Why stress is making your back hurt and seven exercises to fix it

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Stress affects your back muscles, but exercises like arm swings and tricep pullbacks can ease the tension. Photo / 123rf
Lower back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide, and stress is a trigger and an amplifier of pain

Sit up straight. Roll your shoulders back. Take a deep breath and sigh
it out, making a deep “huuuuh” sound. Now doesn’t that feel better?

Perhaps you have been unwittingly clenching your jaw or tensing your shoulders. Being on your computer or smartphone will do that to you.
Stress is known to have a major effect on health, affecting cortisol secretion, depression, obesity, and sleep. Another well established effect is that of back pain.
Lower back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide. In the UK almost a million people are too sick to work because of back or neck ailments. We’re in a back pain crisis and it’s not because we’re lifting heavy boxes.
Stress is a trigger and an amplifier of pain. During the stress response, neurotransmitters and hormones are released. These processes take place in the so-called stress triangle; the head, neck and shoulder areas.
Anji Gopal is an osteopath, yoga teacher and owner of the BackCare Foundation who works with clients to recognise that stress is a factor in back pain. With both NHS clinician experience and private practice clients such as entrepreneurs and C-suite executives, she has observed the link between back pain and hectic lifestyles.
“Stress from work, home or elsewhere can increase inflammation in the body. When that happens tissues aren’t as healthy and can feel tired, achey or get injured,” she explains.
“Try clenching your jaw just to see how it can lock up the neck muscles,” says Gopal.
Most of us work at computers in this position. Throw in staring at screens and you’ve got a recipe for strained eyes and headaches.
“I see many more people under 40 with back problems today than I did five years ago. Life is more stressful,” says Gopal.
While most people want a pill that will fix their pain, Gopal adds: “You’ve got to build your strong back yourself. We need to start focusing on prevention rather than medicine as a cure.”
When we are stressed and tense up our muscles it is most often the trapezius muscle that ends up working over time.
“The trapezius is the muscle at the top of the neck, which you might find yourself paying someone to rub because they are all hunched up so that those muscle fibres are getting tense and knotted.”
Inhibition of the upper back will have an impact on the rest of your spine.
“You have to think of the spine as moving in one unit,” says Gopal. “Yes, it’s got different areas, but if one bit is really stiff, then the other bits have to do more movement to compensate.”
While the upper back is supposed to be slightly stiffer than the rest of your spine, Gopal says: “We really want the spine to flow like a wavy type of structure.”
In the UK, the most common diagnosis is non-specific lower back pain.
Once she has ruled out that it’s not anything more sinister, Gopal helps her clients to focus on simple exercises that feel good, meaning they will actually want to do them every day.
“We’re conditioned to think that unless you go to the gym three times a week and an hour every time – that’s without factoring travel and showering – that any other exercise isn’t valid,” says Gopal.
However, she fundamentally believes that if everyone did 20 minutes of gentle movement every day we would have better health. Twice a week she offers 30-minute online classes first thing in the morning, to get people to wake up with movement.
Many of her exercises are derived from her yoga practices. While osteopaths are known for manipulating bodies, Gopal wants her clients to have the tools to make themselves feel good when she isn’t there to do it for them.
Five minutes to stand up from your desk can mean at the end of the day you aren’t suffering from lower back pain. Gopal knows this only too well herself. She worked as a venture capitalist in the city before becoming an osteopath 15 years ago. Disappearing into the toilets or an empty meeting room to do a quick stretch kept her healthy in body and mind.
Do this when your upper back feels stiff and your neck crunched up.
“First open your upper back by rolling your shoulders back,” says Gopal. “Then try this little archery move.”
Extend both arms in front of you to shoulder height, palms facing each other and thumbs pointing upwards. Slowly draw one elbow back hugging the side of your ribs as if you are drawing a bow. Then extend it forward and draw back the other elbow.
“That’s going to release your upper back and give you the feeling of a backbend without the effort.”
The eyes are moved by a set of muscles also. “So we have to keep them healthy too,” says Gopal.
Days spent screen scrolling often mean we only look up and down. “Make sure to look from side to side, and also in a clockwise and anticlockwise direction.”
If you’re feeling stressed, try rubbing your hands together, building heat and placing your warm palms over your eyes (remember to take off glasses!).
“This can be an effective way to destress, take a moment and let the eye muscles relax.”
Cogitating can create a lot of tension: “Particularly if you sit all day and look at a screen, you might notice your scalp feels really tight.”
The scalp, explains Gopal, is a sheet of skin but it’s also muscle: “So it connects into the muscles of your forehead and all of the way into the muscles of the neck.”
Giving yourself a fingertip head massage can help release the fascia (the sheath of stringy connective tissue that surrounds every part of your body) of the head and neck.
“You don’t need to pay for it, you can do it for yourself,” says Gopal.
“In an Indian family, when you’re doing your exams, your mum will make you sit on the floor every night and she’ll rub your scalp. It’s supposed to bring the blood back to your brain if you’ve been over-thinking. That will help with neck pain as well.”
This fundamental yoga pose can feel awkward to get into, but it doesn’t have to be.
“You don’t need to get on the floor to do a downward dog and stretch your back,” says Gopal. “You can hop off your chair and put your arms on the back of it, a mantelpiece, a wall, whatever you can find. Then just bend your knees and stretch your back.”
Gopal urges people not to think about straightening the legs. “Stop worrying about having straight legs. Give up your legs and think about what needs stretching more: your back.”
Either seated or standing, with your arms by your sides, swing one arm forward and the other backwards. Allow the momentum to then swing them the other way, and perhaps even overhead in a big arching circle. You can go as slow or as fast as you feel is comfortable.
These arm swings work in lots of different ways, says Gopal: “They get your blood pumping; so if you’ve been static and congested, they’re great. And your lungs are moving, because you’re moving your rib cage.”
Most importantly they get the thoracic spine and your middle back rotating. “And that’s the bit that’s often stiff and can lead to neck and back pain.”
It’s also quite a fun move to do. Allow yourself to enjoy it, turning the shoulders and taking deep inhales and exhales.
“Do it first thing in the morning. Even better, go out and do it in the garden. We know that being in fresh air and seeing green really lifts our mood.”
If you struggle with your balance then start slow and build up momentum.
These work in a similar way, but also give you a leg strengthening squat at the same time. Standing feet hip distance apart, raise your arms up and then slowly fold forward, bending your knees and swinging your arms behind you. Inhale to come all the way back up to standing.
“If you’re sitting down all day, do these every hour and you’ll feel a difference for sure.”
“If you are stressed and tired, aggressive rest is important,” says Gopal.
A quick refresh can be getting upside down. “Sitting down a lot means the blood can get stuck in the lower half of your body. It sounds hippyish, but getting your legs higher than your heart can refresh the blood to your brain. It’s like a shot of coffee.”
You don’t need to do a headstand. Lie on your back with your legs up the wall or on the sofa. “It can be a helpful way to shake things up in a stressful situation.”
While we can be scared of pain, particularly when it’s in our back, Gopal’s overriding message is moderation in all things: “Strengthen a bit, stretch a bit, have a laugh, move your body and breathe.”
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