How Acupuncture Can Relieve Chronic Stress-Related Muscle Tension and Pain
Are your neck, shoulders, or back muscles constantly tight and sore? Stress could be to blame. Acupuncture offers a natural way to decrease stress and anxiety, relax your muscles, and ease your pain.
How Stress Increases Muscle Tension
Stress turns on your body's sympathetic nervous system, the system responsible for the "fight-or-flight" response. When the response is activated, heart and breathing rates increase and muscles contract or tighten. Thanks to these changes, it's much easier to run from a dangerous situation or stay and fight attackers.
The fight-or-flight response helps you avoid an out-of-control car heading your way or gives you the adrenaline boost needed to outrun the angry dog chasing you. Stress also triggers this response. When you're stressed, the fight-or-flight response provides the extra energy you need to handle a difficult situation.
Although your heart and breathing rates gradually return to normal after a stressful situation ends, your muscles may remain tense for some time. If you often feel stressed, muscle tension may become a chronic problem.
Relieving Muscle Tension with Acupuncture
Acupuncture relieves stress-related muscle tension by:
- Helping You Relax. Inserting hair-thin needles in the skin at strategic acupoints triggers the release of endorphins and serotonin. These hormones improve your mood and help you feel calmer.
- Easing Pain and Soreness. Endorphins and serotonin released during acupuncture act as nature's painkillers. Acupuncture may also decrease activity in the brain's pain centers, stop the pain cycle, and ease pain and stiffness. Research study participants who received acupuncture for delayed onset muscle soreness reported 79% less pain and 41% less stiffness 24 hours after delayed onset muscle soreness and 80% less pain and 62% less stiffness 72 hours after muscle soreness began. The research appeared in the International Journal of Sports and Exercise Medicine in 2022.
- Improving Blood Flow. Blood provides oxygen and nutrients tense muscles need to relax and removes waste products that contribute to muscle tension. Blood flow decreases when muscles contract and increase when they relax. If your muscles are constantly contracted, blood flow can be affected. Acupuncture treatment boosts blood flow and help induce relaxation.
- Loosening Muscles and Tissues. Acupuncture treatment softens tight muscles and tissues and breaks up trigger points (muscle knots). According to a research study published in Frontiers in Rehabilitation Sciences in 2024, acupuncture had a beneficial effect on ankle joint stiffness and range of motion. Researchers noted that hardness decreased in muscles, deep fascia and deep intermuscular fascia after 15 minutes of treatment. Fascia refers to connective tissue that holds organs, muscles, nerves and tissue in place.
- Reducing Inflammation. Stress may also be a factor in widespread inflammation in the body. Inflammation makes it harder for your brain to manage stress and anxiety and interferes with the production of serotonin and endorphins. By decreasing inflammation, acupuncture could help you avoid tight, painful muscles.
- Lowering Cortisol. Your cortisol level rises when you feel stressed. A higher cortisol level isn't a problem in the short-term, but a long-term increase can cause stress and anxiety and boost your risk of health issues, including high blood pressure, headaches, and insomnia. Acupuncture lowers cortisol naturally and reduces stress-related symptoms.
Are you struggling with tight, painful muscles due to stress? Acupuncture offers the ideal solution for both stress and muscle tension. Contact our office to schedule your acupuncture appointment.
Sources:
American Psychological Association: Stress Effects on the Body, 10/21/2024
https://www.apa.org/topics/stress/body
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience: Inflammation: The Common Pathway of Stress-Related Diseases, 6/20/2017
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5476783/
Frontiers in Rehabilitation Sciences: Effect of Low-Frequency Acupuncture on Muscle and Fascia Stiffness: Examination with or Without Intervention, 12/12/2024
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11670481/
International Journal of Sports and Exercise Medicine: The Effect of Acupuncture on Reducing Pain and Stiffness of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) following Eccentric Loading Exercise, 11/13/2022
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health: Acupuncture: Effectiveness and Safety, 10/2022
https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/acupuncture-effectiveness-and-safety