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Stress And Back Pain

Learning to recognize the relationship between stress and back pain is as important as being aware of good body mechanics when you lift something.

As part of that learning, it is good to know how to take care of all parts of your back:
  • Cervical – neck
  • Thoracic – upper back
  • Lumbar – lower back
  • Pelvic – tailbone
Stress and negatively impact any part of your body, so I would encourage you to take my FREE stress management survey as a first step in becoming aware of how you are doing physically.

Good and bad news about back pain

According to the American Family Physician, acute low back pain is the 5th most common reason for all physician visits. And, the majority of the time the pain is not associated with any other ailment.

So, the bad news is that most adults will experience some type of back pain at some point in your life. The good news is that integrating good self-care practices like these will go a long way in staving off back pain:
  • Losing weight
  • Keeping your body in shape
  • Proper nutrition
  • Getting enough sleep

Stress and back pain

Stress and back pain

It is fairly common knowledge that your muscles will tense up when you are stressed. The back is composed of many important muscles needed to support you.

To give you an idea of what can happen with chronic stress , take your right hand and make a fist. Hold it….hold it tight…keep holding it.

In this analogy, you created the stress – clenching your fist really tightly.

You can relax your hand now. What would your hand feel like if you were to hold it tightly clenched like that for a day, two days, a week or more?

In essence, that is what many people ask of their backs. When you are stressed, the muscles in your neck, upper back, lower back, sciatica, etc. tense up. It’s no wonder that hurts.

When that happens there is less blood flow going into the hand, and muscles were designed to move freely in order to support the functions of the body. Unmanaged stress creates limitations for muscles, but often people don’t adjust their activities and movements.

Just like with any stress, it’s easy to dupe yourself into thinking that you can just go on doing life in the same old ways.

Stress ultimately has the final say on your quality of life.

Strategies to manage stress and reduce back pain

The most important strategy is to commit to stress relaxation techniques that will help you manage your stress throughout each day.
  1. Safely stretch out the tight muscles.
    Take 1-2 minutes each hour to effectively stretch out the muscles that are tense in your neck or back. It’s also important to not sit for more than ½ hour at a time. Movement is important in managing stress and back pain.


  2. Keep your muscles strong.
    When my lower back hurts, it is one of my warning signs that it has become weak. So, I will (not happily) begin more core abdominal exercises geared to strengthen my abdomen and lower back. Weak muscles become even more vulnerable to the wear and tear of stress.

    I, personally, have found that using a stabilizer ball is a very easy and effective way to keep my core muscles strong.




  3. Utilize holistic practices
    A combination of traditional treatment options and complementary therapies can also help to reduce or manage pain. Some options for you to consider are:

    Massage
    Chiropractor
    Physical therapist
    Acupuncture
    Biofeedback
    Meditation
    Stress relaxation techniques
    Good supportive shoes
    Stress relief products

Start today

Start today to begin managing your stress and back pain differently!

Your body is truly your best friend. When the relationship becomes reciprocal – when you care for your body as a temple – is when many people notice a reduction in daily aches and pains brought on by stress.







For more information, please see:

Return From Stress And Back Pain To How Does Stress Affect Health

Return From Stress And Back Pain To Coping With Stress Home





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Stress Tip Of The Day!

Throughout each day, the primary cause of stress is because of threats of uncertainty.

It is thoughts of fear and worry that are triggering the stress response.

Staying focused on maintaining a positive attitude is an important stress technique.



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Testimonials

“Ms. Churchill is the unique health care worker everyone hopes to encounter, but rarely does. She has an extraordinary gift that allows her to do much more than diagnose and treat.”
Abbie K. – Minneapolis




K., age 45, is a long term chronically PTSD disabled patient. She has had daily headaches for 20 years. Two weeks ago she reported that she had had 4 days of pain free time, and was having the exceedingly odd sensation of "smiling all the time". She and Cathi have made extraordinary fast progress together.
Dr. Cole




I referred C.L., age mid-forties, to see Cathi after a life of suffering the post traumatic stress disorder of parental sexual abuse over many years of her childhood, with major dysfunctions of alcohol and drug abuse, and with the disabling symptoms of migraine that have for more than twenty years become chronic.

She has lived with daily headaches that have not responded to any of the several drugs which have benefited many such suffering patients. She has needed chronic opiate treatment of her chronic pain syndrome.

In the few weeks that Cathi has worked with her, C.L. has begun to experience days without pain, periods of happiness, and a reduction in her opiate dosage requirements that represent a breakthrough in her stalled-out life as a single mom raising a teen-age daughter with only social security income resources.
Dr. Racer








“I first met Cathi Churchill eight years ago when she effectively helped my work unit through the stress of a hospital-wide layoff. I was impressed with her clear-minded approach and willingness to listen.”
Andy R.




N., age 60, is a hard driving attorney twenty year patient of mine who hit the wall with chronic fatigue four years ago, and began to realize she had to learn to rest. She recovered enough to return to her workaholic lifestyle when she was stopped by a herniated cervical disc and resumption of her chronic colitis.

Working with Cathi, she is discovering "the way she does life" and learning to make choices about it. She came in last week, having "danced until dawn". She is learning to dialogue with her body in effective ways.
Dr. Cole




“I stumbled upon Cathi after my recent heart attack that was brought on by stress. I was scared of having another one, and didn’t know what to do. I had lost hope. Working with her has changed my life. I’m so grateful."
Debbie – Canada




M.S., a woman in her late forties with progressively more and more disabling rheumatoid arthritis since childhood, whose most recent problems have arisen over the last two to three years as complications of immunosuppressive therapy for her disease. The complications have been associated with the severely disabling chronic pain of recurrent herpes neuralgia for more than three years, and for the past 15 months, recurrent osteomyelitis in her right lower mandible.

The second, more alarming (even life-threatening) problem has caused months of diagnostic and therapy confusion among her many consultants, three successive resections of the bone over the last six to eight months, and the still ongoing threat of more relapses of the smoldering bone infection and chronic pain only made bearable by chronic, massive doses of opiates.

In the few months since M. began to work with Cathi with several modalities: stress management, therapeutic touch, guided imaging, and others, her life has become more livable, as she has become able to bear the pain and the discouragement of unresolved disease.

She has relied on many of the methods for maintaining hope and getting through overwhelming discouragement by using the inner resources she has learned with Cathi.

My hope as her primary physician, is that Cathi and M. will be able to continue to work together to maintain that inner strength and hope as she faces yet more months of pain, and further repeated surgery.

Thank you for the healing guidance you've been able to give her thus far.
Dr. Racer




“I sought out the help of Cathi during my divorce, and found her to be an insightful and compassionate coach. Her ability to see deep into the heart of an emotionally stressful problem is, I believe, unique and I would highly recommend her service to anyone.”
P.R. – Brooklyn Center




S., age 48, is a Laotian patient of mine with 15 years of chronic abdominal pain. She has had an extensive medical worked up, and nothing ever worked. Cathi saw her over several months.

S. has improved! Cathi established a trusting relationship with her, and helped her to effectively break through her wall of silence and grief about her son's mental illness, and taught her how to "change her thinking".

S. now comes in smiling, notes some unusual continued symptoms, but no longer has chronic abdominal disabling pain.
Dr. Cole




“Control My Stress is so amazing. I want to thank you, again, for such a valuable resource.”
Tony.


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