Why emotional distress might be the reason behind intense neck and back pain

According to a new study the emotional distress of mental dissonance or receiving knowledge that contradicts how we act or what we think might contribute to increased strain on the neck and lower back during lifting and lowering tasksWhen study participants were told they were performing poorly in a precision lowering experiment in the lab after initially being told they were doing well their movements were linked to increased loads on vertebrae in their neck and low backResults showed that the higher the cognitive dissonance score the greater the extent of loading on the upper and lower parts of the spineThe finding suggests cognitive dissonance may be a previously unidentified risk factor for neck and low back pain which could have implications for risk prevention in the workplace according to researchersThis increased spine loading occurred under just one condition with a fairly light load you can imagine what this would be like with more complex tasks or higher loads said senior author William Marras executive director of the Spine Research Institute at The Ohio State University Basically the study scratched the surface of showing theres something to thisThe research was published recently in the journal ErgonomicsMarras lab has been studying daily living and occupational forces on the spine for decades About 20 years ago he found that psychological stress could influence spine biomechanics using a study design that involved having a fake argument with a graduate student in front of research participantsWe found that in certain personality types the loads in the spine increased by up to 3537 Marras said We ended up finding that when youre under that kind of psychosocial stress what you tend to do is what we call coactivate muscles in your torso It creates this tug of war in the muscles because youre always tenseIn this study to get at that mindbody connection we decided to look at the way people think and with cognitive dissonance when people are disturbed by their thoughtsSeventeen research participants nine men and eight women aged 1944 completed three phases of an experiment in which they placed a lightweight box within a square on a surface that was moved left and right up and down After a short practice run researchers gave almost exclusively positive feedback during the first of two 45minute trial blocks During the second the feedback increasingly suggested participants were performing in an unsatisfactory wayTo arrive at a cognitive dissonance score for each participant changes during the experiment to blood pressure and heart rate variability were combined with responses to two questionnaires assessing discomfort levels as well as positive and negative affect feeling strong and inspired versus distressed and ashamedWearable sensors and motioncapture technology were used to detect peak spinal loads in the neck and low back both compression of vertebrae and vertebral movement or shear from side to side lateral and forward and back APStatistical modeling showed that on average peak spinal loads on cervical vertebrae in the neck were 11137 higher in compression 9437 higher in AP shear and 19337 higher in lateral shear during the negativefeedback trial block compared to the baseline measures from the practice run Peak loading in the lumbar region of the low back an area that bears the brunt of any spinal loading increased by 1737 in compression and 2237 in shear during the final trial blockPart of the motivation here was to see whether cognitive dissonance can manifest itself not only in the low back we thought wed find it there but we didnt know what wed find in the neck We did find a pretty strong response in the neck said Marras a professor of integrated systems engineering with College of Medicine academic appointments in neurosurgery orthopaedics and physical medicine and rehabilitationOur tolerance to shear is much much lower than it is to compression so thats why thats important he said A small percentage of load is no big deal for one time But think about when youre working day in and day out and youre in a job where youre doing this 40 hours a week that could be significant and be the difference between a disorder and not having a disorderMarras is also principal investigator on a federally funded multiinstitution clinical trial assessing different treatments for low back pain that range from medication to exercise to cognitive behavioral therapyWere trying to unravel this onion and understand all the different things that affect spine disorders because its really really complex he said Just like the whole system has got to be right for a car to run correctly were learning that thats the way it is with the spine You could be in physically great shape but if youre not thinking correctly or appropriately or you have all these mental irregularities like cognitive dissonance that will affect the system And until you get that right youre not going to be rightWere looking for causal pathways And now we can say cognitive dissonance plays a role and heres how it worksThis research was supported by internal Spine Research Institute funds Coauthors included first author Eric Weston a former integrated systems engineering graduate student at Ohio State Afton Hassett of the University of Michigan and Safdar Khan and Tristan Weaver of Ohio StateAlso Read What is Vaginismus Meghan Trainor opens up about discomfort during coitusThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever