How Anxiety Affects Pain: The Hidden Connection Between Your Mind and Body
Pain is more than just a physical sensation. If you’ve ever noticed your pain feeling worse during a stressful or anxious period, you’re not alone, and it’s not just in your head. Anxiety and pain share a deep, biological relationship that can make both conditions feel more intense, persistent, and difficult to manage.
Let’s break down how anxiety affects pain, why it happens, and what you can do about it.
The Science: Why Anxiety Makes Pain Worse
Anxiety activates the body's “fight or flight” response, releasing stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. This response is useful in emergencies, but when it’s constantly triggered by anxiety, it creates a state of heightened sensitivity in the nervous system.
Here’s how that impacts pain:
1. Increased Muscle Tension
Anxiety often causes chronic muscle tightness, especially in the neck, shoulders, jaw, and back. This can lead to muscle fatigue, inflammation, and pain, or worsen existing pain conditions like tension headaches, low back pain, or TMJ.
2. Central Sensitization
When anxiety becomes chronic, it can change the way the central nervous system processes pain. This is called central sensitization, where the brain and spinal cord become more sensitive to pain signals, even ones that wouldn’t normally cause pain.
3. Lowered Pain Threshold
People with anxiety tend to have a lower tolerance for pain. This can simply mean that your brain is receiving more intense pain signals more frequently. What might feel like mild discomfort to one person could be much more distressing to someone with anxiety. This amplifies the overall pain experience.
4. Focus and Catastrophizing
Anxious individuals are more likely to focus on their pain, worry about its cause, or expect it to get worse. This pattern of thinking, known as pain catastrophizing, can actually increase the perception of pain and prolong recovery.
Real-Life Examples
Someone with anxiety and back pain may find that their discomfort spikes during work deadlines or after arguments, even if their physical activity hasn’t changed.
A person recovering from surgery might feel more pain at night when their mind is racing with worries, even though their healing is progressing normally.
Athletes or active individuals may develop persistent joint pain that's more related to psychological stress than physical injury.
Individuals after a traumatic experience, such as a car accident, may experience more intense pain or have increased muscle guarding when driving or as a passenger in a vehicle.
The Anxiety–Pain Cycle
One of the most frustrating aspects of this connection is that it can become a vicious cycle:
Anxiety → Muscle tension & sensitization → Increased pain → More anxiety → Repeat.
This loop can keep people stuck in a chronic state of discomfort and emotional stress, which is why addressing both physical and mental health is so important for recovery.
What Can You Do?
1. Breathe and Move
Gentle physical activity and deep breathing techniques can help lower stress levels and release muscle tension. Activities like yoga, walking, tai chi, or diaphragmatic breathing are simple but effective. Diaphragmatic breathing also stimulates a specific nerve called the Vagus Nerve, which then helps activate the body’s “relaxation mode”.
2. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
CBT is a proven approach for managing anxiety and chronic pain. It helps patients reframe negative thoughts, reduce catastrophizing, and build resilience against stress-related pain spikes. This can be done with the help of professional counselors and licensed practitioners.
3. Mindfulness and Meditation
Mindfulness practices train your brain to stay in the present and reduce emotional reactivity. Over time, this can desensitize the nervous system and make pain feel less overwhelming.
4. Professional Help
A physical therapist can address the biomechanical contributors to pain, while a mental health professional can help with the psychological side. Many clinics now offer integrated approaches to treat both. At Full Swing Fitness and Rehab, we take a psychological approach to pain in many cases and help manage both the physical and emotional aspects to truly understand how to get you pain free and back to doing what you love.
Final Thoughts
Pain and anxiety don’t just coexist; they interact in powerful ways. Understanding how anxiety affects pain can help you take steps to break the cycle and feel better, both physically and emotionally. Knowledge is power, so the more you know, the greater odds you have at success and feeling better. The body is complex, but we can take steps toward a healthier, pain free life.
If you're struggling with persistent pain and suspect stress or anxiety might be playing a role, you're not alone. Reach out to us or find another professional in your area that may be able to help take a deeper dive into psychological components that may be contributing to your issues.