Anxiety and muscle tension: How stress tightens your body and how acupuncture can help

If you’ve ever felt like your muscles were knotting up when stress or anxiety hit, you know how uncomfortable it can be. Anxiety often causes the body to physically tighten, leaving you with sore shoulders, a stiff neck, or even painful lower back tension.

Good news: acupuncture can help ease this tension and help you feel more relaxed and mobile.

The Western perspective: Stress and muscle tension

When anxiety takes hold, your body reacts by going into fight-or-flight mode, a survival mechanism that prepares you for danger. This causes your muscles to:

• Tighten → The body is readying itself to physically respond to a threat, even if it’s emotional or psychological.
• Become fatigued → The continuous tension makes muscles sore and achy.
• Trigger headaches → Muscle tension around the neck and shoulders can contribute to migraines or tension headaches.

This muscle tightness is a result of the body being constantly in a state of high alert, which leads to both physical discomfort and a feeling of being “on edge.”

The Chinese Medicine perspective: Qi Stagnation and Blood Deficiency

In Chinese Medicine, muscle tension is often connected to Qi (energy) stagnation and Blood Deficiency. Anxiety and stress can create a blockage in the flow of Qi and lead to:

🔸 Stagnant Qi → The flow of Qi becomes stuck, causing discomfort in the muscles.
🔸 Liver Qi stagnation → When the Liver is under stress, it can cause tension in the neck, shoulders, and jaw.
🔸 Blood deficiency → The muscles may become weak, tight, and sore when there’s insufficient blood circulation to nourish them.
🔸 Excessive Yang rising → In severe cases of stress, the body’s energy can rise and lead to conditions like headaches, dizziness, and muscle spasms.

Chinese Medicine focuses on rebalancing energy and nourishing the body to release this built-up tension and restore natural flow.

How acupuncture can help with muscle tension from anxiety

Acupuncture helps by relaxing the nervous system, releasing muscle tightness, and restoring Qi flow. It can:

✅ Release muscle tightness → Acupuncture needles can help loosen up those tight, aching muscles.
✅ Promote circulation → Stimulating acupuncture points helps increase blood flow to the muscles, easing discomfort.
✅ Calm the nervous system → Acupuncture activates the body’s relaxation response, allowing muscles to release tension.
✅ Restore Qi flow → By clearing energy blockages, acupuncture helps to keep your body’s systems balanced.

Key acupuncture points for muscle tension and anxiety include:

• Gallbladder 21 (Jianjing) → Relieves shoulder and neck tension, common areas of stress.
• Bladder 10 (Tianzhu) → Helps relieve headaches and neck tension caused by stress.
• Ren 17 (Shanzhong) → Opens the chest and releases tension from the upper body.
• Spleen 6 (Sanyinjiao) → Calms the nervous system and promotes circulation.

Feeling tense from anxiety? We can help.

If anxiety is causing muscle tension or pain, acupuncture can help your body relax and find relief naturally.

At The Village Healing Centre in Curl Curl, we specialise in helping you release physical tension and feel more at ease, no matter how stressful life gets.

If you’re in the Northern Beaches of Sydney and you’re curious about acupuncture for anxiety and muscle tension, we’d love to meet you. You don’t have to figure this out alone.

📍 Find us in Curl Curl (Sydney Northern Beaches)
📞 Call us at (02) 9938 2182
📅 Book your appointment