Muscle Tension Caused By Stress

Does your neck hurt a lot, even when you work in a sitting position and maintain good posture? Do you feel your jaw sore after receiving a sudden load of work? If the answer is yes, you are probably suffering from muscle tension caused by stress: a physical manifestation of a health problem that is affecting more and more people.

The Academic Stress article very well defines all the psychological symptoms underlying stress. And it exposes it as some demands that cause pressure, loss of control and exhaustion.

The demands are so high that they result in a stress that you need to express, even physically. For this reason, back pain, jaw pain and headaches appear.

A big problem

The fact that many people suffer from muscle tension caused by stress has led to a “normalization” of the problem. From that amount of people affected, a good part started to see this as something normal. Therefore, it does not consider performing an intervention to correct the problem. This is nothing but the pernicious face of acceptance: resignation.

On the other hand,  one of the warnings that we are putting up with a considerable workload or study is the tension in our shoulders. We find that they become more rigid and we suffer contractures that often extend to the neck.

Have you ever seen someone move this part of their body from side to side while massaging it? It may be subtle at first, but if we don’t reduce our stress over time, it can become a nuisance that becomes habitual.

Also, if you’ve ever felt really stressed, you’ve probably noticed how you tighten your leg muscles too much. This, while it may not seem relevant, can cause cramps. Perhaps you can relate to these unpleasant episodes.

Muscle tension caused by stress and injuries

It may seem like an exaggeration, but it’s not. For example, by increasing muscle tension, stress can be a risk factor for injuries. This is something an athlete knows well, and that’s why they gently stretch their muscles – with the goal of relaxing, not gaining flexibility – when you’ve finished an intense workout.

When we suffer from muscle tension due to stress, we are not doing any physical exercise, so we do not stretch. However, our muscles are stiff and therefore susceptible to injury.

Prevent and reduce stress

If we don’t take steps to start reducing and preventing muscle tension caused by stress, the situation will get worse. In this sense, seeing a physical therapist can be like putting a dressing on the wound: it is useless if we do not act directly on the causal factor.

How to reduce stress in our life? Take a series of seemingly simple steps that require our conscious involvement. Even if we feel very lazy, it will be an important change that will allow us to feel better.

• Relaxation Techniques : From meditation to mindfulness to yoga, we have a wide variety of options for relaxing and releasing the stress we may be building up in our bodies. Active breaks from work are also a great opportunity to take them.
• Practice assertiveness : if you can say “no”, do it. We often have this option, but our search for recognition and approval from other people does not prevent us from using this feature. We must not compromise our health for this.
• Cognitive restructuring : it is an excellent tool learned in psychology consultations. It consists of moving away from a very stressful situation to identify what is fueling the stress and thus being able to face the circumstance in a better way.