Can Stress Give You a Pain in the Neck?
The holidays are just around the corner and you’ve been out of work for three months. You’re finding it difficult to pay just the regular monthly bills on one salary and you have lots of gifts to buy. To top it all off, your father’s health is deteriorating and he’s been in and out of the hospital repeatedly for the past several months…And you have this awful pain in your neck that keeps getting worse. Can emotional stress really be the cause?
Emotional stress takes its toll on the body and affects the body’s ability to function properly. It causes muscle tension and may have profound effects on the body’s immune system functioning, making the body more susceptible to pain, illness and injury. The holidays are a prime time for an extra dose of emotional stress and that relentless pain in the neck is often a direct result of our inability to handle it.
What can you do to try to avoid or relieve neck pain? Try these suggestions:
- See us regularly to keep your spine and nervous system in optimal working order so it can handle the extra stresses associated with the holidays
- Take frequent breaks, especially if you sit at a computer all day, to change position and stretch the neck muscles
- Make sure you are aware of your posture when you are sitting or standing and that you keep your head erect
- Practice relaxation techniques to reduce the effects of emotional stress on your neck
- Make sure you get plenty of rest!
Call our office to find out more about emotional stress and how chiropractic care can help.
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