Many people think of the spine as a mechanical structure, but it is also an intricately connected system that is sensitive to stress. The effects of stress can lead to pain, poor posture and movement patterns, changes in pain perception and an increased risk for spinal conditions.
Bentonville Chiropractor adjustments can help alleviate stress-related pain and improve nerve function. Combined with other wellness practices, such as mindfulness, deep breathing exercises and physical activity, it can make you feel more balanced and centered.
Muscle Tension and Spasms
Stress can cause the muscles in your back to tighten up, leading to a sharp pain or cramping sensation. These muscle spasms can also lead to problems with your spine, such as herniated discs.
While some stress is necessary, such as when you need to work hard or react quickly, too much can cause health issues. Those issues include back and neck pain caused by muscle tension, a condition called spasmogenesis.
Muscle tension is a natural response to physical or emotional pressure, but when you have too much, it can impact your spine. The tension from your body’s natural reaction to stress can make your spine feel stiff and painful, which can also amplify how your brain interprets pain signals.
Neck pain and muscle tension caused by stress may be a sign of instability in the nape of your neck, a condition called atlantoaxial instability. The atlantoaxial articulation is the most mobile joint in the neck, but it can be unstable due to muscle bulk, aging, and trauma. Symptoms like neck pain and spasms can indicate instability before radiological evidence is visible.
You can help prevent muscle spasms by doing regular exercises that strengthen your core and surrounding muscles, improving posture, and avoiding repetitive motions that can strain your neck and back. You can also practice breathing techniques to calm your nervous system and relax your muscles. Getting enough sleep and consuming a healthy diet that provides your body with essential nutrients can also reduce the effects of stress on your spine.
If you’re experiencing neck or back pain caused by muscle spasms, schedule a consultation with your chiropractor to examine your spine, determine the source of your spasms, and create a treatment plan. Chiropractic adjustments can realign the spine, improve nerve communication, and relax tight muscles. Other treatments include spinal traction therapy to create space between the vertebrae, massage therapy, and soothing modalities like heat and ice to reduce pain and muscle tightness. If your back spasms are severe or accompanied by tingling/numbness on one side of your body, weakness, or loss of bladder or bowel control, go to the emergency department right away.
Inflammation
The spine is a mechanical structure that supports the weight of your body, but it is also highly connected to your nervous system and sensitive to stress. When you experience stress, your body releases hormones like cortisol and adrenaline that cause muscle tension, inflammation, changes in pain perception, and other issues that can wreak havoc on your spinal health.
Stress-induced inflammation can damage your spinal discs, increase your risk of herniated discs, and contribute to spinal stenosis, a condition that narrows the spinal canal, putting pressure on the spinal cord and nerves. Inflammation can also weaken the spinal bones and ligaments, causing degenerative conditions such as arthritis and osteoporosis.
Depending on the source of your inflammation, chiropractic treatments can help reduce it. Spinal misalignments are common causes of spinal inflammation, and chiropractic adjustments restore proper alignment, alleviating stress on the nervous system and minimizing inflammatory responses.
Chiropractic manipulations also enhance circulation, which increases oxygen flow to injured or painful areas of the spine, accelerating the body’s natural healing processes and reducing inflammation. If you suffer from autoimmune conditions like rheumatoid arthritis or ankylosing spondylitis, which affect the joints in your spine, ongoing inflammation can lead to bony growth and eventually fuse two or more of your spinal vertebrae together.
Chronically high levels of stress can also disrupt your sleep, which has a direct impact on inflammation levels in the body. Getting 7-9 hours of restful sleep each night helps your immune system function properly, reducing inflammation and allowing you to heal quickly.
Some sources of stress are good, motivating you to work harder at a job or exercise hard in a workout. However, unmanaged, chronic stress leads to prolonged muscle tension that can compress your spinal nerves and limit mobility and comfort in the back and neck. This can contribute to the development of herniated or slipped discs and worsen existing spinal conditions like arthritis and fibromyalgia. Regular chiropractic adjustments can help manage these effects, restoring alignment, improving mobility, and boosting your health and athletic performance. Practicing stress-relieving exercises like deep breathing, meditation, and yoga can also mitigate stress and improve posture and spinal flexibility.
Changes in Pain Perception
While the majority of back pain triggers are physical, the role of emotional and psychological stress is underappreciated. The body’s natural “fight or flight” response to stressful situations causes hormones like cortisol and adrenaline to wreak havoc on spine health, contributing to muscle tension, inflammation, changes in pain perception, and worsening of existing spinal conditions. Fortunately, understanding how stress affects the spine and learning effective ways to manage it can help you prevent chronic discomfort.
In addition to improving posture, exercise, ergonomic adjustments, and sleep hygiene, incorporating mindfulness, stress management techniques, and cognitive behavioral therapy into your lifestyle can help you break the cycle of back pain caused by stress. While some level of stress is healthy and even beneficial if it motivates us to work hard or react quickly, it becomes unhealthy when it’s sustained over long periods of time.
Some people “hold” their stress in their back muscles, clenching them tightly and contributing to tightness, stiffness, and pain. This is particularly true for those who slouch or hunch at their desk all day and whose work posture can put extra strain on the neck and back. Chronic muscle tension can compress nerves, restrict blood flow to the spine, and contribute to the development of degenerative spinal conditions like herniated discs, sciatica, and arthritis.
Chiropractors use a wide variety of non-invasive treatments to reduce pain, stiffness, and inflammation in the spine and surrounding tissues. These include spinal manipulation, also known as chiropractic adjustment, which involves a quick thrust to specific joints in the spine to improve alignment and ease mobility. Ultrasound treatment uses sound waves to penetrate deep into the tissues, reducing pain and inflammation and encouraging healing. In addition, many chiropractors provide acupuncture, which involves placing needles in specific points to alleviate pain and stimulate the nervous system. Chiropractors may also recommend dietary changes, supplements, and stress reduction techniques to support your spine health and overall wellness. Combined with physical therapy, these strategies can lead to lasting relief from back pain and a healthier, more stable spine.
Changes in Sleep
Stress can cause muscle tightness, affect how we perceive pain, and exacerbate back injuries or spinal conditions like herniated discs. Sleep disturbances, meanwhile, can worsen the effects of stress and re-ignite pain, creating a vicious cycle of pain, inflammation, and poor sleep quality that contributes to long-term spine health problems like chronic low back pain.
When we experience stress, our bodies go into the “fight or flight” response, triggering hormones like cortisol and adrenaline that can lead to chronic tightness in muscles around the spine, especially those in the neck and lower back. These tense muscles can compress nerves, restrict blood flow to the spine, and contribute to pain and stiffness. Over time, this can also cause posture problems and increase the risk of degenerative changes in the spine like arthritis or herniated discs.
For herniated disks, chiropractors may use a technique called spinal manipulation (also known as chiropractic adjustment) to improve the spinal joint’s motion and relieve pain. During this hands-on treatment, chiropractors move, massage, and apply pressure to the spine and joints to ease tension and pain. This technique is not painful and often helps to relieve the symptoms of herniated disks in the neck, lower back, and shoulders.
Chiropractors may also use manual therapies like trigger point therapy and myofascial release to reduce tension in the muscles, ligaments, and tendons that surround the spine. These techniques relieve tension, improve circulation, and speed up healing of the spinal tissues.
In cases of spinal stenosis, a condition where the structures that make up the spine become narrower, chiropractors may use a technique called motorized traction to gently extend the spine and alleviate pain. This method can also help to reduce pressure on spinal nerves caused by a herniated disk.
In addition to spinal manipulation, chiropractors may also teach patients about proper posture and ergonomic practices at work and in daily life that can reduce strain on the spine. They can also recommend exercise to strengthen supportive muscles, and help them find ways to get adequate rest. They can also recommend simple lifestyle changes like a regular schedule of exercise, creating a relaxing bedtime routine, and using supportive pillows and mattresses to support spinal alignment.