Pain That Started After a Stressful Event

Published March 3, 2026 · 6 min read

By Tauri Urbanik, research writer and PainApp founder

You already suspect the connection

You have probably already noticed it. The pain started right around the time everything fell apart. A divorce. A job loss. A death in the family. A move. A toxic relationship. Something big.

Maybe it was your back. Maybe migraines. Maybe something else entirely. But the timing was not random.

And part of you has wondered ever since: did the stress cause this? Or is it just a coincidence?

Here is what the science says. It is probably not a coincidence.

Stress onset is one of the strongest neuroplastic indicators

Researchers who study neuroplastic pain look for specific patterns that suggest the brain is generating pain rather than the body. And pain that started after a stressful event is one of the most reliable indicators they track.

Why? Because your nervous system responds to emotional threats the same way it responds to physical ones. The brain regions that process danger do not distinguish between a car accident and a divorce. Both trigger the same protective response. Both can produce real, physical pain (Wager et al., NEJM, 2013↗).

How stress flips the switch

Here is how it typically happens. You are going through an intensely stressful period. Your nervous system is running on high alert. Fight or flight. All day. For weeks or months.

During this time, your brain is scanning for danger constantly. And at some point, it starts interpreting normal body signals as threats. A slight twinge in your back becomes a pain alarm. Mild muscle tension becomes a screaming signal. Your brain has become a smoke detector that goes off when you make toast.

Brain imaging research shows that it is the brain's emotional and stress circuits, not tissue damage, that predict who develops chronic pain (Baliki et al., Nature Neuroscience, 2012↗). The brain literally changes how it processes signals from the body.

And once that switch flips, the pain can continue long after the stressful event has ended. Your brain learned a pain pattern. It got stuck. This process is called central sensitization.

The timing tells the story

Think back to when your pain started. Can you connect it to something stressful? It does not have to be the exact same day. Sometimes the pain shows up weeks or even months later. But the window is usually close.

Common stress triggers that precede chronic pain:

• Divorce or relationship breakup
• Job loss or major career stress
• Death of someone close to you
• Moving to a new city
• Financial crisis
• Health scare (even if it turned out fine)
• Family conflict
• Caring for a sick loved one

If your pain started during or shortly after one of these events, that is significant information. Not because the stress is "all in your head." Because your nervous system learned to produce pain during a time of emotional overwhelm. Childhood experiences can make this even more likely.

Why this is actually the best kind of pain to have

That probably sounds strange. But hear me out.

Pain that begins during stress can involve threat processing, muscle tension, sleep, inflammation, behavior, and other pathways. Timing alone cannot rule out injury or disease, so new or unexplained symptoms still deserve assessment. Normal test results do not make pain unreal.

And nervous systems can get unstuck.

R

Rachel, 44

widespread pain for 3 years

Rachel's pain started six months after her mother passed away. First her shoulders. Then her lower back. Then it seemed to move everywhere. Three doctors, no diagnosis. Normal blood work, normal imaging. She spent two years thinking something was terribly wrong. Once she connected the timing to her grief and started brain retraining, her pain began to ease within weeks. Not because the grief was fake. Because her nervous system had been stuck in protection mode.

Composite story based on common patient patterns. Not a specific individual.

Research shows that simply understanding the connection between stress and pain can begin to reduce symptoms (Louw et al., Physiotherapy Theory and Practice, 2016↗). Education is treatment. What you are doing right now, reading and connecting the dots, is the first step.

The pain is real. The cause is different.

Nobody is saying you made this up. Nobody is saying it is imaginary. Neuroplastic pain is generated by real neural pathways. The same circuits that process a broken arm. The sensations are 100% real.

But the source is your nervous system, not your tissues. And that changes everything about how you treat it. Brain-based treatments like Pain Reprocessing Therapy are designed for exactly this kind of pain.

Frequently asked questions

Can a stressful event cause chronic pain?

Yes. Research shows that stressful life events are one of the strongest predictors of developing chronic pain. Your nervous system can get stuck in a protective mode during stress, generating pain signals even after the stressful period ends.

Why did my pain start during a divorce or job loss?

Major life stressors activate the same brain regions as physical injury. During high stress, your nervous system becomes hypervigilant and can begin producing pain as a danger signal. The timing is not coincidence. It is your brain's protective response.

Is pain after trauma physical or emotional?

It is both. Neuroscience shows there is no meaningful separation between physical and emotional pain in the brain. Stress-onset pain uses real neural pathways and produces real sensations. The pain is genuine. The cause is your nervous system, not tissue damage.

Can stress-onset pain be reversed?

Yes. Brain-based treatments like Pain Reprocessing Therapy were studied in the PRT trial, where 33 of 50 participants with primary chronic back pain were pain-free or nearly pain-free. Pain that started with stress often responds especially well because there is no structural damage to address.

References

1. Ashar YK, et al. Effect of Pain Reprocessing Therapy vs Placebo and Usual Care for Patients With Chronic Back Pain: A Randomized Clinical Trial.DOI: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2021.2669
2. Wager TD, et al. An fMRI-Based Neurologic Signature of Physical Pain.DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1204471
3. Baliki MN, et al. Corticostriatal functional connectivity predicts transition to chronic back pain.DOI: 10.1038/nn.3153
4. Louw A, et al. The efficacy of pain neuroscience education on musculoskeletal pain: A systematic review of the literature.DOI: 10.1080/09593985.2016.1194646