Emotional stress can have a physical effect on the body. The hormones that get released as a result, the cortisone and other things can create irritations in the body that can create misalignments, that can create pinched nerves.
Chronic stress can lead to neuropathy by damaging the nervous system. When the nervous system is damaged, it can cause pain, numbness, tingling, and other symptoms. The end result is pain, discomfort, or even worse.
Studies have also provided evidence that anxiety and nerve firings are related. Specifically, researchers believe that high anxiety may cause nerve firing to occur more often. This can make you feel tingling, burning, and other sensations that are also associated with nerve damage and neuropathy.
The autonomic nervous system has a direct role in physical response to stress and is divided into the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), and the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). When the body is stressed, the SNS contributes to what is known as the “fight or flight” response.
While anxiety cannot lead to nerve damage that causes pain, it can actually intensify nerve pain caused by injury or accidental nerve damage.
A pinched nerve occurs when too much pressure is applied to a nerve by surrounding tissues, such as bones, cartilage, muscles or tendons. This pressure can cause pain, tingling, numbness or weakness. A pinched nerve can occur in many areas throughout the body.
But unfortunately, just like pain can make you feel worse mentally, your mind can cause pain without a physical source, or make preexisting pain increase or linger. This phenomenon is called psychogenic pain, and it occurs when your pain is related to underlying psychological, emotional, or behavioral factors.
People with traumatic nerve damage can experience severe, unrelenting pain, burning sensation, tingling or total loss of sensation in the part of the body affected by the damaged nerve.
The overlap of anxiety, depression, and pain is particularly evident in chronic and sometimes disabling pain syndromes such as fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, low back pain, headaches, and nerve pain.
Symptoms of functional neurologic disorder may appear suddenly after a stressful event, or with emotional or physical trauma. Other triggers may include changes or disruptions in how the brain functions at the structural, cellular or metabolic level. But the trigger for symptoms can't always be identified.
Recent studies have shown that stress is related to changes in hippocampal function and structure, which might be mediated through increased glucocorticoids, decreased BDNF, and decreased neurogenesis. And stress finally induces behavioral, endocrine, and neural changes related, thus, to neurological disorders.
Nerve damage due to stretching, compressing, or transecting the mental nerve can cause sensory dysfunctions of the inferior lip, surrounding skin and mucosa, and teeth, including numbness, increased or decreased sensation, painful sensation, or complete loss of sensation.
How long will anxiety numbness last? The physical sensations of numbness that occur due to hyperventilation or a panic attack are usually short-term. The numbness and tingling symptoms can last up to 20–30 minutes.
Nerve pain - Anxiety can also cause the development of nerve-related pains. The pains are both real and psychological. Known as "psychogenic pain," the brain essentially activates pain sensors as a result of anxiety and stress.
In most cases, symptoms improve and nerve function resumes to normal within 6 to 12 weeks of conservative treatment. Conservative treatment options include physical therapy, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen.
Take time to slow down and be alone, get out into nature, make art, listen to music while you cook your favorite dinner, meditate to cleanse your mind and relax your body, take a bubble bath or a nap to restore.
A massage will relax the affected muscles and take some of the pressure off the nerve, making it a valuable addition to your recovery plan. Of course, you'll want to get your doctor's approval before you consider a massage (or any other treatment) for pinched nerve pain relief.
Massage therapy may be a great option in relieving a pinched nerve because sometimes muscle tension may be the cause of the pressure. A light to medium pressure massage such as a Swedish massage is ideal and will help to loosen up connective tissues.
The answer is yes! By applying pressure to the pinched nerve, it can help relieve tension, reduce pain and inflammation and promote circulation. It will also help relax you, your muscles and the affected area as well.