Is Allostatic Load Contributing To Your Pain Levels

Joseph Smith
6 hours ago
3 min read

What is allostatic load

Picture this - Your car has broken down, the bills are piling up, you can’t sleep, now you have searing pain in your neck! You think to yourself "how on earth could this be all happening at once?"

Read along to find out.

Allostatic load is a measure of physiological dysregulation due to the cumulative burden of chronic stress on the body.

Stress can have two effects on the body.

The correct level of stress with adequate recovery and support facilitates an adaptive response and enhances system function. Think about strength training or mental training to perform under pressure.

However persistent and prolonged stress with inadequate rest or insufficient support contributes to higher allostatic load which is seen in many factors including, increased secretion of hormones such as catecholamines, and glucocorticoids such as cortisol as well as higher levels of inflammation due to this prolonged stress.

Examples of this can be things like negative or unhelpful thoughts, too much exercise without sufficient recovery or even trauma.

Internal & External Stress

We have two main sources of stress on the body, internal and external.

Internal stress occurs within the body such as; negative thoughts, dehydration, and physical exhaustion. External stress is caused by external factors such as; relationship breakdowns, work, study load, and financial stress just to name a few.

When you think about your own life, you might be able to count upwards of five, multiple internal and external life stressors that are occurring all at once.

How does this link with chronic pain?

We have all experienced aches and pains - maybe with the flu or when we've had a few too many drinks the night before. This is a symptom of allostatic load.

A high physical demand on your body/brain/nervous system stimulates an inflammatory response and the release of stress hormones, resulting in high pain sensitivity, which may present as aches and pains.

For example, in many persistent pain conditions such as back pain, osteoarthritis of knee & hips, or endometriosis. Pain levels can vary greatly between people, regardless of disease severity in diagnosis.

This means that findings on imaging and changes in the tissue do not correlate strongly with pain, one person may have advanced knee osteoarthritis and experience very little pain while another may have mild knee arthritis but experience significant pain. This holds true for the vast majority of chronic pain conditions, the status of tissue health has little bearing on the actual symptoms that a patient experiences.

Therefore while these underlying issues (such as joint changes or long times stuck in static positions) may be the kindling for the fire, a spark is often needed to ignite the pain.

The spark may be in the form of increased stress on the body.

How to reduce allostatic load

Reducing allostatic load differs for each individual depending on their current life circumstances.

The key question to ask is what is in my cup ?

Once the cup overflows this is when the allostatic load becomes too great, and may begin to manifest as physical symptoms such as pain, anxiety, headaches and more.

The next question is "what needs to shift, to help reduce the load on my body?"

This may be improving your diet or sleep
Moving more or less depending on your training status
More time socialising, or more down-time to yourself
Or perhaps trying to reduce negative thoughts or self criticism

As you can see these things are all individual and the opposite thing may be required depending on the person.

Key Takeaway

Often, a big part of reducing your allostatic load is mental. Simply changing your mentality from “go-go-go” to “stop and smell the roses” can make a big difference in your stress levels. It’s important to remember that taking care of yourself and your health is not selfish—You owe it to yourself and your love ones.