Why Do I Hurt More When I Am Stressed Out?

Neck and back pain can easily come from being stressed.

Stress and back pain are inter-related.

Whether it’s from fatigue, mental, emotional strain, physical pain, or any other cause,

stress starts a chain of events in the nervous system that, when prolonged, leads to pain and,then more stress because pain itself is a stress.

Most cases of back pain are due to joints in the spine that are stuck or cannot move freely.

 When joints are “stuck” or don’t move properly, this is a “stress”. Motion-sensing nerves inside the joint tell an area of the brain that the joint is stuck and under stress. This stress causes a release of the stress hormone called cortisol.

 Contant exposure to cortisol causes a number of changes that soon result in more pain.

First – it tightens blood vessels and your muscles get very tight. Muscles that are too tight and don’t get enough oxygen from constricted blood vessels - will hurt and… they also restrict the movement of joints…causing the problem to keep going.

 Cortisol also causes the brain to stop making another hormone called serotonin. 

Serotonin affects your perception of pain as well as your alertness, your sleep / wake cycles, your moods, emotions, ability to relax, and ability to heal.       

Without Serotonin – you feel more pain and you feel more stressed.   

Taking pain medication won’t solve the problem. The problem is due to joints not moving. 

Pain Meds don’t make joints move any better.

Many have found that chiropractic care is very effective care for stress and back pain because the chiropractic adjustment is specifically directed at restoring the movement of spinal joints.  With the return of normal joint movement the pain stops… and cortisol production (which was causing the tight joints), drops off and the serotonin levels return to normal allowing you to feel better again. 

Pain and stress form their own vicious cycle.

To break the cycle you must get the non-moving joint(s) in the spine moving.

  

Comments

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