Anxiety And Back Pain
Back pain, such as acute and chronic back tension, stiffness, soreness, spasms, immobility, shooting pains, and burning, are common anxiety symptoms, including anxiety and panic attack symptoms.
Many anxious people experience back tension, stiffness, soreness, spasms, and pain as anxiety symptoms.
This article explains the relationship between anxiety and back pain symptoms.
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Common Anxiety Back Pain Symptom Descriptions
- Frequent back pain, tension, stiffness, soreness, back spasms, or immobility.
- It feels as if your back is often painful, tense, stiff, or sore.
- Your back is so sore that it causes mild to severe immobility.
- You regularly have back pain, back muscle tension, stiffness, and soreness.
- Your back feels unusually tense, stiff, or sore from normal tasks.
- Your sleep can also be disrupted due to chronic and unrelenting back pain.
- You get sharp, shooting, or stabbing pains in your back but you haven’t done anything to cause them.
- Anxiety back pain can also feel like a burning sensation in the back.
- You get unexplained pain and tension between the shoulder blades.
- You take pain relievers more frequently because of unrelieved back pain, tension, stiffness, and soreness.
- Your back muscles frequently spasm seemingly for no reason.
- You get acute or chronic back pain, tension, stiffness, soreness, shooting pains, or spasms seemingly for no reason. Your doctor has ruled out injury as the cause.
- Even gentle movements, such as bending over, twisting, or pivoting can cause sudden back pain.
- This symptom can also be experienced as a “pressure” anywhere on or in the back.
- Many anxious people experience low back pain, soreness, tension, stiffness, pressure, spasms, and immobility despite all medical or mechanical problems being ruled out.
This symptom can affect one muscle or group of muscles, many muscles and groups of muscles, or change and migrate and affect many different muscles or groups of muscles all over the back.
Back pain can:
- Occur occasionally, frequently, or persistently.
- Precede, accompany, or follow an escalation of other anxiety symptoms or occur by itself.
- Precede, accompany, or follow a period of nervousness, anxiety, fear, and stress, or occur "out of the blue" for no reason.
- Range in intensity from mild, to moderate, to severe.
- Come in waves where it’s strong one moment and eases off the next.
- Occur for a while, subside, and then return for no reason.
- Change from day to day, moment to moment, or remain as a constant background during your struggle with anxiety disorder.
This symptom can seem more noticeable when undistracted, resting, trying to sleep, or waking up.
All the above combinations and variations are common.
To see if anxiety might be playing a role in your symptoms, rate your level of anxiety using our free one-minute instant results Anxiety Test, Anxiety Disorder Test, or Hyperstimulation Test.
The higher the rating, the more likely anxiety could be contributing to or causing your anxiety symptoms, including feeling like impending doom symptoms.
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How Anxiety Causes Back Pain Symptoms
Medical Advisory
Talk to your doctor about all new, changing, persistent, and returning symptoms as some medical conditions and medications can cause anxiety-like symptoms.
When this symptom is caused by anxiety, stress, including anxiety-caused stress, is a common cause of acute and chronic back pain symptoms.[1][2][3]
Here are some of the more common reasons why anxiety can cause acute and chronic back pain symptoms:
1. Active Stress Response
Anxious behavior activates the body’s stress response, which secretes stress hormones into the bloodstream, where they travel to targeted locations to bring about specific physiological, psychological, and emotional changes that enhance the body’s ability to deal with a threat – to fight or flee.
This instinctual survival reaction is often referred to as the Fight or Flight Response [1][2]. Visit the “Stress Response” article to learn about the stress response’s many changes and how they can affect the body.
Some of the stress response changes include:
- Tightens muscles so the body is more resilient to harm, including the muscles in the back.
- Stimulates the sympathetic nervous system, increasing nervous system activity to be more sensitive and reactive to danger.
- Heightens most of the body’s senses to be more aware of and reactive to danger, including pain sensitivity (stress-induced hyperalgesia).
To name a few.
Muscle tension and heightened pain sensitivity are common causes of back tension, stiffness, soreness, and pain.
Since stress responses push the body beyond its internal balance (equilibrium), stress responses stress the body. As such, anxiety stresses the body. Stress is a common cause of muscle tension, stiffness, soreness, and pain, including in the back [3][4][5].
An anxiety-activated stress response is a common cause of acute back muscle tension, stiffness, soreness, and pain.
2. Hyperstimulation
When stress responses occur infrequently, the body recovers relatively quickly from its changes. However, frequently activated stress responses, such as from overly anxious behavior, can prevent the body from completely recovering. Incomplete recovery can leave the body in a state of semi-stress-response-readiness, which we call “stress-response hyperstimulation” since stress hormones are powerful stimulants.
Hyperstimulation is also often referred to as “hyperarousal,” “HPA axis dysfunction,” or “nervous system dysregulation” [6][7][8][9][10].
Visit our “Hyperstimulation” article for more information about the many ways hyperstimulation can affect the body and how we feel.
Hyperstimulation can cause the changes of an active stress response even though a stress response hasn’t been activated.
Just as an active stress response can cause acute back tension, stiffness, soreness, and pain, hyperstimulation can cause chronic back tension, stiffness, soreness, and pain.
As long as the body is hyperstimulated, even slightly, it can cause symptoms of any type, number, severity, frequency, duration, and at any time, including back tension, stiffness, soreness, and pain.
Chronic back tension, stiffness, soreness, and pain are common symptoms of hyperstimulation.
But that’s not all. Hyperstimulation can cause back symptoms in other ways. For instance, hyperstimulation can cause:
- Nervous System Excitation and Dysregulation: A chronically stimulated nervous system can act erratically and cause all kinds of nervous, sensory, skeletal, muscular, and somatic system problems, causing a wide range of symptoms, including tension, stiffness, soreness, and pain symptoms in the back.
- Homeostatic Dysregulation: Homeostasis is the body’s ability to automatically maintain a stable internal environment despite changes in the external environment. Hyperstimulation can cause homeostatic dysregulation, leading to internal regulation problems, which can affect the nervous, sensory, circulatory, skeletal, muscular, and somatic systems, causing back symptoms.
- Hormone changes: Hormones play a crucial role in homeostasis and many bodily functions, which can affect the nervous, sensory, circulatory, skeletal, muscular, and somatic systems. Since stress hormones affect other hormones, hormone dysregulation can cause a wide range of symptoms, which can include back symptoms, such as tension, stiffness, soreness, and pain.
- Chronic inflammation: Acute stress can reduce inflammation to mask pain and discomfort when fighting or fleeing. However, chronic stress (hyperstimulation), such as from overly anxious behavior, can cause chronic inflammation problems, including in the back. Chronic inflammation is a common cause of chronic back symptoms, such as tension, stiffness, soreness, spasms, and pain.
As long as the body is hyperstimulated, even slightly, it can exhibit chronic back symptoms, such as those associated with this common anxiety symptom.
Tight and sore back muscles can cause various aches and pains. Many doctors who specialize in back problems are now seeing a direct correlation between stress (including stress caused by psychological and emotional problems) and back problems. Dr. Sarno is one of the most noteworthy.
If you experience persistent back problems, discussing them with a doctor or physiotherapist familiar with the adverse effects of stress and how they can affect the back could prove helpful. Their insight can be beneficial when addressing back issues.
Certainly, eliminating stress, including chronic stress (hyperstimulation) can alleviate muscle tension and pain, including the muscles and groups of muscles in the back.
Other Factors
Other factors can cause stress and cause and aggravate anxiety back pain symptoms, including:
- Medication
- Recreational drugs
- Stimulants
- Sleep deprivation
- Fatigue
- Hyper and hypoventilation
- Low blood sugar
- Nutritional deficiencies
- Dehydration
- Hormone changes
- Pain
Select the relevant link for more information.
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How To Get Rid Of Anxiety Back Pain Symptoms
When other factors cause or aggravate this anxiety symptom, addressing the specific cause can reduce and eliminate this symptom.
When an active stress response causes this symptom, ending the active stress response will cause this acute anxiety symptom to subside.
Keep in mind that it can take up to 20 minutes or more for the body to recover from a major stress response. But this is normal and needn’t be a cause for concern.
When hyperstimulation (chronic stress) causes back pain symptoms, eliminating hyperstimulation will stop anxiety back pain symptoms.
You can eliminate hyperstimulation by:
- Reducing stress.
- Containing anxious behavior (since anxiety creates stress).
- Regular deep relaxation.
- Avoiding stimulants.
- Regular light to moderate exercise.
- Eating a healthy diet of whole and natural foods.
- Passively accepting your symptoms until they subside.
- Being patient as your body recovers.
Visit our “60 Natural Ways To Reduce Stress” article for more ways to reduce stress.
As the body recovers from hyperstimulation, it stops sending symptoms, including anxiety back pain symptoms.
Symptoms of chronic stress subside as the body regains its normal, non-hyperstimulated health.
However, eliminating hyperstimulation can take much longer than most people think, causing symptoms to linger longer than expected.
As long as the body is even slightly hyperstimulated, it can present symptoms of any type, number, intensity, duration, frequency, and at any time, including this one.
Even so, since back pain is a common symptom of stress, including anxiety-caused stress, it's harmless and needn't be a cause for concern. It will subside when unhealthy stress has been eliminated and the body has had sufficient time to recover. Therefore, there is no reason to worry about it.
Anxiety symptoms often linger because:
- The body is still being stressed (from stressful circumstances or anxious behavior).
- Your stress hasn't diminished enough or for long enough.
- Your body hasn't completed its recovery work.
Addressing the reason for lingering symptoms will allow the body to recover.
Most often, lingering anxiety symptoms ONLY remain because of the above reasons. They AREN'T a sign of a medical problem. This is especially true if you have had your symptoms evaluated by your doctor and they have been solely attributed to anxiety or stress.
Chronic anxiety symptoms subside when hyperstimulation is eliminated. As the body recovers and stabilizes, all chronic anxiety symptoms will slowly diminish and eventually disappear.
Since worrying and becoming upset about anxiety symptoms create stress, these behaviors can interfere with recovery.
Passively accepting your symptoms – allowing them to persist without reacting to, resisting, worrying about, or fighting them – while doing your recovery work will cause their cessation in time.
Acceptance, practice, and patience are key to recovery.
Keep in mind that it can take a long time for the body to recover from hyperstimulation. It's best to faithfully work at your recovery despite the lack of apparent progress.
However, if you persevere with your recovery work, you will succeed.
You also have to do your recovery work FIRST before your body can recover. The cumulative effects of your recovery work will produce results down the road. And the body's stimulation has to diminish before symptoms can subside.
- Reducing stress.
- Increasing rest.
- Faithfully practicing your recovery strategies.
- Passively accepting your symptoms.
- Containing anxious behavior.
- Being patient.
These will bring results in time.
When you do the right work, the body has to recover!
Short-term Remedies
Even though eliminating hyperstimulation will eliminate chronic anxiety symptoms, including back pain symptoms, some people have found the following strategies helpful.
However, keep in mind that each person can have a unique symptom experience since each person is somewhat physically, chemically, psychologically, and emotionally unique. What might work for one person might not for another.
- Anything that reduces your body’s stress can help, such as deep relaxation, rest, and getting good sleep.
- Regular light to moderate exercise can also help loosen tight muscles, such as those responsible for chronic back pain.
- Heating pad (heat causes tight muscles to loosen).
- Having a warm bath.
- Have a massage.
- Vibrator on the back (vibration can help loosen tight muscles and stop muscle spasms).
- Avoiding stimulants (stimulants stress the body).
- Muscle relaxants.
- Gentle/mild stretching.
- TENS machine
- Slowing down a hectic schedule or lifestyle.
- Taking some time off so that your body can reduce its stress.
- Regular hobby/play time.
- Whirlpool or hot tub (as long as the heat is comfortable and not distressing).
- Having fun.
- Laughter.
- Being hugged, held, or caressed by your mate, spouse, or loved one.
- Physiotherapy to relax and release tight back muscles.
- If you work at a computer – be sure to get up, move around, stretch, and loosen muscles every hour.
ANY activity that helps you relax can help alleviate tight muscles.
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Therapy
Unidentified and unaddressed underlying factors cause issues with anxiety. As such, they are the primary reason why anxiety symptoms persist.[11][12][13]
Addressing your underlying factors (Level Two recovery) is most important if you want lasting success.
Addressing Level Two recovery can help you:
- Contain anxious behavior.
- Become unafraid of anxiety symptoms and the strong feelings of anxiety.
- End anxiety symptoms.
- Successfully address the underlying factors that so often cause issues with anxiety.
- End what can feel like out-of-control worry.
All our recommended anxiety therapists have had anxiety disorder and overcame it. Their personal experience with anxiety disorder and their Master's Degree and above professional training gives them insight other therapists don't have.
If you want to achieve lasting success over anxiety disorder, any one of our recommended therapists would be a good choice.
Working with an experienced anxiety disorder therapist is the most effective way to treat anxiety disorder, especially if you have persistent symptoms and difficulty containing anxious behavior, such as worry.
In many cases, working with an experienced therapist is the only way to overcome stubborn anxiety.
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Anxiety Back Pain Frequent Questions
Can anxiety cause back pain?
Yes! Since anxiety stresses the body, and stress can cause muscle tension and back pain, anxiety can cause acute and chronic back pain symptoms. Stress, including anxiety-caused stress, is a common cause of persistent back problems, such as pain, tension, stiffness, soreness, pressure, spasms, and immobility.
Can anxiety cause back pain at night?
Yes, anxiety can cause back pain at night. Many people notice their back pain is more severe and bothersome at night, causing problems with sleep.
Can anxiety back pain interfere with sleep?
Yes, anxiety back pain can cause problems with sleep, such as difficulty getting to sleep because of the pain, difficulty staying asleep because of being woken up with pain during the night, shorter restful sleep, and episodes of insomnia.
Can anxiety cause back pain between the shoulder blades?
Yes, anxiety can cause pain and burning between the shoulder blades. Many anxious people get back pain symptoms because of their anxiety issues, including between the shoulder blades.
Can anxiety cause a burning sensation in the back?
Yes, stress, including anxiety-caused stress, can cause pain and burning in the back and between the shoulder blades. Many anxious and stressed people get back pain and burning symptoms in the back.
Can back pain cause anxiety?
Anxiety is caused by apprehensive behavior. So back pain itself won’t cause anxiety. However, if you worry about back pain, worry can cause anxiety since worry is an example of apprehensive behavior.
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Prevalence
In an online poll we conducted, 83 percent of respondents said they had back tension, stiffness, soreness, spasms, and pain due to their anxiety.
Additional Comments
If your doctor hasn’t found the cause of your back pain and you believe stress isn’t the sole reason, you might want to see a sports medicine doctor or physiotherapist. Undiagnosed back pain often comes from poor sitting habits, poor back posture, and even out-of-shape hip and leg muscles.
Just because we can sit and walk doesn’t mean the muscles that support those activities are healthy. Working with a knowledgeable sports medicine doctor or physiotherapist can illuminate the cause and provide at-home exercises that will eventually eliminate chronic back pain problems caused by soft tissue reasons.
Common Anxiety Symptoms
Additional Resources
- For a comprehensive list of Anxiety Disorders Symptoms Signs, Types, Causes, Diagnosis, and Treatment.
- Anxiety and panic attacks symptoms can be powerful experiences. Find out what they are and how to stop them.
- How to stop an anxiety attack and panic.
- Free online anxiety tests to screen for anxiety. Two minute tests with instant results. Such as:
- Anxiety 101 is a summarized description of anxiety, anxiety disorder, and how to overcome it.
Return to our anxiety disorders signs and symptoms page.
anxietycentre.com: Information, support, and therapy for anxiety disorder and its symptoms, including the anxiety symptom back pain.
References
1. Lundberg, U, et al. “Psychophysiological Stress Responses, Muscle Tension, and Neck and Shoulder Pain among Supermarket Cashiers.” NCBI PubMed, U.S. National Library of Medicine, July 1999.
2. Ellegaard, Hanne , and Birthe D Pedersen. “Stress Is Dominant in Patients with Depression and Chronic Low Back Pain. A Qualitative Study of Psychotherapeutic Interventions for Patients with Non-Specific Low Back Pain of 3–12 Months' Duration.” BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, BioMed Central, 6 Sept. 2012.
3. Abdallah, Chadi G, and Paul Geha. “Chronic Pain and Chronic Stress: Two Sides of the Same Coin?” NCBI PubMed, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Feb. 2017.
4. Selye, H. (1956). The stress of life. New York, NY, US: McGraw-Hill.
5. Godoy, Livea, et al. "A Comprehensive Overview on Stress Neurobiology: Basic Concepts and Clinical Implications." Frontiers In Behavioral Neuroscience, 3, July 2018.
6. Hannibal, Kara E., and Mark D. Bishop. “Chronic Stress, Cortisol Dysfunction, and Pain: A Psychoneuroendocrine Rationale for Stress Management in Pain Rehabilitation.” Advances in Pediatrics., U.S. National Library of Medicine, Dec. 2014.
7. Justice, Nicholas J., et al. “Posttraumatic Stress Disorder-Like Induction Elevates β-Amyloid Levels, Which Directly Activates Corticotropin-Releasing Factor Neurons to Exacerbate Stress Responses.” Journal of Neuroscience, Society for Neuroscience, 11 Feb. 2015.
8. Z, Fatahi, et al. "Effect of acute and subchronic stress on electrical activity of basolateral amygdala neurons in conditioned place preference paradigm: An electrophysiological study." Behavioral Brain Research, 29 Sept. 2017.
9. Laine, Mikaela A, et al. “Brain Activation Induced by Chronic Psychosocial Stress in Mice.” Advances in Pediatrics., U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2017.
10. Geva, N, et al. “Acute Psychosocial Stress Reduces Pain Modulation Capabilities in Healthy Men.” Advances in Pediatrics., U.S. National Library of Medicine, Nov. 2014.
11. Hofmann, Stefan G., et al. “The Efficacy of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: A Review of Meta-Analyses.” Cognitive Therapy and Research, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 1 Oct. 2012.
12. Leichsenring, Falk. “Is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy the Gold Standard for Psychotherapy?” JAMA, American Medical Association, 10 Oct. 2017.
13. DISCLAIMER: Because each body is somewhat chemically unique, and because each person will have a unique mix of symptoms and underlying factors, recovery results may vary. Variances can occur for many reasons, including due to the severity of the condition, the ability of the person to apply the recovery concepts, and the commitment to making behavioral change.