Are You Stressed?
As a chiropractor, I have noticed that over this time of the pandemic people have been more stressed and are suffering more from back and neck pain.
So, I wondered what the current research says about the correlation between the two events. I found a lot of research to link stress and back pain:
One prominent study found severe stress was associated with a 2.8 x increase in risk of chronic lower back pain.
Another study identified the factors leading to increased pain as being a tendency to worry, social isolation, extreme physical exhaustion, work discontent and the number of specific emotional, stressful events.
It also appears that a significant number of pain events can be triggered by minor physical activities. This can lead to avoidance of physical activities due to the fear of a relapse.
A theory of how back pain begins is that it is an accumulation of back stress that leads to a point where one more activity can be enough to trigger pain. Therefore, it was not that trigger activity that caused the back pain but rather the build up over a period of time.
Understanding this hopefully means the back pain sufferer is not worried about repeating the trigger event but will focus on reducing back pain stressors (e.g. poor posture) and building up back muscle strength.
It is important to note here that restoring back pain mobility and reducing pain through manual manipulation (e.g. chiropractic) is helpful (usually necessary) in allowing you to do the strengthening exercises.
Secondary Suffering
Various studies have shown that worry, stress and catastrophizing (imagining the worst-case scenario even if there is no evidence to suggest that is a likely outcome) can amplify the pain and impede healing. Dealing with this secondary suffering can be critical in recovery.
Mindfulness and meditation can be very helpful in dealing with these aspects.
In summary, dealing with chronic lower back pain requires a practitioner, such as a Chiropractor, to understand all the above factors to help the patient address these, possibly coordinating the help of other healthcare professionals, such as a mindful practitioner and/or psychologists.
If you would like to know more about any aspects of the information in this article or just have a free screening consultation to determine the best way to get back to full health.
Please contact us at Headingley Chiropractic Clinic or on 0113 2289888 or info@headchiro.com
Best wishes,
Mark
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