Does this feel familiar?
You only notice your shoulders were up around your ears when you finally drop them.
Your dentist asks if you grind your teeth.
You get a headache that starts at the base of your skull most afternoons.
Massage helps for a day, then it’s all back by Wednesday.
What might be going on
Your body and mind are closely linked. When you’re under pressure, your muscles tighten to prepare for action. If the pressure never eases, the tension doesn’t either, and it can turn into ongoing pain.
Desk work, screens, carrying children and poor sleep add to it. Over time, your body can get used to bracing, so you don’t even notice you’re doing it.
Hands-on treatments help release what’s built up. Movement and exercise build strength so it doesn’t come back. Practices that calm your nervous system help with the stress underneath.
One small thing. Just for today.
Set a reminder to check your jaw and shoulders three times today. Drop them, breathe out slowly, and notice how far they move.
Let’s untangle a few assumptions
Support can look different
A little perspective
A 2016 review published in BMJ Open estimated that between a third and a half of adults in the UK live with chronic pain, meaning pain that lasts more than three months.
Questions you might be asking
When to get medical help
See your GP or a physiotherapist if pain is severe, getting worse, follows an injury, or comes with numbness, tingling, weakness, fever or unexplained weight loss. Seek urgent help for back pain with loss of bladder or bowel control or numbness around your bottom or genitals.
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