[proverbialbunny]

Kind of, kind of not.

When one has enough chronic pain, they lay in bed for extended periods of time. This deteriorates the muscles, and a lack of muscle strength can create chronic pain, creating a feedback loop.

It's why chronic pain centers prescribe a physical therapist and muscle strengthening exercises.

Likewise, as you suspect when it comes to neurology, if something happens over and over again the brain creates a map for it, which when it comes to chronic pain can make things worse. One of the solutions found is to prescribe an antidepressant, even if the person isn't depressed, as it helps rewire those kinds of parts of the brain. This is why at chronic pain centers there is a psychiatrist too.

Once those two issues are reduced or removed the chronic pain is often minimized enough (and sometimes entirely removed) the source of the chronic pain can become easier to see. Often the pain is still there, but it's no longer masked. This then helps identify the issue. eg for me, despite being 20/20 I have eye strain. Switching to a 4k monitor helped a lot, but I wouldn't have noticed a reduction in pain if I hadn't have gone through the physical therapy and been on an antidepressant for a couple of months.