Stress is a quantifiable and qualitative feeling of mental and/or physical tension. Causes of stress and stress symptoms were previously discussed in our post “A Closer Look at Stress: Impacts on the Human Body”

Can Muscle Pain Be Stress Related?

Chronic pain is a pressing and debilitating issue that reduces productivity and contributes to high healthcare costs, with more than 20% of U.S Citizens affected in 2016. Chronic pain also encompasses tiredness, being exhausted, and general fatigue which are all conditions holding us back from peak performance. Research has shown that a significant portion of individuals afflicted with chronic pain have overlapping psychiatric disorders; in a 2005 study performed by UW, Harvard, and UNC Researchers, >68% of participants from a sample size of ~5700 chronic spinal pain patients had some other pain condition, and 35% had coexisting mental condition. It was concluded that this coexisting pain and mental disorder was significantly involved in the fatigue and musculoskeletal system issues associated with chronic spinal pain.

Another study with a cohort of 422 adolescent patients found that there were significant associations between various factors of stress and pain; higher levels of stress (such as worries, tension, lack of happiness) correlated with longer pain duration, a greater number of pain sites, and increased pain intensity. Similar correlations have also been found in instances where individuals have symptoms of both fatigue and chronic pain.

This leads to the belief that stress can manifest as pain within the musculoskeletal system. It is important to make the distinction that some psychiatric diagnoses have genetic or biochemical roots that cannot be discerned during an initial consultation/diagnosis. 

So Explain This Further

Psychiatric disorders and musculoskeletal disorders both stem from neurobiological pathophysiologies, and have shared mechanisms of symptoms at the molecular level. It’s been found that the motor component of pain, that shows up in our musculoskeletal systems, shares neuronal circuitry with stress signaling pathways; both stress and pain signals are integrated in the hippocampus, amygdala, and ventromedial prefrontal cortex, with indications of physicochemical remodeling in chronic disordered states.

A linked model, such as the one described earlier, is gaining popularity and prevalence. In the future, you could expect a medical diagnosis of a musculoskeletal system symptom such as neck and shoulder pain or chronic back pain to have some type of psychological or stress component to it. 

You Still Didn’t Answer “How Does Stress Affect Your Musculoskeletal System?”

Long story short, psychiatric disorders and issues with the musculoskeletal system go hand-in-hand. If you are getting easily tired, are always exhausted, and deal with much more fatigue than you want even though you live a fairly active lifestyle, it’s likely there are some mental factors or other stressors that must be dealt with. No amount of hip stretches, back stretches, or neck stretches, can compensate for unaddressed stressors. 

In most cases, stress worsens preexisting issues of the musculoskeletal system (such as tension and fatigue). Additionally, researchers believe that pain in the musculoskeletal system can be experienced without tissue damage or some molecular change, and is regulated by cognitive processes.

I’VE HAD ENOUGH…I DON’T WANT STRESS, FATIGUE OR ISSUES WITH MY MUSCULOSKELETAL SYSTEM. WHAT DO I DO?

You can try to reduce the number of stressors in your life. The clear cut answer is to move away to a cabin in the mountain to live the rest of your days, off the grid, with a reclusive and self-sufficient lifestyle. Kidding. Just partially. 

It’s important to lessen (and possibly remove) the stressors in your work environment or home through a combination of methods so you can achieve optimal well being and peak performance

To reduce the damage from lifestyle induced disorders of the musculoskeletal system, such as lower back pain and ankle pain, it’s important to have healthy exercise habits with variation in body movement, a good diet, and good posture. 

We’ve previously covered the essentials of a good diet, and you can find our posts on “Minerals and Why They Matter” and “Vitamins and Why They Matter” below:

Upcoming posts will focus on ergonomics, the fundamentals of good posture, and how to achieve it. Cheers

REFERENCES:

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/67/wr/mm6736a2.htm

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2677657/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK222423/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17602999/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3939594/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4619092/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0304395904005445

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5546756/