Our brains do a lot without us knowing.
Our unconscious mind is constantly predicting, filling in the gaps, and creating our reality. All while our conscious mind thinks it's in full control...
Neuroscientist, Anil Seth, calls this daily cognitive process a "hallucination". And he's not wrong.
The Visual Noise
Look at the gif below.
It has no sound.
Yet, for many, they'll be able to hear the sound of the pylon hitting the ground.
It's like we've been conditioned to hear something.
It's as if our brains are "hallucinating" a sound to match the other corresponding sensory data.
But of course we know there is no real sound, so it's not a threat to our reality.
Hallucinating Pain
A similar thing can happen with pain.
Instead of having pure, interoceptive awareness, our brains our busy predicting what we feel.
This isn't always a bad thing.
But when our unconscious brain predicts pain when there is no damage or imminent threat, it becomes a problem.
I see this all the time in a clinic. Chronic pain patients perceive simple, safe movements like muscle contractions or stretches as significantly painful stimuli.
It's like the pylon gif above, our brains "hallucinate" a sense that isn't really there.
Pain becomes a conditioned response. Something that the unconscious brain creates in attempt to meet the expectations.
Our brains unfortunately often chose consistency over truth.
What to Do
There are many ways to deal with chronic pain or annoying injuries.
Number 1 is to find a good physical therapist.
Some other ideas:
Meditate / Practice Mindfulness
Perform a Body Scan
Don't Search for the Pain
Try Not to Expect Pain
Find the Other Variables that Trigger the Feeling (i.e. the shaking of the camera in the gif)
Exercise with Different Cues
It might not change overnight. But eventually you can learn that the sound you hear in the gif is not actual sound waves hitting your ear drums.