Can Stress Cause Lower Back Pain

December 10, 2022

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Is Stress Causing Your Back Pain

Stress and its relation to Back Pain

For those familiar with the trappings of stress and anxiety, emotional strain and mental tension can be all too consuming. Before we know it, physical symptoms present themselves too and manifest in a multitude of ways. Be it compromised immune health, poor digestion or neck and back pain, we often pay a painful price for prolonged stress. I am here to talk about stress, how it can influence physical symptoms like back pain, and what you can do to ease any discomfort.

When Should I See A Doctor If I Have Lower Back Pain

In many cases lower back pain stops on its own. But if it doesnt, here are some guidelines on when you may want to start seeking professional help:

If the pain lasts four weeks or longer
If the pain keeps getting worse as time goes by
If you are experiencing other symptoms, such as fever, major weight loss or weight gain, loss of function or weakness in extremities, bladder problems, etc.

Easy Tips To Relieve Stress

Stress affects the body in a variety of ways,from mood swings and headaches to weight fluctuations. However, an often overlookedside effect of stress is neck and back pain. Over time, repetitive bouts ofstress can cause musculoskeletal issues in these regions of the body.

When we get stressed out, the body naturally releases certainhormones. Adrenaline is associated with the ancient fight or flight phenomenonthat heightens our blood pressure, increases our blood supply, and causes themuscles around our spine to tense and spasm in case we need to flee the sourceof the stress. Cortisol is known as the stress hormone it interferes with avariety of functions. Elevations in cortisol can lead to loss of muscle massand increases in fat accumulation.

“Stress affects the body in a variety of ways, from mood swings and headaches to weight fluctuations. However, an often-overlooked side effect of stress is neck and back pain. Over time, repetitive bouts of stress can cause musculoskeletal issues in these regions of the body.”

Kavita Trivedi, D.O.

Data suggest that adults know stress affects their spines. Online survey participants ranked the No. 1 perceived cause of their neck and back pain as follows:

Stress: 29 percent
Spinal disc herniation: 21 percent
Sitting at a desk at work: 20 percent

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How Long Does Stress

Generally speaking, most medical conditions will last as long as the underlying cause remains untreated. In this case, if you are dealing with stress-related back pain, theres a good chance that the pain will remain for as long as the stress remains. If you deal with the stress with some exceptions you will likely alleviate the back pain.

Typical back pain is usually classified as either acute or chronic. Acute back pain usually goes away after a few days or possibly a few weeks. In most instances, you can handle the treatment of the condition yourself. And once the pain resolves, you can return to your normal activities.

Chronic back pain is a little more stubborn. Chronic back pain lasts for 12 weeks or longer. And to make things worse, some of the symptoms of chronic back pain might remain even after treatment is completed.

Can Depression Cause Aches And Pains And Vice Versa

Severe lower back pain when walking or standing

If you have never experienced chronic pain before, its a severe case of aches and discomfort that lasts much longer than it should typically take for the body to heal.

For example, when you hurt your back, it should take a couple of weeks at most for things to steadily get better before the problem is completely gone. However, that pain sometimes lingers without getting better at all for several weeks, months, or even years, as is the case if you have degenerative arthritis. The condition can even come and go during that period, but as long as the same issue comes back consistently, it is considered chronic pain.

But does chronic pain cause depression?

For those that have dealt with this type of pain before, you know how absolutely frustrating it can be on a daily basis. You wake up in the morning hoping to feel refreshed and reenergized, only to find out that your body still isnt doing any better than the day before. Youre stuck in this position of not being able to perform your daily activities such as:

sitting or standing for extended periods
completing routine tasks

How are depression and pain related? When your body isnt performing like its supposed to, or like it used to, especially if you are someone that is usually very physically active, there is no way that you can stop it from altering your mood. For the first few weeks or even months, you may be able to work past the way you are feeling inside.

Some of the most common reasons for depression are:

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Your Sedentary Lifestyle Is Causing Back Pain

Simply needing to readjust your livelihood to stay home most of the year could be responsible for back pain. Many of us who were not working from home prior to the pandemic were essentially forced to quickly adapt, and didn’t have the luxury of time to set up an ergonomic home office, Dr. Bonte says. Sitting at a low table on a stool with a small laptop is going to cause more back pain than sitting at a designated workstation with a full sit-to-stand desk setup and a full-screen monitor.

Since youve eliminated a commute and walks to meetings, water coolers and restrooms on the other side of the office, youre probably sitting more in general during the workday. Studies suggest that more sitting time has been associated with more low back pain.

In addition, we are all creatures of routine, and when this routine is disrupted, this can make stress and pain worse. For those who exercise regularly, our minds, joints, muscles, and tendons are used to a particular training style or exercise program, Dr. Bonte says. Gym closures have forced us to learn how to do things differently, and I have seen people with new injuriesespecially running injuriesas a result of trying to adapt too quickly without a gym or their typical equipment or classes.

The Most Common Causes Of Lower Back Pain Are A Strain Or Sprain

Whether you notice it or not, your lumbar spine gets put to work throughout the entire day.

Amid all of this work and motion, a lower back sprain or strain can result from an acute injury, such as one experienced while falling, lifting something too heavy or playing sports. A sprain or strain can also develop over time due to repetitive movements or poor posture.

Straining a muscle or spraining a ligament are the most common causes of lower back pain, says Dr. Palmer. While they can be serious, these common causes of lower back pain arent long-lasting taking anywhere from a few days to heal or, at most, a few months.

Your doctor can help you determine the particular course of self-care that can help heal your lower back pain.

The treatment for a pulled back muscle or strained back ligament is fairly simple and can include pain and anti-inflammatory medications, muscle relaxers, ice to help reduce inflammation, heat to promote healing, and avoiding strenuous activity until the pain recedes, explains Dr. Palmer. The best course of care will depend on the severity of your injury as well as your overall core and lower body strength.

If your lower back pain persists despite treatment, it may be time to consider other causes of lower back pain.

Can Lower Back Pain Be Related To Weather

If you feel like your lower back pain worsens on days when its cold or the weather is changing, you are not imagining things. Back pain can indeed be related to barometric pressure and outdoor temperature. Changes in pressure can sometimes cause pain in arthritic joints, including the spine. Muscles and joints in general react to the environment, which can make them stiffer and more likely to suffer an injury.

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Back Pain Caused By Stress

How Do Stress and Anxiety Affect Back Pain, and What Can I do about it?

Anxiety may change the way you carry yourself, creating changes in your posture, causing you to slouch. It can also contribute to inactivity and hypersensitivity, which can amplify back discomfort. Back pain tends to happen in a cycle- a sufferer may adopt certain postures or avoid certain activities to try to relieve the pain, but the positions or lack of activity may actually aggravate the problem. By attempting to avoid back pain, the patient may actually be aggravating the condition.

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Can Anxiety Cause Back Pain And Shortness Of Breath

Anxiety is a bodys natural or normal response to stress. It is the brains way of reacting to a stressful situation or alerting you to possible danger. Physical symptoms of anxiety such as nausea, headaches, fatigue, sweating are how your body responds to stress.

For instance, when you go through an anxiety attack, you might lose sensation in some parts of your body and feel like you might pass out or might experience shortness of breath. These physical symptoms apply stress on your spine and muscles in times of panic and cause pain. As your body is not meant to be on guard 24×7, it can have serious implications on your well being.

Tensed muscles may put you in the fight-or-flight mode and help you get away from a panic situation faster. However, when these muscles are in a constant state of tension, it results in pain. If youre constantly anxious, the continual release of adrenaline and cortisol may have long term health implications on your body.

Counseling For Environmental Hardships

A common contributor to stress is environmental factors. You may have recently lost your job, be facing severe financial hardship, or have suffered the loss of a close relationshipand the stress from these experiences may be provoking your lower back pain symptoms.

See How Does Stress Cause Back Pain?

It is often a good idea to find assistance through counseling or therapy to relieve stress caused by environmental hardships. A trained mental health counselor or psychologist can teach you strategies to cope with, and minimize, the causes of your stress. For example, she or he can teach you to plan in advance, and also help with developing strategies to deal with the difficult people in your life.

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Understanding Hip Pain From Stress And Anxiety

The bodily reaction to stress is a very primal one: it goes back to our instinctual response when we are in danger â our fight or flight response.

Stress and anxiety both evoke a very similar reaction to primal physical danger, especially in the hip flexors, which are designed to help us flee from a predator or dangerous situation.

When our brains are introduced to even minor stress, like running a few minutes behind in the morning, our body still causes pain and tightness within our muscles to keep us safe. Whether our stress is related to the hip or not, it could contribute to tension in the iliopsoas or hip flexor muscles.

Can Depression Anxiety And Stress Cause Back Pain

Prevent Back Pain: Exercises To Help Strengthen Your Back

December 11, 2020 by Dr. Todd Goldman

Many of us lead fast-paced lives as we juggle our work and personal responsibilities. Sometimes we get so caught up in all of lifes responsibilities that ailments like back pain sneak up on us. Maybe your mattress is good, and youre sleeping right at night to alleviate the stress on your back, but youre still experiencing back pain day after day. Could it be from the stress and anxiety of your day to day life?

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Anatomy Of Stress And Emotions

Just as all of our stresses will be different, where we hold tension tends to vary from person to person. However, the most common stress-related muscle tension patterns occur in the neck or hip muscles.

This is mainly due to the fact that many of our most essential organs are directly next to the iliacus muscle in the pelvis. The pelvic area not only experiences physical and sexual trauma, but due to its location close to the reproductive system, itâs a common place for holding tension related to relationships and our sense of survival and safety.

Our digestive, urinary, and reproductive systems, as well as major lymph, nerves, and blood vessels, are in this area. This makes the iliacus muscle vital in protecting this area of our bodies. Similarly, the neck muscles serve the vital purpose of supporting and protecting our spinal cord and brain.

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How Severe Can Stress

Most individuals make the assumption that back pain caused by stress may not be that bad. The truth is that stress can cause back pain that is extremely debilitating. The type of stress that can cause back pain is often long-term stress that has not been dealt with. Not dealing with the stress may result in chronic back problems, like lumbago. Chronic back issues are extremely difficult to deal with and can impair the way one goes about living.

It is important to know when to get treatment for any ailments one experiences. Not seeking medical assistance for chronic back pain can result in a disc in your spine, becoming extremely damaged. A damaged disc requires surgery to fix, and should you not get surgery, the damaged disc can result in extreme pain and discomfort. This can result in lower back pain that does not seem to go away along with physical impairment. This can prevent one from living day to day normally.

Can Stress Cause Chest Pain During Panic Attacks

Anxiety Back Pain Explained & Relief!

Your bodys stress responses are activated during a panic attack. These are also known as your fight or flight responses.

Contraction of your muscles is one of these stress responses. Your body does this to protect you from danger, as the tension makes you more resilient. This stiffness in your chest wall muscles and nearby areas can cause chest pain both during and after panic attacks.

Another stress response that can be activated during a panic attack is hyperventilation, where you over-breathe as your body believes it is going to have to move fast. This can cause you to use your chest muscles to expand your rib cage, causing chest pain when your muscles become tired. This hyperventilation can then cause carbon dioxide levels in your blood to decrease, another factor that can lead to chest pain as well as tingling, dizziness, numbness and a dry mouth.

Stomach and digestive functions also alter during a fight or flight response and it is possible for problems with these functions to be experienced as chest pain or tightness.

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Chest Pains And Other Panic Symptoms

Not all aches and pains are in your muscles either. Some anxiety disorders can cause other symptoms, like chest pains, a painful tingling in the hands and feet, and more. These are often the result of hyperventilation, which occurs during panic attacks and severe anxiety.

Headaches

Headaches are tricky. Most anxiety headaches are actually just a form of tension, known as a âtension headache.â Your muscles tense up, and your head experiences pain as a result. But anxiety is also known to cause migraines, and migraines can lead to immense discomfort around your head, as well as symptoms that may create more anxiety.

Hypersensitivity

Another thing to keep in mind with anxiety is that not all aches and pains are caused by anxiety. Every day you experience very small discomforts all over your body for many reasons. Someone who is anxiety-free may be able to ignore them and find that they quickly go away.

But those with anxiety tend to suffer from whatâs known as âhypersensitivity.â Hypersensitivity is when you become too attuned to the way your body feels, to the point where you notice nearly every physical sensation in your body. When you pay that much attention to those sensations, your mind has a tendency to amplify them, and that makes them more likely to cause more pain than they would have naturally done.

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How Do You Treat Back Pain Related To Stress

As part of his patient-first approach to medicine, Dr. Michels focuses on relieving your pain and addressing the underlying issue.

A successful treatment strategy, therefore, requires a thorough investigation of your symptoms and evaluation of your habits and medical conditions responsible for your discomfort. He then designs a comprehensive plan thats tailored to fit your needs.

For outstanding care and relief from the stressors responsible for your back pain, schedule a visit with Dr. Michels today. Call our office or request your appointment online.

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Dealing With Back Pain

Although there are a lot of treatments that you can cycle through to deal with back pain or lower back pain, the most important one is that you learn to manage your stress properly. Back pain can be extremely frustrating to deal with. Other than being frustrating, back pain is also bad for your overall health and may result in other issues such as pain in one’s neck. Neck-related pain is often directly linked to back pain. The pain experienced in one’s neck often stems from either poor posture or pain in the back that has not been dealt with.

To deal with back pain, one may choose to get a massage to relieve the tension in the muscles. There are a variety of ways to deal with pain in the back and not all are favored by everyone. It is advised that you cycle through the various option until you find one that works best for your pain. What may work for the pain you experience in your back may not work for someone else.

Learning how to effectively handle the back pain you experience is important. Not knowing how to deal with the pain can result in a host of issues. Back pain can sometimes feel crippling, and should this be the case, you should seek assistance for it as soon as possible. The pain you experience today does not have to be the pain you experience tomorrow. So, get some help from a personal injury chiropractic office with your back pain before it becomes a serious issue.

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