Can emotional stress cause back and neck pain?

We've been discussing a little bit lately, some of the most common things that bring people in to us with back pain and neck pain.

Physically, one of the most common things is bending down to pick things up off the ground. But there's something that we find causes pain with people even more commonly than anything physical they do - emotional stress.

Initially you might think that sounds kind of crazy, but think about the last time you were either really angry or really sad and how your body felt, especially when angry. Your jaw starts to clench, you feel your shoulders tighten up, you might even be making fists with your hands because your boss made you so angry or your spouse wasn't listening to you or whatever it was.

Think about all the things that happen in your body when you feel those emotions. There's a lot of stuff that goes on, your body fires off certain chemicals, you get a lot of adrenaline and that makes everything more hyperactive and your muscle tone gets stronger and tighter.

That stress really depletes the nervous system and just the body in general. Imagine someone who's under stress all the time, maybe they just can't stand their job and they're already dreading it by Saturday night, let alone Sunday night; or maybe there's a death in the family; or someone gets ill; or you lose your job; we always notice that people who are going through those kinds of situations have a lot more physical problems than they normally would.

So what can you do about it? When you recognize you're undergoing that kind of stress, you have to take care of your body more so than you normally would. Drink a lot of water; avoid the nasty foods that increase inflammation and stress on the body; eat cleaner foods in general; and try and get as much sleep as you can even though it can be hard when under a lot of stress. These things will help your body counteract the stress reactions.

Getting adjusted by a chiropractor or getting a massage will also help reboot the nervous system and calm the fire in your musculoskeletal system a little bit. You're never going to make that stress go away but your body will adapt a lot better and you'll get through the situation faster. Of course, if you're needing more help than that, it's always okay to go and talk to a therapist, psychiatrist, or whomever you feel comfortable with, to help you deal with what's going on in your mind.

When you can manage stress more effectively, you're not putting those damaging effects on the physical body anymore. Let us help you where we can and never hesitate to reach out and ask questions if you need to.