources: Nervana, https://www.trynervana.com. Clinicians can get free access at https://www.trynervana.com/for-clinicians

For Physiatrists & PM&R Residents - PMRExam Board Review:

PMRExam Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Board Review - over 400 PM&R board review questions and up to 12 CME credits.

Ultrasound CME Course Calendar - live ultrasound-guided musculoskeletal, regional anesthesia and interventional pain workshops in NYC, Costa Rica and elsewhere.

• Conferences & Webinars: https://www.nrappain.org/pages/upcoming-pain-management-conferences
• Pain Medicine Fellowship-bound? Virtual Pain Fellowship: https://www.nrappain.org/bundles/Virtual-Pain-Fellowship

About the Host

David Rosenblum, MD is Director of Pain Management at Maimonides Medical Center and Co-Owner/Clinic Director of AABP Integrative Pain Care and Wellness in Brooklyn, NY. Dual board-certified in Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, he is a co-author of the ASIPP Peripheral Nerve Stimulation (PNS) guidelines and a widely recognized educator in regenerative pain medicine (PRP, BMAC, amniotic therapies). As founder of NRAP Academy, he has trained 3,500+ physicians for board certification since 2008, and hosts the PainExam, AnesthesiaExam, and PMRExam podcasts. He has been named a New York Magazine "Top Doctor" from 2016–2026.

Living with chronic pain? Dr. Rosenblum sees patients for interventional and regenerative pain treatment - including epidurals, nerve blocks, spinal cord & peripheral nerve stimulation, and PRP/BMAC - at his Brooklyn, NY office. Visit RosenblumPain.com for more information, or call 718 436 7246.

This episode is brought to you by NRAP Academy and PMRExam - visit www.NRAPpain.org for CME in neuromodulation, regional anesthesia, and pain medicine.

This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice.