The Art of Being Well
The Art of Being Well

TMJ, Brain Fog & Why Your Nervous System Is Keeping You In Pain | Dr. Joe Damiani

July 20, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

The Nervous System Keeps You in Pain—Here’s How to Get Out of the Loop

Dr. Joe Damiani, a physical therapist and TMJ specialist, started his career like most young clinicians—focused on joints, mechanics, and performance. Then he worked at a neuro rehab hospital in Los Angeles, and everything shifted. "It opened up my mind about the way it all works versus just the joints," he says. That insight became the foundation of his approach: pain isn't just a local mechanical problem. It's a loop involving your body, your brain, and your nervous system—and unless you address all three, you'll keep cycling through temporary fixes.

The Three Drivers of Stuck Pain

Damiani's "physio loops" framework identifies three root causes that keep people trapped in chronic head, neck, and jaw pain. The first is emotions. This doesn't have to mean past trauma. It can be the worry that creeps in after pain has lingered for months: Is this ever going to get better? Will I enjoy my vacation? That fear activates your fight-or-flight system, which releases inflammatory cytokines and keeps muscles tight. Your amygdala—responsible for emotional and painful memories—also controls motor output. So the more you worry, the more your body clenches.

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (00:57) **Introduction: The Nervous System, Mold, and OCD Connection** - Dr. Will Cole introduces the episode by discussing the surprising link between nervous system dysregulation (anxiety, brain fog, fatigue) and mold toxins, specifically in relation to OCD and hypervigilance.
  • 2 (07:39) **Dr. Damiani’s Origin Story: From Wrestling to Neuro-Rehab** - Dr. Damiani shares his journey from a high school wrestler and GNC employee to a physical therapist specializing in the nervous system's role in pain.
  • 3 (13:07) **The Physio Loops Framework: Escaping the Dysfunctional Loop** - Dr. Damiani introduces his "Physio Loops" concept, explaining how the body and nervous system create feedback loops that can be either healing or dysfunctional.
  • 4 (18:37) **Fixing Dr. Cole’s Tight Scalene Muscles: A Practical Case Study** - Using Dr. Cole’s tight neck muscles as an example, Dr. Damiani demonstrates his systematic approach to diagnosis and treatment.
  • 5 (22:05) **The Three Root Drivers of Nervous System Dysregulation** - Dr. Damiani identifies the three primary buckets that cause the nervous system to keep muscles tight: Emotions, Trust, and Awareness.
  • 6 (24:01) **Actionable Strategies for Each Root Driver** - Dr. Damiani provides specific techniques for retraining the nervous system based on which driver is dominant.
  • 7 (26:21) **Timeline for Nervous System Retraining** - Dr. Damiani outlines a realistic timeline for seeing results from these nervous system-focused strategies.

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Show Notes

Dr. Joe Damiani — Doctor of Physical Therapy, TMJ and head-neck pain specialist, and founder of Physio Loops — joins Dr. Will Cole in New York for a deeply practical conversation on why chronic pain persists even when the injury has healed. Dr. Joe explains his Physio Loops framework, the three root drivers of nervous system dysregulation in pain (emotions, trust, and awareness), how to tell whether a headache is coming from the jaw or the neck, why most TMJ patients don't have a bite problem, and what actually makes people better — both in person and virtually. Plus: the occipital lift exercise, 30-minute position changes, the chair he recommends after testing 14 of them, and why consistency is the one biohack you cannot buy. For all links mentioned in this episode, visit www.drwillcole.com/podcast.


Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.

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