Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsWhat Is Back Pain?SymptomsImpactTips to Prevent Stress-Related Back Pain

Table of ContentsView All

View All

Table of Contents

What Is Back Pain?

Symptoms

Impact

Tips to Prevent Stress-Related Back Pain

Close

Stress is how your body reacts to changes. However, when your body experiences too much stress or too often, many health issues can occur. Feeling overwhelmed, having low energy, and not getting a good night’s sleep are common effects of chronic stress.

Experiencing too much stress doesn’t just take a toll on your mental and emotional well-being. Stress can also manifest in physical health issues such as back pain.

This article discusses what back pain is, its symptoms, how stress impacts the health of your back, and some tips to reduce stress-related back pain.

What Is Back Pain?

Back pain is a common medical problem. It is estimated that at least 75% of Americans will suffer from back pain at some point in their lives.The intensity of back pain can vary from a dull nagging ache to a sharp shooting pain to intense spasms.

There are two types of back pain:

Typically, stress-related back pain refers to two locations: low-back and mid-back pain. Both types can change your posture and affect the way your body moves. Over time, back pain can affect and cause issues in the hips, neck, knee, and feet.

Symptoms of Back Pain

The severity of back pain can differ from person to person. Everyone has a different threshold, tolerance and sensitivity to pain. However, there are common symptoms of back pain. Some examples include:

The Impact of Stress on Back Health

The mind and the body are closely connected. When you are stressed, your body activates the stress response. The stressor could be physical, like getting ready to jump off a diving board. Or it could be psychological, like worrying about test results.

Flight or Fight Response

Our body interprets these stressors as a threat to our safety and well-being. This is also known as the “fight or flight” response. Your body will initiate a series of reactions to protect itself from harm.

During the stress response, hormones such as norepinephrine, epinephrine and cortisol are released to increase your blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing rate. Your pupils dilate and you sweat more. The short-term purpose of these functions is to fight off foreign invaders.

You’ve probably noticed that when you’re feeling stressed, your muscles tend to tighten up. They tighten up because your body senses danger and prepares to take immediate action. Then when you enter a calmer state, your muscles relax.

However, if you are always in this “fight or flight” mode and your body never gets a chance to destress, your muscles are constantly tense, and this causes back pain and body aches.

Frequent activation of the stress response causes repeated surges of cortisol. Your body becomes desensitized to cortisol, similar to the mechanism involved in insulin-resistant diabetes.Cortisol dysfunction leads to stress-induced inflammation. Stress-induced inflammation has increased the risk of rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, chronic low back pain, sciatica, and chronic pelvic pain.

Stress Impacts Your Nervous System

Overstimulated neurons can cause them to fire unpredictably and cause muscle twitching, pain, prolonged muscle tension, and spasms.

Lastly, the effect of stress on the nervous system has also been shown to be associated with a decreased ability to regulate pain.

It’s important to take care of our mental and physical well-being because our minds and bodies work closely together. Although it’s not possible to avoid stress, you cantake stepsto improve your health and prevent stress-related back pain.

Here are some tips to get you started:

18 Effective Stress Relief Strategies

A Word From Verywell

If you find your stress out of control, please seek counsel from amental health professional. Stress can be managed with proper treatment. If you’re experiencing physical pain, please consult a physician.

10 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

American Association of Neurological Surgeons.Low Back Pain

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.Low Back Pain Fact Sheet.

Godoy LD, Rossignoli MT, Delfino-Pereira P, Garcia-Cairasco N, de Lima Umeoka EH.A comprehensive overview on stress neurobiology: basic concepts and clinical implications.Front Behav Neurosci. 2018;0.

Hannibal KE, Bishop MD.Chronic stress, cortisol dysfunction, and pain: a psychoneuroendocrine rationale for stress management in pain rehabilitation.Phys Ther. 2014;94(12):1816–1825.

Justice NJ, Huang L, Tian JB, et al.Posttraumatic stress disorder-like induction elevates β-amyloid levels, which directly activates corticotropin-releasing factor neurons to exacerbate stress responses.J Neurosci. 2015;35(6):2612–2623.

Fatahi Z, Zibaii MI, Haghparast A.Effect of acute and subchronic stress on electrical activity of basolateral amygdala neurons in conditioned place preference paradigm: An electrophysiological study.Behav Brain Res. 2017;335:19–25.

Geva N, Pruessner J, Defrin R.Acute psychosocial stress reduces pain modulation capabilities in healthy men.Pain. 2014;155(11):2418–2425.

Nguyen-rodriguez ST, Unger JB, Spruijt-metz D.Psychological determinants of emotional eating in adolescence.Eat Disord. 2009;17(3):211–24. doi:10.1080/10640260902848543

Burke A, Lam CN, Stussman B, Yang H.Prevalence and patterns of use of mantra, mindfulness and spiritual meditation among adults in the United States.BMC Complement Altern Med. 2017;17(1):316. doi:10.1186/s12906–017–1827–8

Meet Our Review Board

Share Feedback

Was this page helpful?Thanks for your feedback!What is your feedback?HelpfulReport an ErrorOtherSubmit

Was this page helpful?

Thanks for your feedback!

What is your feedback?HelpfulReport an ErrorOtherSubmit

What is your feedback?