Healing from a personal injury takes time, and feeling frustrated by a lack of progress is normal. While some minor injuries heal seemingly overnight, more significant damage to your body could cause you to feel pain for months or even years. In severe cases Worsen Physical Pain, you may always have some degree of pain that impacts your daily well-being.
Noticing that your emotional stress seems to worsen your physical pain is a good first step toward identifying strategies that help increase your comfort. Taking a look at why being under emotional stress worsens physical pain can help you break what often feels like an endless cycle.
Stimulating Hormonal Responses
Being under physical or emotional stress causes your body to release specific hormones. Adrenaline and cortisol are the two main hormones that are associated with the body’s fight or flight response. While these hormones are meant to prepare your body to escape or battle your way through a temporary threat to your safety, problems begin to develop when they exist within your system for too long.
An overload of stress hormones in your body that doesn’t end quickly can begin to interfere with your healing. Unfortunately, your body may continue to release these hormones every time you feel pain, which creates a vicious cycle. You may also continue to experience a flood of stress hormones every time you experience emotionally challenging situations regarding your injury, such as receiving high energy bills or feeling frustrated by changes in your abilities.
Disrupting Sleep and Relaxation
Trying to sleep when you are in pain can feel impossible. Yet, having yet another sleepless night can leave you feeling less in control over your emotions. After a personal injury, you might need to work with healthcare providers to find ways to improve your comfort as you sleep.
Using heating pads, performing prescribed stretches and using special devices to hold your body in more comfortable positions could help you get better sleep that improves your emotional wellbeing. Once you begin to get enough sleep at night, you’ll likely find that it becomes easier to relax during the day. Keep in mind that you may need several nights of restful sleep before you begin to notice improvements in your pain and emotional well-being.
Increasing Inflammation and Muscle Tension
Between the lack of sleep and the flood of stress hormones, your body can begin to develop more inflammation. When inflammation invades the same muscles and ligaments that you are trying to heal, your pain may only get worse. Finding ways to relieve your stress can help to lower inflammation in your body that interferes with healing.
Emotional stress can also cause your body to tense up. If you find that you are literally dealing with a pain in the neck, then it could be that your emotional tension is leading to similar tightness in this part of your body. The same is also true regarding back Worsen Physical Pain, shoulder and leg pain.
When your frustrations rise, you could be tensing up muscles that need to relax for greater healing. Making sure to work with a personal injury lawyer to procure the compensation you need for physical therapy and other forms of healthcare can help you begin to address tension that impacts your comfort.
When you get stuck in the loop of having pain cause you emotional distress, which then causes more physical discomfort, it’s reassuring to know that help is available. Pain sensations and your emotional health have clear connections. Knowing that you have people working to help you with your recovery can ease some of the stress you feel.
As you begin working on pain management, remember to include professionals on your team who can all work on your behalf to ease emotional strain. From talking to a mental health professional about stress management techniques to letting an experienced personal injury attorney handle your personal injury case, it is possible to look forward to better physical and mental health in the future that eases your distress.
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