Why is my Back Sore When I am Stressed?

We regularly see people who come in with back and neck/shoulder pain either being brought on by stress or being worsened by it. When you are stressed you tense your muscles more and this causes pain. This is done by the part of your nervous system called the Sympathetic Nervous System. This controls the flight/fright response. Your body is getting ready to take run away or fight, except that there isn't any need to, so it manifests as pain.

To help dampen down this over-activity, your breathing plays a large part. Make sure you are belly-breathing ie allowing your abdomen to expand when you breathe in and contract on exhalation. It is really common when people become stressed to use their chest muscles, so if you notice your chest rising and falling, you are breathing incorrectly.

Not only will breathing correctly help your stress levels, paying attention to your breathing will help you to slow it down and focus your mind on something other than your object of stress.

Even though we all know it, it does need to be said to eat healthy food. How can your body do its best to help you through this period if you are feeding it junk food and/or less healthy options. Feed it properly to nourish yourself and let it do its job by helping you to cope with the situation!

Exercise is another no-brainer, this can be a gentle walk or smashing it out at the gym, whatever works for you.

If you find that you still have back pain even after you have tried all of these other strategies, we can help. Anecdotally, people have reported that their stress levels are lower when receiving chiropractic care. Scientific research has proven chiropractic can help with back pain - yay!

If you'd like help with your stress-related back pain, please contact us or book in online as our North Ryde Chiropractors would love to help you out.