Is Your Bad Mood Actually a Back Problem?
- Dr Lindy Kuburic (Chiro)
- May 29
- 4 min read
If you've been a bit of a grumpy bum lately - snapping at your partner, dragging yourself through the day, just feeling off - I want to ask you something before you blame stress, sleep, or the general state of the world.
When did you last think about your back?
I know. Not the first thing that comes to mind. But the connection between back pain and mood is real, it's well documented, and it's something I see in the clinic all the time. Most people have no idea it's happening to them.
Why Back Pain Makes You a Grumpy Bum
Here's what's going on underneath the surface.
When you're in pain - even low-level, background pain that you've learned to live with and stopped noticing - your nervous system doesn't get the memo. It stays switched on. It keeps sending stress signals, quietly, all day long.
Think of it like a smoke alarm going off at a low hum somewhere in your house. You stop hearing it after a while. But your body is still responding to it. And over time, that constant low-level stress wears you down in ways that have nothing to do with your back.
Your mood drops. Your sleep gets patchy. You're more reactive, more irritable, less patient with the people around you. You feel flat without quite knowing why.
This isn't in your head - it's your nervous system doing exactly what it's designed to do. It's just that when the "threat" is chronic pain rather than a genuine emergency, that constant low-level stress response stops being helpful and starts wearing you down.
The Back Pain and Mood Connection: What the Research Says
The link between chronic back pain and mood disorders is well established in research. People with back pain are twice as likely to have mood issues compared to those without pain.
Australian research has found that back pain causes moderate to complete interference with mood in 65% of sufferers - which means nearly two thirds of people dealing with back pain are also dealing with a mood that doesn't feel like their own. PubMed Central
And it goes both ways. Pain affects mood, and mood affects pain. When you're stressed or anxious, your muscles tense up, your pain thresholds drop, and existing back problems tend to feel worse. It becomes a cycle that's hard to break when you're only treating one end of it.
What makes this particularly tricky is that most people never connect the two. They put the irritability down to work. They manage the back pain with anti-inflammatories. They push through. And the cycle keeps quietly grinding away in the background.
What I See in the Clinic
I've been practising for a number of years now, and one of the things I find most rewarding is when a patient comes in for their back and leaves mentioning, almost as an afterthought, that they're sleeping better. Or that their partner has noticed they seem less wound up. Or that they just feel a bit more like themselves.
They didn't come in for that. They came in because their lower back was giving them grief. But when you remove something that's been draining the nervous system - the tension, the restricted movement, the joints that aren't functioning the way they should - other things improve too.
That's not a coincidence. Nervous system health and mental health are deeply interconnected. The spine is at the centre of that system. When it's not working well, the effects ripple outward in ways most people don't anticipate. Spinalresearch
The Signs Your Back Might Be Affecting Your Mood
Not sure if this applies to you? Here are some things worth paying attention to:
You've been more irritable or short-tempered than usual, without an obvious reason
Your sleep is worse than it used to be, even when you're tired
You have low-level back or neck discomfort that you've just accepted as normal
You feel mentally foggy or flat through the day
You're reaching for pain relief more often than you'd like
None of these on their own is a diagnosis. But if several of them are familiar, it's worth having a proper look at what's going on with your spine.
What You Can Do About It
The good news is that back pain - including the kind you've learned to ignore - is one of the most treatable things we see. You don't have to keep pushing through.
A few things that genuinely help:
Get it assessed properly. Not all back pain is the same. Understanding what's actually going on is the first step to addressing it effectively, rather than just managing the symptoms.
Keep moving. Staying still makes most back problems worse, not better. Gentle, consistent movement - walks, swimming, stretching - helps break the pain-tension-mood cycle.
Address the cause, not just the symptom. Anti-inflammatories have their place, but they don't fix the underlying issue. If you've been relying on them regularly, that's a signal your back needs more than pain relief.
Don't wait until it's unbearable. The longer a back problem goes unaddressed, the harder it is to resolve. The patients I see who do best are the ones who come in before it becomes a crisis.
Come and See Us This June
June is National Spinal Health Month, and at Balanced for Life we're celebrating all month long.
If your back has been niggling, or your mood has been off and you can't quite put your finger on why, June is a great time to come in and have a proper look at what's going on.
Because you deserve to feel like yourself again. And your family deserves the less grumpy version of you.
Book your appointment at Balanced for Life below - we'd love to see you in June. https://www.balancedforlife.com.au/book-online
Dr Lindy is principal chiropractor at Balanced for Life. This article is for general informational purposes and does not constitute medical advice. If you are experiencing significant mood changes or mental health concerns, please speak with your GP.
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