Stress is our body’s physiological reaction to danger, while anxiety is a psychic and emotional reaction to danger. So how do they relate to pain, and how can they affect it?
Stress is our body’s physiological reaction to danger, while anxiety is a psychic and emotional reaction to danger. So how do they relate to pain, and how can they affect it?
Pain is defined as an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with damage to a body structure (skin, bone, muscle, joint, nerve, etc.). It’s an extremely complex phenomenon that includes several components (sensory discriminative, emotional, cognitive and behavioral) and varies considerably from one person to another. There are multiple factors that contribute to this high variability, such as:
All these factors make painful experiences unique to each individual and must be considered when trying to reduce pain.
Effects of Stress and Anxiety on the Body
Regardless of the complexity and type of pain, individuals who experience prolonged stress or anxiety will see their relationship to pain change. The effects of stress include:
To put it simply, increased cortisol levels and hyperactivation of the sympathetic autonomic nervous system will lower the pain threshold. That said, a non-painful stimulus can become painful (allodynia), and painful stimuli can become even more so (hyperalgesia). In addition, increased sympathetic activity can lead to prolonged muscle contractions, eventually leading to myofascial syndrome (trigger points; see the blog on this subject).
Effects on Breathing
Secondly, in terms of breathing patterns, people under greater stress tend to breathe more apically than diaphragmatically. Indeed, these people will breathe more through the upper part of the thorax, overloading the accessory inspiratory muscles of the neck. For its part, the diaphragm, which has multiple tendinous attachments from the head to the lower back, may find itself in a shortened position, as it is less active. As a result, all these inspiratory muscles become more tense, leading to pain all over the body, especially in the spinal regions (neck, thorax, back).
Effects on Posture
Finally, these muscular tensions, when present for long periods, can contribute to a postural change. A posture with the back more slumped and the head anteriorized, which can be caricatured as the “telephone posture” or “posture of the century,” can follow and have a negative impact on many aches and pains.
Eliminate the Cause of Stress or Anxiety
Obviously, to eliminate pain, you have to eliminate the cause. When stress is a major factor in a sufferer’s life, the cause of the stress must also be addressed; otherwise the pain may persist. Unfortunately, completely eliminating the cause of stress is not always feasible in the context of many people’s lives. For these people, it’s more a question of stress management, which can be achieved through physical exercise, yoga or meditation, among others. These are all activities that are highly recommended for their various benefits to people’s physical and mental health.
Ask for Help
Another solution is to call in a medical professional. To get rid of pain, we all tend to contact someone who treats pain, such as an osteopath or physiotherapist. They need to be well trained and aware that pain is more complex than its sensory-discriminative component. A holistic assessment of the person is therefore essential, and stress and anxiety need to be addressed by the therapist more often than not.
Finally, a psychologist, social worker, psychoeducator or even a life coach can also help – and, for some, may even be essential – when emotions and psychological stress are predominant in the person with pain. Interdisciplinary work would, therefore, be ideal for treating pain induced in whole or in part by stress.
In short, stress and anxiety do have an effect on people’s pain. These effects vary from one individual to another, but can be considerable, and may even be the main cause of pain for some. It is therefore important to address this aspect in order to eliminate or at least reduce pain. Simply talking about it and making people aware of it is the first step.
If you need professional pain management, don’t hesitate to make an appointment with a member of the Hexa Physio team, who will offer you a treatment plan tailored to your situation!
