How Stress Impacts Your Chronic Pain Management

When you’re managing chronic pain, there’s a lot to feel stressed about. You might feel stressed by the many appointments, family activities you miss out on, and even the pain itself.

If you’ve ever felt like your pain got worse when you were stressed, you’re not alone. Read on to learn more about how stress and pain are connected and how you can break the feedback loop.

How Can Stress Affect Pain?

Stress and chronic pain are strongly connected (through both physiological and psychological pathways). Stress activates the body’s fight-or-flight response, which can cause the release of hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. 

These hormones prepare the body for immediate action but, when elevated for long periods, can cause systemic inflammation and raise your sensitivity to pain. For those with chronic pain, this can cause symptoms to worsen, including muscle tension and spasms.

Psychologically, stress alters how we view pain. Heightened emotional distress, such as anxiety or depression, amplifies pain signals in the brain. This heightened perception often leads to a feedback loop where stress increases the intensity of pain, and chronic pain exacerbates stress. 

Can Pain Increase Stress?

Just as stress can increase our perception of pain, chronic pain acts as a constant source of stress. This ongoing stress not only causes us to feel more pain, but it also can impact the body’s ability to adapt to and heal from injuries. 

For many people, this cycle results in a downward spiral of deteriorating mental and physical health. Because of this, it’s important to treat both pain and stress at the same time to start seeing positive results.

How Can You Lower Stress?

Since stress and chronic pain can create a bit of a cycle or loop, one of the best ways to break the cycle is to tackle either chronic pain or stress — or both at once. Treating your pain is best left to a pain management doctor in Stillwater, but you can try to address your stress on your own in between pain management appointments. 

Here are a few strategies to try with the support of your healthcare team:

Mindfulness and Meditation

Practices like mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and mindfulness-based pain management (MBPM) have shown promise in breaking the stress-pain cycle. These relaxation techniques encourage patients to focus on the present moment with nonjudgmental awareness, which can help reduce stress and its symptoms. 

Practicing regular mindfulness can lower cortisol levels, ease muscle tension, and improve mental health, especially when it comes to pain. Over time, mindfulness can also help us feel less pain and be able to handle the pain we do feel. 

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is a highly effective tool that can help us with the psychological aspects of stress, depression, and pain. By identifying and reframing negative thought patterns, CBT helps reduce the emotional distress that tends to make chronic pain worse. 

It also can arm patients with coping strategies, such as relaxation techniques and problem-solving skills, that can help them handle stress more effectively. Some research shows that CBT can lower pain levels by changing how our brains process it.

Lifestyle Changes

Adopting healthy lifestyle habits is one of the most important things you can do when it comes to managing stress and chronic pain. Regular physical activity, such as yoga or walking, reduces stress hormones and increases endorphins, which are the body’s natural painkillers. When it comes to pain, including physical injuries, talk to your pain management specialist about how to safely incorporate exercise into your routine. 

At the same time, prioritizing sleep hygiene can help us sleep better, which is essential for pain recovery. We can practice sleep hygiene by maintaining a consistent bedtime, having a bedtime routine, and minimizing screen time before bed. 

Additionally, a balanced diet rich in anti-inflammatory foods, like fruits, vegetables, and omega-3 fatty acids, can support the body’s stress response. The good news is that these methods don’t just reduce stress and help ease pain — they can also improve our overall health.

The Bottom Line: Stress and Chronic Pain

Stress is often referred to as the silent killer, and for a good reason — the hormonal changes it causes can wreak havoc on our health if they go on for too long. In the case of chronic pain, stress can cause a feedback loop that can take your pain from level 10 to 100. If this resonates with you, you can try stress-lowering practices like mindfulness, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and lifestyle changes in addition to seeing a healthcare practitioner. 

Sources:

Anti-Inflammatory Diet | Johns Hopkins Medicine

Exercise and stress: Get moving to manage stress | Mayo Clinic 

Meditation: A Promising Approach for Alleviating Chronic Pain | PMC

Pain, anxiety, and depression | Harvard Health

Neuroimaging Mechanism of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in Pain Management | PMC