20/11/2025
What is really happening when you have pain and issues in your body with unknown origin? Typically when a doctor tells you that everything is fine, or when you've been to talking therapy but still have pain or tension in the body?
Being exposed to prolonged stress, pain or violence (no matter if it's mental, emotional or physical) is often due to a combination of enhanced pain or stress signaling, neuroinflammation, muscular defense, and sleep disturbance.
This doesn't mean that the body is damaged forever, but that the system is stuck in a protective mode, which in many cases can be changed with the right support.
This chronic stress response is often explained by changes in the nervous system, the stress system, the immune system, and the musculature. The pain is biologically real and often reflects a combination of neurobiological and stress-related mechanisms, even without visible injuries.
Physiologically, this can manifest as:
- Stress (or trauma) can enhance pain pathways so that the nervous system reacts more strongly and to smaller stimuli.
- Chronic stress can alter cortisol rhythm, inflammation, and pain threshold.
- Trauma can be linked to low-grade neuroinflammation and increased sensitivity to pain detection.
- Fear and protective posture can create muscle and fascial tensions that perpetuate pain.
- Excess stress activation can disrupt pain regulation, heart rate, and recovery.
Physically this can be noticed as muscle soreness, stiffness, trigger points, disturbed digestion, altered blood pressure, constant alertness/anxiety, and impaired recovery and lasting myofascial pain (connective tissue), which feeds back into the overall pain experience.
Mentally and emotionally, this can be expressed as chronic anxiety, feeling constantly on edge, easily startled, and hypervigilance (constantly alert). The body physically cannot relax, which prevents the mind from feeling safe.
Additionally, low mood, loss of interest, insomnia, and fatigue are common. The persistent stress and pain can also cause heightened irritability and frustration.
There can also be concentration and memory problems, difficulty with decision-making, and general mental slowness, as well as shame, guilt, and self-blame.
So, quite the cocktail but you are not imagining this. Your pain is real, and itโs a sign that your system is still working hard to protect you. The good news? Protection mode can be turned off.
Be kind to the part of you that is hurting. Healing isn't about fixing a flawโit's about learning to feel safe again.
Andreas & Sofie
