***This content comes from the Joint Pain Programme Journal by Nuffield Health. As a Rehab Specialist running this program, I’m excited to share these helpful insights with you all.

Understanding and managing stress is one of the most important things that you can do to improve your joint pain and build a healthy future.

Life can be stressful, and everyone gets stressed sometimes.

A moderate amount of stress can even be helpful, but too much can be unpleasant and can be damaging to your health.

High stress levels are linked to unhealthy lifestyles and behaviors, which in turn impact joint pain and related conditions.

It can also make any health condition that you may have feel worse.

When your body is under stress, it releases chemicals that can trigger inflammation and pain.

So you might be more likely to have flare-ups when you’re feeling stressed.

Importantly, stress can change how you experience pain and often increases your perception of pain.

Stress can also impact your coping abilities and cause you to feel less able to handle your pain and more easily overwhelmed by it.

Learning about stress and how to manage it can be an important part of your program.

It can improve your physical and mental health and enhance your life satisfaction.

What is Stress

Stress can mean different things to different people, but it is usually used to describe the demands placed upon you (work, home, family, challenging life events, etc.) and the way your body and mind respond to those demands.

You are more likely to become stressed when you perceive that you are unable to cope with challenging situations in life or the demands placed upon you.

It can be a feeling of being overwhelmed or under pressure.

Causes of Stress

There are many different causes of stress. It is usually caused by events or situations in your life.

It can be difficult to identify exactly what's causing your stress as it could be a build-up of lots of little events or one big one.

Examples of Different Causes of Stress or ‘Stressors’:

Environmental

• Weather

• Traffic, parking, or crowds

• Noise and light levels

Physical

• Physical injuries

• Health difficulties

Social

• Relationships with friends and family

• Working and professional relationships

Financial

• Lack of a stable income

• Worry about paying bills

Daily Difficulties

• Problems with technology not working

• Juggling appointments

Major Life Events

• Loss of a loved one

• Loss of a job

Change

• Changes to your work role or circumstances

Thinking Styles

• Ruminating over past events

How We Respond to Stress

The effect that stressors have on you is called your ‘stress response’.

Fight or Flight Response

• You might have also heard of it as being called the ‘fight or flight’ response, or perhaps the ‘fight, flight or freeze’ response.

• When you are faced with a stressor, your body tries to prepare you for action, as if you are under physical threat.

Physical Changes

• Your body responds with a series of physical changes that prepare you to either:

  • Fight an aggressor

  • Flee from a harmful situation

Imagined Threats

• A key point to remember is that your body responds to ‘imagined threats’ in the same way that it responds to actual threats.

  • For example, if you picture a worst-case scenario or have a ‘catastrophizing’ thinking style, your body is more likely to activate a stress response.

Mental Threats

• Your body can also activate a strong physical stress response to mental threats, such as:

  • Missing a deadline

  • Money worries

Effects of Stress Response

• The stress response is really helpful if you are actually in physical danger, but if you are feeling overwhelmed by life’s demands, it can be highly unpleasant.

• If you don’t understand what is happening in your body, it can even be quite frightening and may lead to panic attacks.

• It can also be unhelpful. This is because all of your physical resources are directed towards evaluating and escaping danger rather than to more helpful thinking processes such as:

  • Problem-solving

  • Planning

  • Prioritization

Managing Stress

• You are more likely to experience a physical response to stress if you let stressors build up or become overwhelming before taking action.

• By learning how to identify and manage stress, you can hugely benefit your health and how you manage any health conditions.

Your Space to Reflect

📍 Starting Point

- What are your main sources of stress right now?

- How does stress show up in your body?

🤔 Looking Deeper

- When do you first notice stress building up?

- How does stress affect your joint pain and overall health?

💡 Exploring Possibilities

- Which stress triggers could you better prepare for?

- What stress management techniques work best for you?

🔄 New Perspectives

- How might understanding your stress patterns change how you manage them?

- What would having a healthy relationship with stress look like?