How Stress Affects Injury, Pain, and Recovery — and Why Relaxation Matters
Duncan Rock | Physiotherapist and owner of Life is Movement.
When we think about recovering from an injury, we often focus on the physical side: strengthening, stretching, and rebuilding movement. But there’s another side to healing that often goes unnoticed — the role of stress. At my clinic I see every day how general stress and emotional tension can directly affect the body’s ability to recover from pain, injury, or training.
The Link Between Stress and the Body
When you’re under ongoing stress — whether that’s work pressure, lack of sleep, emotional strain, or just a constantly busy life — your body stays in what’s known as the fight-or-flight state. This is your sympathetic nervous system working overtime, preparing you to deal with threat or challenge.
In small doses, this response is helpful. But when it becomes constant, your body struggles to switch off. The result? Muscles stay tense, breathing becomes shallower, and circulation to the tissues that need healing is reduced. Over time, this can slow down recovery, increase pain sensitivity, and even create the perfect conditions for chronic pain to persist.
The Parasympathetic System: The Body’s Healing Mode
To truly recover — whether from an injury, surgery, or intense training — we need to spend time in the opposite state: the parasympathetic or rest-and-digest mode. This is when your body can repair tissue, digest food properly, and restore balance to the immune and hormonal systems.
For most people living in modern, high-paced environments like Brighton and Hove, this balance is hard to find. Our bodies are wired for movement and recovery — but only if we give them the time and space to do so.
Chronic Tension and Common Pain Patterns
Many people experiencing chronic or recurrent musculoskeletal conditions such as:
Low back pain
Neck and shoulder tension
Upper back stiffness
Jaw pain or headaches
…often find that these areas flare up during periods of stress. These regions are classic “tension holders” — the places we unconsciously brace or tighten when we’re anxious or overloaded.
In physiotherapy, we can often see this physical stress pattern: muscles that never quite relax, restricted breathing, or postural holding that keeps the body in a guarded state. Over time, this tension can lead to overuse injuries, slower recovery, and even feelings of fatigue and burnout.
A Personal Perspective: Stress, Recovery, and My Own Journey
As many of my patients already know, one of the reasons I became a physiotherapist is because of my own experience with pain. In my twenties, I suffered from severe back pain that eventually led to a three-month hospital stay. It was a difficult and frightening time — but also the beginning of my journey toward understanding how deeply the mind and body are connected.
Through years of learning, applying evidence-based movement, and the same recovery techniques I now use with my patients at my clinic, I made a full recovery. Today, I’m a healthy 41-year-old who enjoys weight training, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and — most importantly — carrying both of my daughters (sometimes at the same time!) up the hill on my shoulders.
However, recovery isn’t always a straight line. After my first daughter was born — right in the middle of the 2020 pandemic — I experienced a relapse in my back pain for the first time in years. Looking back, it made complete sense. The world felt uncertain, everything was changing, and I was adapting to being a new parent in the midst of global fear and isolation. Between the lack of sleep, new responsibilities, and that constant background stress, my nervous system was on high alert. I was living almost entirely in a sympathetic, fight-or-flight state — alert, tense, and wired, but not truly resting or recovering.
Despite continuing to exercise and keep active, I wasn’t allowing my body to heal. It took speaking with a therapist and revisiting the same principles I now teach my clients — activating the parasympathetic “rest and digest” system through breathwork, movement, and nervous system regulation — to bring my body back into balance. Over time, my pain eased, my energy returned, and I felt like myself again.
That experience reinforced what I see in clinic every day: that recovery isn’t only about the muscles, joints, or tissues — it’s about the whole person. Understanding how stress and emotion affect the body is often the missing piece that allows true healing to happen.
Spotting the Signs of Stress-Related Pain
If you’re dealing with pain or injury that doesn’t seem to settle, it’s worth asking:
Do my symptoms flare up during stressful periods?
Do I catch myself clenching my jaw or tensing my shoulders?
Am I sleeping poorly or feeling constantly “switched on”?
Does my breathing feel shallow or tight?
These are all clues that your nervous system may be overactive — and that your recovery may benefit from strategies to help the body relax and reset.
Practical Ways to Support Recovery
Here are a few ways I encourage clients to help calm the nervous system and promote recovery:
Breathing exercises – Slow, diaphragmatic breathing helps activate the parasympathetic nervous system and reduce muscle tension.
Gentle movement – Low-intensity activity such as walking, yoga, or mobility work can restore blood flow and release endorphins without overloading the system.
Body awareness – Notice where you hold tension. Take short “check-ins” throughout the day to consciously relax your shoulders, jaw, or lower back.
Sleep and rest – Healing happens when you rest. Prioritising good sleep hygiene is one of the simplest yet most powerful recovery tools.
Professional support – A physiotherapist can help you identify the physical effects of stress on your body and guide you through a tailored recovery plan that includes both movement and relaxation techniques.
Final Thoughts
Pain and injury aren’t just physical — they’re influenced by your whole life, including your emotional and mental wellbeing. Recognising the role stress plays in recovery is a key step toward lasting improvement. By learning to shift your body from fight-or-flight into rest-and-digest, you give yourself the best possible environment for healing.
If you’re struggling with persistent pain, tension, or an injury that just isn’t improving, I can help you. By combine evidence-based physiotherapy with a holistic approach to recovery — I can help you move better, feel calmer, and get back to doing the things you love.
