Muscle tension, and eventually, muscle atrophy due to disuse of the body, all promote chronic, stress-related musculoskeletal conditions. Individuals who are fearful of pain and re-injury, and who seek only a physical cause and cure for the injury, generally have a worse recovery than individuals who maintain a certain level of moderate, physician-supervised activity. What determines whether or not an injured person goes on to suffer from chronic pain is how they respond to the injury.
Often, but not always, there may be an injury that sets off the chronic painful state. Millions of individuals suffer from chronic painful conditions secondary to musculoskeletal disorders. Musculoskeletal pain in the low back and upper extremities has also been linked to stress, especially job stress. When muscles are taut and tense for long periods of time, this may trigger other reactions of the body and even promote stress-related disorders.įor example, both tension-type headache and migraine headache are associated with chronic muscle tension in the area of the shoulders, neck and head. Chronic stress causes the muscles in the body to be in a more or less constant state of guardedness. With sudden onset stress, the muscles tense up all at once, and then release their tension when the stress passes. Muscle tension is almost a reflex reaction to stress-the body’s way of guarding against injury and pain. When the body is stressed, muscles tense up.
