The real bridge between stress and chronic pain | Chronic clenching 

This guy should win a noble prize, he is a true genius. It’s very tough to break this clenching and bracing vicious cycle, I stop myself for a few minutes then next thing you know I am clenching all over my body again, biting my tongue, tensed neck, abdomen, glutes, exactly how he described, it’s horrible, but there is hope, will keep pushing at it.

I've been suffering from this for 3 years and they were the worst and most painful years of my life. Granted, it was a domino effect of other things at first, but it led to extreme clenching and PTSD. The pain and existential fear was debilitating. It was only recently did I figure this out and started to improve my posture, breathing, and mental health. It's really frustrating how overlooked this is in society and even by many doctors. If I didn't research my own symptoms and find videos like this, I don't even want to think about how things may have went.

The thing is, anxiety works in a feedback cycle: the stress leads to clenching, clenching leads to physical symptoms (e.g. shortness of breath, high blood pressure and pulse), which in turn keep your anxiety going. People are getting in their head about being very ill because of the severe symptoms, leading to more anxiety. You need to break the cycle to feel better. From my experience, there is two positions at which you can interrupt the cycle: In your mind and in your body. Intervening at the physical level has proven to be way easier for me, and it is exactly what you talked about in this video. Unfortunately, not a lot of doctors will even lay out that option. If you are looking for a very structured approach, try Alexander Technique or Feldenkrais. Intervening on the level of the mind can be way harder and the reduction of physical symptoms will typically take longer. However, for long-term healing, I think it's absolutely required to find ways to calm the mind and build self-awareness. Practicing meditation on a daily basis can work wonders.

I'm so glad I've started seeing your videos again. Your articles/videos really helped me a lot with my TOS. I definitely have significant breathing dysfunction and jaw clenching and this I think leads to shortened scalene, elevated rib etc etc. No mystical relationship, direct cause and effect. Also started having chronic low back/sacrum pain when I was 19 (35 now.... Slowly improving TOS with physio).

The amount of people who clench without knowing it must be extremely high. I think there’s a book that touches on this called ‘the body keeps the score’. Thanks for the video and for educating us!

Some of the absolute best tried and verified information on the entire internet. Thank you for all your posts!

This is very important matter of fact for anyone with stress and anxiety physical reactions become subconscious habits and is seen as normal , and the mind's eye becomes blind the body and that's bad news . I've spent the last 3 year's reconnecting to my body getting more energy now .

The deep thinking you should go through to reach this conclusion without experiencing it urself is mind boggling. I’ve recently reached this conclusion after having neck , jaw and shoulder issues and i’ve been doing it for years especially when im high. Also i found another video that you are talking about neck retraction like the chin tucks and i can assure you that you are right. The world needs more people like you Thank you sir !

Been having head pain for years and i believe it started out as mentally believing it for so long and also cleanching stress

I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this: One major thing I've learned from your work is that exercises don't help proper posture, only habits can. In other words, assume a proper position and stay there. However, for some people with weaknesses, proper position is not natural and it requires effort from the muscles. What are your thoughts on the line between clenching and holding proper posture?

This makes sense. Even when I think about my own experience. I used to be a chubby kid and as a result of body image issues (dismorphia)I used to always tense my midsection, and pecs. I dislike the soft jiggly feeling the relaxed muscles& fat have. The habit didn’t go away (now 23) and now I realize I’ve been clenching. I notice that sometimes my neck is clenched and I’m not breathing relaxed. Since I read you’re articles iv become aware of this and I feel better already !

I just came from your 2017 video, and anecdotally I can say I have ADHD and Aspergers that wasn't diagnosed until my adult years, combined with a host of comorbidities resulting from trying to lead a "normal" life. Physically I'm fairly strong, and I've been able to (almost) just force my body into doing what I wanted. But I recently turned 40, and that no longer works. Had a couple of episodes, and I've had trouble walking normally for a couple of years now, despite being able to lift squat and DL fairly heavily. Completely unable to relax even when sitting or lying down. I'm lucky, all considered. I have a host of neuromuscular issues, with almost scoliosis-like symptoms, but it's all fairly easily treatable with functional training and awareness/neuromuscular re-education. Thank you for raising awareness about this.

Great videos lately, thanks a lot.

Thank you! You are a life saver.

Thank you for the video, it really does put things into perspective!

Thankyou so much. Your recommendations actually work!

What an excellent video. Thank you for this invaluable information.

Thank you for this! Other overlooked causes of tension, nerve pain, stress, anxiety, musculoskeletal issues, TMJ, intracranial pressure etc.. is hidden blood infections like Bartonella, Babesia, Mycoplasma, Lyme etc.. Which often get misdiagnosed as 'psychological' issues. These can stay 'dormant' in the body for a long time if the immune system keeps them in check, but a time of great stress can compromise the immune system and allow those infections to dominate and bring on a host of unexplained symptoms.

omg you are so right! I have known this instinctively that my chronic clenching (not just jaw but whole body) was causing most of my pain. Probably most of my life. Not to mention all sorts of other issues. Oh, and breath-holding, so much, lol! I have had mental stress most of my life. I have been searching for body clenching and have found nothing until you. Thank you!

Glad to have found your channel and gotten some real help as well as validation. Squeezing and bracing was a coping mechanism from a traumatic childhood. I would say from my right jaw all the way down to my right ankle I have/had tons of facial adhesions and muscles that wouldnt activate. It got so bad it felt like my entire side was stuck being tense. After getting injuries from a bad car wreck I started toward a healing mindset. But a few years later life was worse than ever in terms of chronic pain and fatigue. None of the 4 times I went through PT helped. Never was able to deal with the stress level being maxed until I found a med that helped me calm down bit by bit each day. I was never able to see how different life could be when calm. Thanks to your channel and others about posture and breaking up fascia im healing way beyond anything i ever expected.

Tack så mycket 🙏🏻

Absolutely what I've been experiencing and writing in my journal about over the years. So glad someone is talking about this, going to binge your videos now lol

Thank you

This makes the most sense of all the explanations I heard about my pain. I could catch my body being soo tense and the moments I became aware of the tension I realized I could have been tense for so long without even noticing it. Makes a lot of sense to me. Thanks for posting!

Sounds exactly like me, dealing with TOS for the past 3 years TMJD, and trigeminal neuralgia. I can't express how grateful I am for your videos🙏🙏🙏

Huge video thanks a lot ! And thanks a lot as well for all your other videos that helped me to understand and treat my recent TOS. I was already doing teeth clenching for few years... I wasn't even realized I was doing it until my dentist told me I was literally fucking my teeth doing so. I was aware that I was quite stressed and quite anxious as well by nature, but I wasn't thinking those stress would be enough to provocate such big physical symptoms and pathology until I got hit by severe TOS two weeks earlier. I have now understood that of course I need to work on my bad posture, strenghten scalenes and neck flexors muscles... but that also a huge part was to be able to relax and get off from that stress.This video pointed it clearly and I know now what I have to work on ;) Thanks again for your great work !!!

I like your idea of touching to connect with one’s body tension. I also use self massage and trigger point balls for myofascial release.

Oh wow. I came back to this channel after years of slacking and man, Kjetil changed so much...his voice his appearance :)

THANK YOU !

I'm never quite ready to hear what you have to say because it's so hard to accept. Such valuable information

I look forward to your videos !🐉

I have intense pudendal nerve pain, as well as piriformis, lumbar and hip pain. I have so much nerve pain everywhere and it is daily. This started 3 1/2 years ago following about 4 years of back to back PTSD inducing events. I never had time to recover before the next event or death would happen. I tried multiple pelvic PT, have had multiple surgeries and procedures, do daily meditation, nothing ever helped. Except meditation because it keeps me from having panic attacks. I have thought now for the past few years that this was stress induced but have been unable to stop it, i am now aware that my body is bracing but I have such a high amount of life stress still that I just feel stuck. I've been seeing a psychologist for a while now but here I am still bracing, and still in daily pain from pudendal neuralgia and sciatic like symptoms. I'm going to try this method and hope that I'm not going to end up being one of the 10%. I used to be a long distance runner now its all I can do to walk my dog around the block. Thank you for acknowledging the impact that this can have on your body. I wish I had seen your videos years ago. I am going to work on strengthening my weak core and check in with my body throughout the day to check for bracing. Hoping I'll finally be in a much better place by next year UPDATE: 11/29/23 I had Radiologists re-review my MRI's and they missed seeing a laterally herniated T-12 with mass effect seen on the nerve roots there. I'm in process of scheduling a block with steroids. I don't think this is clenching, I think in my case it's like thoracolumbar syndrome essentially.

Excellent information. Some other things that seem to yield results for mental-related issues are meditation, following a circadian rhythm, going on a carnivore diet(yes, really) and prolonged fasting.

Great work man, you are spot on. For me it was breath holding and overall tension. Drinking excessive amounts of caffeine / stimulants can also cause you to be tense.

Great to hear from you Kjetil. I'm using your SCM videos daily and they are beginning to work wonders. Tricky to lock in but once I get it, I've truly begun noticing a difference in what has been a lifetime of unspotted torticollis.

Brilliant! Thanks for this video. I do believe stress levels are high in today’s society and we do tend to clench/tighten our muscles throughout the day, day in and day out, and we aren’t aware of this until we start feeling muscle pain, headaches, and fatigue/weakness….this, in turn causes poor sleep, worsening our symptoms….add poor posture to the equation, and the nerves along the spine can create all kinds of negative symptoms, which may lead to more muscle tension causing myofascial pain and weak/shortened muscles,along with many other parasympathetic nervous symptom issues.

I would also say that people should check sleeping posture. I think fetus sleeping position is high indication of clenching a lot of muscles. It will be hard to get improvements if you stuck a lot of time in this position. I would suggest learning progressive muscle relaxation techniques. I'm still struggle to relax some neck muscles, but technique is definitely helpful.

After a lot of chronic pain for years I reached this conclusion on my own quite recently and now I use this knowledge to release pain almost daily. Works wonders. Thank you for explaining it so well! And also for talking about psychosomatic pain, it being all in your head. Have heard it so often too. Hardly helps my pain go away! 😅. Thanks again 😊

I had/ have hypertonic muscles in a couple areas from a pathology that was surgically corrected how ever I had to unlearn the compensatory tension. For example my right gracilous was tense fro several years to compensate for a labral tear of the left hip. Also IT band issues etc. Working on releasing regularly has helped.

Great video Kjetil. I like how u have a nuanced viewpoint of this. Which imo is exactly what resonates with most of ur patients i think. Just curious though, have u seen highly competitive, could be anything, corporate jobs and such, have these kinds of problems? I have a few coder/office worker friends who i think have been misdiagnosed with other issues when in reality it seems like TOS from being highly competitive at work. All of these people show carpal tunnel/ cubital tunnel symptoms and have forward neck posture too

Thanks. I am definitly experiencing this problem and I am also having trouble with Anxiety. Trigger Point Therapy did wonders for me resolving symptoms but does not resolve the root cause. I've been trying PMR, Yoga and meditation with some but limited success. Using this kind of reminders is a good idea I will try out!

I know why this dysfunctional habit came to be. I developed anxiety and clenched to try to avoid the feeling and carry on with life then it became a habit for everything now. I wake up so clenched that it is scary. Doctors and therapist don't even understand and I feel like it keeps me from being able to work a normal job.

So this is one of the BEST and most accurate explanations for chronic pain on the internet however I've found this very difficult in my particular case. I was diagnosed with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and also suspect autism spectrum disorder. My body is in a constant state of bracing in part as a result of my muscles trying to stabilize my loose joints and as a stress response to my constant overstimulation due to sensory issues (hence the autism). I pretty much only feel good when I'm in an environment where I don't have to be static, can spend my day outside, and avoid any sensory overload or stressful situations because light, sounds, odors, and fabrics all exhaust me and cause me to brace. I haven't found any way of preventing this other than avoiding those situations entirely but it's nearly impossible in our modern world. I feel generally better when I implement grounding habits like breathwork, meditation, etc but they don't help me brace less when I experience stress. I'm super aware of my bracing and it's worst when I have to socialize, even though I'm great at socializing, it takes a lot of energy and brain power for me to "act neurotypical". And with EDS, I get pain trying to hold a position for any extended period of time which is also impossible to avoid. It just feels like the world is not built for people like me.

Excellent information. Just last night I was thinking "when will Kjetil make an updated clenching video?" This is absurd timing. Also, sound quality is much better in this video. Question: Is it useful to palpate the scalene area as well while we check ourselves for clenching if we know we have a problem with breath holding? Keep up the spread of knowledge 🤘and thank you

Im 100% sure im clenching my diaphragm but i dont know how to relax it sometimes i have some succes but clenching became my normal its incredibly frustrating but im still thankful i found out my problem thanks to this video!

True that

The question is what is the body bracing against? Couldn’t existing physical pain, or propreaceptive dysfunction be the cause? Perhaps the patient is masking or even wholly unaware of? In your initial example, perhaps it was a concert of effect, primarily caused by a new sleep habit? The recent divorce surely creates a scenario where their head position and weight distribution were drastically impacted? Perhaps a new pillow, new position or a new bed all together (mixed with the impact of a diminished healing response from an overwhelmed down regulation cycle created by the high stress experience)? How much extra labor did her body have to endure in doing things alone that it may not have been used to? Simple things that we take for granted. Lifting, pushing, pulling, opening, closing… did she move? Did she lose the couch that she used to sit on? Sooo many vectors for change in a scenario like that. In another direction, what is the relationship to things like torticollis seen in newborns? How does that continue to express itself in a body over time? In this same way; could it be that people with mild to moderate deep muscle dysfunction can display as “high strung” with “bad posture”, and are unaware of, or potentially unable to overcome their symptoms until their body collapses into dysfunction? I am of the mind that the unconscious action of the protective response, you refer to as bracing, are a mechanism that allows people to stay functional. That is until it becomes unsustainable and then they are often unable to heal due to these habits that previously allowed function. I think that the initial treatment that you speak to is the same but the conceptualization of root cause, is not. This could change early intervention practices if things that are seen by practitioners as weak willed and bad practice are instead classified as possible symptoms. I love the service this channel provides. Thank you for your time and willingness to share!

I had been clenching my right side of my mid back so much that my brain created a fake mid back engaging my ribs and groin. I did have stress, but the main thing was that my partner slept at an angle that forced me to sleep one night inhibiting my right back. It makes sense but at the same time is hard to map out my musculature and let everything go at once. I have gotten pretty good at it but work, driving, and poor posture contribute to this.

I've been seeing a physio for a while now to treat numbness and shooting pains in my thighs. Treatment so far either did nothing or made it worse. At our last session he mentioned that it could well be stress related and noted my high muscle tone. As someone with anxiety and ADHD I'm discovering just how damaging stress is having an affect on my body.

TMS Dr Sarno these tight muscles and fascia do they come back as we're before do you see

In Australia we are bad, I personally suffered a severe lower leg injury, 3 surgeries ect at age 15. I clench all the time, I'm 32 I've been in chronic pain for about 6 years now and am treated like an invalid. It is really horrible that people that have not suffered a severe maiming are having these difficulties. Truly horrible.

I've also come to this conclusion and I have a hunch that this is also causal for dementia/Alzheimer's AND hair greying (if your hair has turned grey recently I encourage you to do intense massage of your scalp where the gray hair is coming from, In my case I can feel these areas and my gray hair is starting be reduced after about a month of this).

Kjetil, with respect to clenching, you recommend a moderate bodybuilding routine without valsalva. How should this be approached in a patient also with LPES or TOS who is more prone to symptom aggravation in the gym?

Love your vids but maybe you could diffuse the background lighting as it’s quite bright. Also, love your shaved head but miss seeing all of you!

Do you find some of your patients' clenching habits become worse if they over-train, clenching to maintain good posture through the day as opposed to resting enough until they can maintain adequate posture without clenching?

Thanks for the video! I have problems with my neck on the right side. I get some pain up towards my right ear that radiates, my right clavicle is swollen and i have a muscle knot high behind my scapula that just won't quit. And the most crucial thing is that I have an almost constant sickness/fatigue feeling. I have long thought that it was my SCM and the scalens that was the problem and have been working on strengthening and good posture. This have had some effect but it's like it won't get better past a certain point. Lately I have thought much about bracing in the jaw, and I'm pretty sure I am doing it. Then I did some research on the omohyoid muscle and the digastric muscle. What is your thoughts on these muscles and bracing? I mean since the omohyoid interaction with the SCM and can affect the clavicle it seems pretty spot on, and the digastric muscle connects close to the ear and might be responsible for some of the radiation pain?

Great video yes ime a clenched years ime 42 hope it isn't to late to cure more anxiety ocD from 5

Can this bracing contribute to costochondritis? I often catch myself with my shoulders shrugged up really high. I feel it has something to do with my chronic costochondritis

Any thoughts in lower back pumps i have been dealing with these for awhile but its not (bad pain) it happens after squats and deads when i load plates off the bar and it follows through other exercises in that workout or is it just weak as i suspect. Thanks.

Have you seen patients that have started this protocol and felt an increase of their overall anxiety?

How do you stop from clenching?

Do you think light/moderate training can be done whilst working on getting rid of the chronic clenching habit?

What are your thoughts on Stress induced tinnitus?

what is the name of this doctor

How does one differentiate piriformis pain and nerve pain from LPES? Or perhaps LPES includes BOTH a weak piriformis and psoas? Often I have nerve pain up in the obliques, other times the hips and quads. Sensations of heat, etc. I've been doing psoas strengtheners. Most of nerve pain is anterior, abdomen, groin, quads, adductors. Then other times it feels deep in my glutes which brings me back to a piriformis problems. Both culprits or only referred pain from psoas?

Can clenching and this stuff lead to tmd or tmj? I’ve recently gotten jaw clicking and tension after a tongue tie release and boxing fight (jaw injury) so that could be it as well.

Amazing work doc, greetings from argentina. Hope u can make some google meet apoitments

Perhaps some of these people are neurodivergent, either diagnosed or undiagnosed adhd or asd, and they learned to suppress their stimming as a child to better fit in. I know when I suppress my stimming (especially the large muscle stims) I get extremely tense. I find less obvious stims like picking at my skin, fussing with a tooth with my tongue, tapping my fingers, etc. - but these things really don’t relieve the tension like rocking your whole body and spinning.

I completely fucked my scalenes up by playing guitar in a clenched state while holding my breath for hours a day. Even if I sneeze now I can feel a shaking in them, after which they need to be loosened up. How can I make them normal again?

Why do a lot of TOS patients get a lot of pain the day AFTER a workout (even when done with good form and not "back and down") and not during the workout itself? Could it be related to too much clenching during the workout and hence overworking the scalenes? Could it be due to breathing incorrectly?

I know so many women who their whole life have sucked in their stomach to make it look flatter. For decades. This has to create all kinds of tension in the core, including the diaphragm. (Not supposed to show you're breathing in your belly or your belly looks "fat." Gah!

What about stress induced tinnitus?

What if you clench or hold your breath during sleep? Any ways to check and fix this?

Thank you! Can caffeine addiction (3-5 cups of coffee) be the tiger for muscle tension?

Hi Kjetil, awesome video! I know there is a genuine culture of excessive medication in the US especially, but was wondering what you think of the use of something like muscle relaxants in the treatment of something like TOS? Thanks!

Hi Kjetil. Do you consider holding your smartphone for hours every day could be causing chronic clenching through our bodies? Especially the latest large and heavy weighted iPhones. Thank You!

To deal with this I stick my tongue to the roof of my mouth and leave it there. It's not a perfect system but I've mitigated my clenching habit by replacing it with the "Shove my jaw open using my tongue," habit.

Would you recommend any vitamins/minerals/supplements to help with this clenching??

Hysteria us in the brain sycosomatic is tension from brain to body

Can any of the conditions you describe cause noise in your head?

good audio:D

The way you explain the effects of stress on the body coincides well with Dr. Gabor Mate's theory that ADHD is just a defence mechanism for stress. When you can't escape a stressful situation (like in a classroom for example) your flight or fight response don't work properly so your brain sort of tunes out. This video reaffirms it even further, to me, that ADHD is not a real illness.

All physical aliment comes from mental or emotional trauma