Back pain causes stress to millions of people almost every day. Not only it’s painful, but also extreme pain can limit an individual’s ability to live a normal life. Many factors can lead to pain in your back, but the relationship between stress and back pain is turning this all around. 

Stress can affect your body in many ways, from headaches and mood swings to depression and weight fluctuations. However, one main side effect that has come into the picture is backpain. Over time, frequent stressful thoughts can cause musculoskeletal issues in your back. 

Let’s read on to learn how stress can impact your back and the treatment and remedial options to manage back pain caused by stress.

Exploring the Relationship Between Back Pain and Stress

Besides past injury, heavy lifting and daily stress can also make you experience back pain. Typically, the stress in back pain can be experienced in low-back and mid-back locations. Both types of back pain can affect your posture, changing how your body moves.

• Mid-back pain: This includes muscles between an individual’s shoulders and chest that are affected by breathing. Daily stressors can change your breathing patterns. As a result, your shoulders might hunch over, causing tension and strain in your upper and mid-back.
• Low-back pain: This includes muscles between an individual’s belly button and tailbone. When stressed, many people often become more sedentary, which means they are more prone to sitting and, thus exercise less. Sitting at the desk longer can strain your lower back muscles and spine.

How Can Stress Cause Back Pain?

To better understand how reducing stress can help relieve back pain, you should first know how stress induces pain in your back. 

Your mind and body have a close connection. Stress can trigger a flight-or-fight response or impact your nervous system, causing back pain. 

Stress-induced back pain through flight-fight response

The human body interprets stressors as a threat to its safety and well-being and, thus, initiates a ‘fight-or-flight’ response to protect it. During this stress response, your body produces hormones like epinephrine, norepinephrine, and cortisol which elevate your blood pressure, breathing rate, and heart rate. Moreover, your pupils dilate, muscles tighten up, and you sweat more. 

When stress response activates frequently, it causes repeated surges of cortisol. And cortisol dysfunction further leads to stress-induced inflammation, increasing the risk of chronic back pain. 

Stress-induced back pain through impacted nervous system

Chronic stress can also impact your nervous system, which consists of billions of neurons. Aside from transmitting information between the brain and remaining body parts, neurons control muscle movement. 

Overstimulated neurons due to extreme stress can cause them to fire unpredictably, leading to muscle twitching, tension, spasms, and pain.

In addition, higher stress levels can induce the following back pain contributors:

• Poor sleep: Many individuals with back pain get caught up in the vicious pain-sleep cycle. And when stress interferes with your sleep, it can exacerbate your back pain, making it further harder to have a restful sleep.
• Fatigued muscles: Stress can make your muscles more fatigued. Thus, you are likely to feel pain and injure your back. 
• Over-straining your core and other back muscles: Stress can tense your muscles. While it’s believed that a strong core can protect your back, people experiencing back pain actually have higher engagement of trunk muscles than people with no back pain. Hence, too much tension in your muscles can put pressure on your sensitive back structures, contributing to chronic pain.

Managing Stress to Relieve Back Pain

If different stressors induce pain in your back, you should focus on stress reduction. You can incorporate stress-relieving practices such as regular exercise, mindfulness, relaxation techniques, and physical therapy to reduce back pain. 

• Regular light to moderate exercise

Incorporating light to moderate physical activity into your routine can strengthen your core muscles and alleviate strain on your lower back. There are specific exercises that you can do to keep your back muscles healthy and strong, such as planks, pelvic tilts, bridges, etc.

In addition, consider adding cardiovascular exercises to your workout routine, like walking, swimming, cycling, or jogging, to induce regular blood flow and release endorphins, which act as stress and pain relievers.

• Massage therapy

Seeing a qualified massage therapist for regular massage sessions can help relieve tension in your mind and muscles, promoting calmness and minimising pain. Ask the therapist to focus on areas prone to stress-related tension, like the head, shoulders, neck, and lower back.

• Mindfulness and meditation

Mindfulness and meditation can effectively alleviate stress by focusing on the present moment rather than negative thoughts. These practices will help calm the mind, improve overall mental health, and mitigate the risk of stress-induced back pain.

• Deep breathing, yoga, and Tai Chi

These mind-body practices combine gentle movements and deep breathing to promote flexibility, balance, and relaxation. When taking deep breaths, consider focusing on the breathing sensation to prevent your mind from wandering, thus reducing stress. Moreover, yoga and Tai Chi can help alleviate musculoskeletal pain while easing muscle tension.

• Balanced diet

Consume nutritious foods to keep yourself in a good mood and your body in an optimal state to fight against stress. Avoiding high-sugar, high-salt, and high-fat foods can help keep your blood sugar level in check and relieve stress.

Final Takeaway

The vicious relationship between stress and back pain prioritizes stress management to live a healthy, pain-free life. You can take proactive steps to reduce stress and stress-induced back pain by addressing stress through massage, mindfulness, exercise, and relaxation techniques.

If you find your stress uncontrollable, consider seeking counselling from Dr Akansha Batra, a Clinical Psychologist in Medanta. Moreover, for anyone experiencing stress-related back pain, the qualified physicians in the healthcare facility are an optimal solution for back pain relief.