{"id":3864,"date":"2019-11-04T21:42:26","date_gmt":"2019-11-04T21:42:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/depressionhelp\/?p=3864"},"modified":"2020-07-21T19:40:52","modified_gmt":"2020-07-21T19:40:52","slug":"depression-and-back-pain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/depressionhelp\/2019\/11\/depression-and-back-pain.html","title":{"rendered":"Depression and Low Back Pain"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/depressionhelp\/2019\/11\/depression-and-back-pain.html\/low-back-pain\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3915\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3915\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/376\/2019\/11\/low-back-pain-202x300.jpg\" alt=\"depression and low back pain\" width=\"202\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">There&#8217;s a mind-body link between depression and low back pain. It&#8217;s well-known that neck pain and back pain are side-effects of stress. But depression also causes muscle issues, especially low back pain.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p1\">Back pain is linked to depression and anxiety.<\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\">In 2017, <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC5596967\/\">research done by Canadian University students<\/a><\/span> found a direct link between depression and low back pain. Back pain caused by depression is common between the ages 18 to 26. This is a time of young adulthood, and when people are starting out in their careers, going to college or university, or creating families. It&#8217;s\u00a0also a time when\u00a0statistically speaking, depression episodes are highest.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The University of Sydney also <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/sydney.edu.au\/news-opinion\/news\/2016\/01\/18\/link-between-depression-and-back-pain.html\">found a link<\/a><\/span> between back pain and depression.\u00a0Depressed people have a bigger chance of developing back pain than non-depressed people. Also, the more severe the depression, the worse the back pain becomes. Treatment is difficult, because depressed people don&#8217;t respond the same way as someone who only experiences back pain.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p1\">Why depression targets your back.<\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\">Depressed people have lower levels of serotonin and other brain chemicals. This affects your physical body. It also affects your activity, sleep, and social interactions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Back pain is\u00a0known to happen with depression, anxiety, stress, and sleep disorders. Most chronic back pain has a mind-body connection. The mind-body connection means that a real physical problem exists but\u00a0emotions\u00a0play a large role in that experience. Mind makes the pain worse or better than it is. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">A depressed person usually endures a lot more emotional pain that someone who is healthy. That emotional pain manifests throughout the body as aches and pains. The lower back muscle is not very strong. Repeated stress, anxiety, and emotional trauma are par for the course in depression. These all take their toll on the lower back muscle. Why? <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Trauma and anxiety\u00a0activate your body&#8217;s inflammatory system. Your lower back muscle becomes inflamed to protect itself from outside attack, regardless of whether there is any physical outside action. If you repeatedly experience anxiety, stress, and trauma you create muscle memory in your body. Your lower back can only handle so much muscle memory, before something gives.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p1\">Spiritual meaning of lower back pain.<\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The spiritual meaning of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/depressionhelp\/2018\/05\/yoga-and-depression.html\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">lower back pain<\/span> <\/a>is fairly obvious. If you have back pain, it means you are afraid of losing your freedom.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Your spine\u00a0is what\u00a0supports\u00a0your physical body. Any back\u00a0pain\u00a0caused by emotions, means you don\u2019t feel you have enough support from others. This lack of support also means you don&#8217;t feel you are free to do what you want to do.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">When the root chakra is emotionally blocked, you develop lower back pain, immune problems, depression, and varicose veins.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Find me on twitter @tereziafarkas<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There&#8217;s a mind-body link between depression and low back pain. It&#8217;s well-known that neck pain and back pain are side-effects of stress. But depression also causes muscle issues, especially low back pain. Back pain is linked to depression and anxiety. In 2017, research done by Canadian University students found a direct link between depression and&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":578,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,233,238,234],"tags":[297,5,4,12,336,47,6,121],"class_list":["post-3864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-depression-help-2","category-healing","category-transformation","category-wellness-with-terezia-farkas","tag-back-pain","tag-beliefnet","tag-depression-help","tag-emotional-health","tag-pain","tag-stress","tag-terezia-farkas","tag-wellness"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Depression and Low Back Pain - Depression Help<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It&#039;s well known that neck pain and back pain are side-effects of stress. But depression also causes muscle issues, especially low back pain.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Depression and Low Back Pain - Depression Help\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It&#039;s well known that neck pain and back pain are side-effects of stress. But depression also causes muscle issues, especially low back pain.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/depressionhelp\/2019\/11\/depression-and-back-pain.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Depression Help\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"http:\/\/on.fb.me\/1zSE4WB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-11-04T21:42:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-07-21T19:40:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/depressionhelp\/files\/2019\/11\/low-back-pain-202x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Terezia Farkas\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@tereziafarkas\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Depression and Low Back Pain - Depression Help","description":"It's well known that neck pain and back pain are side-effects of stress. 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Terezia is a reiki master, psychic medium, and certified channeller. Visit Terezia Farkas on Twitter @tereziafarkas Website: http:\/\/www.tereziafarkas.com Honours: Alberta Lt. Governor Circle on Mental Health and Addictions award. Bell Let's Talk Social Media Ambassador 2017. CAMH (Canadian Addictions and Mental Health) 150 Difference Makers nominee. 2014 Global Crisis of Depression Summit at Kings Place in London on November 25, 2014, which included speakers Kofi A Anan, the 7th former Secretary General of the UN.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.tereziafarkas.com","http:\/\/on.fb.me\/1zSE4WB","https:\/\/x.com\/tereziafarkas"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/depressionhelp\/author\/tfarkas"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/depressionhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/depressionhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/depressionhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/depressionhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/578"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/depressionhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3864"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/depressionhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3864\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3921,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/depressionhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3864\/revisions\/3921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/depressionhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/depressionhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/depressionhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}