TL;DR: Stress affects your spine by increasing muscle tension, amplifying pain signals, and leading to poor posture. Tight muscles and restricted spinal function can contribute to headaches, neck pain, and lower back discomfort. Chiropractic can help by improving spinal function, relieving tension, and supporting nervous system regulation.
Some of you hear me, Dr. Natalie, and Dr. Katie talking about this in clinic — stress doesn’t just affect your mind; it affects your body too, especially your spine. Whether it’s work, family, finances, or just the general busyness of life, stress has a physical impact. If you’ve ever noticed your shoulders creeping up towards your ears, tension headaches, or a stiff, aching back after a stressful day, you’ve already experienced this connection firsthand.
But how exactly does stress affect your spine? And more importantly, what can we do about it? Let’s break it down.
How Stress Affects Your Spine and Nervous System
1. Stress Tightens Your Muscles, Leading to Pain and Dysfunction
When you’re under stress, your body’s natural response is to tense up—this is part of the fight-or-flight response controlled by your nervous system. Research has shown that prolonged stress can lead to chronic muscle tension, particularly in the neck, shoulders, and lower back (Bansevicius et al., 2020). This increased tension can:
Reduce spinal mobility, making movement feel stiff and restricted.
Lead to spinal dysfunction, affecting how well your nervous system communicates with the rest of your body.
Contribute to headaches, neck pain, and lower back discomfort.
2. Stress Can Increase Pain Sensitivity
Your brain and spinal cord work together to process pain, but stress can amplify pain signals, making even mild discomfort feel more intense. Studies have found that chronic stress can lower the body’s pain threshold, making people more sensitive to aches and pains (McBeth & Jones, 2007).
This might explain why you feel more back pain, headaches, or general body aches during stressful periods—your nervous system is in overdrive, making everything feel worse.
3. Stress Affects Posture and Spinal Function
When stressed, people often adopt poor posture without realising it—hunched shoulders, forward head position, and a rounded back. This prolonged postural strain places excessive stress on the spinal joints, muscles, and discs, contributing to neck pain, back pain, and even reduced lung capacity (Katzman et al., 2013).
If you work at a desk or spend a lot of time looking at screens, stress-related postural habits can exacerbate spinal dysfunction, making it harder for your body to function optimally.
How Chiropractic Care May Help with Stress-Related Tension
We often see patients who say, “I hold all my stress in my neck and shoulders” or “My back feels locked up when I’m stressed.” Chiropractic care can help in several ways:
✔️ Improving Spinal Function – Chiropractic adjustments may help improve spinal movement and relieve restrictions, reducing the physical strain caused by stress.
✔️ Relieving Muscle Tension – By addressing joint dysfunction and spinal function, chiropractic care may help reduce overall muscle tightness.
✔️ Enhancing Nervous System Regulation – Research suggests that spinal adjustments can influence the nervous system, potentially helping the body better adapt to stress (Haavik & Murphy, 2012).
✔️ Encouraging Relaxation and Recovery – Many patients report feeling lighter, less tense, and more relaxed after an adjustment, which may help break the cycle of stress-related muscle tightness.
What You Can Do to Support Your Spine Under Stress
Alongside chiropractic care, here are some simple things you can do to reduce stress-related tension and protect your spine:
🧘 Breathe deeply – Diaphragmatic breathing can help reduce stress and tension in your upper back and neck.
🚶 Move often – Gentle movement, stretching, and walking can help release built-up muscle tension.
🛏️ Prioritise sleep – Poor sleep increases stress and pain sensitivity, so focus on getting quality rest.
💆 Stretch and release tension – Try neck stretches, shoulder rolls, and spinal mobility exercises to ease tightness.
🌿 Reduce overall stress – Whether it’s mindfulness, exercise, or a relaxing hobby, finding ways to manage stress can help prevent it from taking a toll on your body.
A great book that explores the connection between stress, trauma, and the body is The Body Keeps the Score by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk. In it, he explains how stress and emotional experiences are not just processed in the mind but are also stored in the body, often manifesting as muscle tension, chronic pain, and postural imbalances. This aligns with what we see in clinic—patients experiencing persistent neck, back, and shoulder tension often have underlying stress contributing to their discomfort. The book highlights the importance of approaches that address both the mind and body, reinforcing why chiropractic care, movement, and relaxation techniques can be valuable tools in managing stress-related physical symptoms. If you're interested in delving deeper into this topic, you can find the book here: https://shorturl.at/6H7JU
If you feel like stress is showing up in your body, speak to myself, Dr. Natalie, or Dr. Katie in clinic — we’re here to help!
Written by Dr. Tommy-Lee McCafferty DC
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