Why Does My Body Keep Hurting?

If you’re experiencing persistent pain that doesn’t seem to have a clear cause, you’re not alone. Pain is complex, and is rarely explained by one factor alone.

The way you move, the positions you spend time in, your physical capacity, sleep, stress and other aspects of your daily life can all influence your experience of pain. Understanding the wider picture can be an important first step towards managing persistent pain and finding an approach that works for you.

What Is Pain, and Why Can It Persist?

Pain is a protective experience that helps us respond to actual or potential threat. The International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) defines pain as an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, actual or potential tissue damage.

Importantly, pain is not simply a measure of how much damage there is in the body. The experience of pain is influenced by biological, psychological and social factors, which can vary from person to person.

Acute pain is generally short-lived and often occurs in response to an injury, illness or other identifiable event. Persistent pain can continue beyond the expected period of tissue healing, and sometimes develops without a clear triggering event.

NICE defines chronic pain as pain that persists or recurs for more than three months. It can occur alongside an underlying condition, or sometimes without a clear underlying cause. Chronic primary and chronic secondary pain can also coexist.

This helps explain why two people with seemingly similar injuries can have very different experiences of pain, and why pain can sometimes continue even when an original injury has healed.

Posture, Movement and Pain

Posture is often blamed for pain, but the relationship is more nuanced than simply saying that “bad posture” causes pain.

There is no single perfect posture that everyone needs to maintain. Bodies are naturally asymmetrical, and variations in posture and movement are normal.

How you sit, stand and move is one part of the overall picture. What may be more useful than trying to maintain one supposedly ideal position is having the ability to move comfortably, change positions and adapt your movement to different demands.

Spending long periods in one position can sometimes contribute to discomfort, and changing position or moving regularly may help. Equally, avoiding movement altogether because you are worried about causing damage can sometimes make it harder to regain confidence and physical capacity.

For low back pain, NICE recommends information and advice to support self-management and continuing normal activities where appropriate. Exercise is also recommended, and manual therapy may be considered as part of a treatment package that includes exercise.

An osteopathic assessment can explore how your symptoms relate to movement, activity, physical demands and other factors that may be relevant to your individual presentation.

Hypermobility and Joint Stability

Hypermobility means that some joints move through a greater range of movement than is typical. For many people, this is simply a characteristic of their body and causes no problems.

For others, however, greater joint mobility can occur alongside symptoms such as pain, fatigue, stiffness or recurrent injuries. The important distinction is therefore not simply whether someone is flexible, but whether their mobility is associated with symptoms or difficulties in everyday life.

For some people with symptomatic hypermobility, maintaining control during everyday activities can require considerable physical effort and may be associated with fatigue, discomfort or recurrent symptoms.

An individualised approach may include building strength, developing control and confidence in movement, managing physical load and understanding which activities are helpful or aggravating.

If you are hypermobile, the aim is not necessarily to make you less flexible. Instead, the focus may be on helping you feel stronger, more comfortable and more confident in how you use your body.

An osteopathic assessment can explore whether hypermobility is relevant to your symptoms and whether an osteopathic approach is appropriate alongside other forms of care.

Sleep, Stress and the Experience of Pain

Pain does not exist in isolation from the rest of our lives.

Sleep, stress, mood, activity levels and general wellbeing can all influence how pain is experienced and how well we cope with it. Poor sleep, for example, can make pain feel more difficult to manage. Stress and low mood can also affect how we experience persistent pain and how we respond to it.

This does not mean that persistent pain is “all in your head”.

Pain is real, whether or not there is an obvious structural explanation for it. Understanding the different factors that may be influencing your pain is not about dismissing symptoms; it is about developing a fuller picture of what you are experiencing.

NICE recommends a person-centred assessment of persistent pain that considers both factors contributing to pain and the ways in which pain affects a person’s life. Management may include physical activity, self-management and, where appropriate, psychological approaches alongside other forms of care.

When Should You Seek Assessment?

If pain is persistent or recurrent, is affecting your daily activities, movement or wellbeing, or you are unsure what may be contributing to it, professional assessment may be appropriate.

An assessment can help explore:

• how your symptoms behave and what influences them
• how you move and how your body responds to different physical demands
• whether hypermobility or other musculoskeletal factors may be relevant
• what movement, exercise or self-management approaches may be appropriate
• whether hands-on care is appropriate as part of your management
• whether another healthcare professional or further medical assessment would be appropriate.

Sometimes the most appropriate next step is osteopathic care. At other times, it may be exercise, self-management, physiotherapy, medical assessment, dental assessment or another form of support. Good care should be guided by the individual person and the nature of their symptoms.

For low back pain, NICE recommends considering serious underlying conditions where these are suspected and supports an approach based on self-management, remaining active where appropriate and individualised care.

Practical Takeaways

Move regularly and vary your positions.
You don’t need to find one perfect posture. Changing position and maintaining comfortable movement can be more useful than trying to hold yourself in a particular position all day.

Build physical capacity gradually.
Strength, movement and confidence can all be important parts of managing musculoskeletal symptoms. The right approach will depend on the individual.

Pay attention to sleep and stress.
These can influence how pain is experienced and how well you cope with it.

Don’t assume that pain means damage.
Pain is real, but its intensity does not always correspond directly to the amount of tissue damage present.

Look at the whole picture.
Persistent pain often benefits from an individualised approach rather than focusing exclusively on the painful body part.

Think collaboratively.
Osteopathy may be one part of a wider approach that can also involve physiotherapy, medical care, exercise, dental care or other healthcare professionals where appropriate.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does “bad posture” definitely cause pain?

Not necessarily. Posture can be one factor among many, but pain is rarely explained by posture alone.

There is no single posture that everyone needs to maintain. What may be more important is your ability to move comfortably, vary your positions and adapt to the physical demands of your everyday life.

If I’m hypermobile, does that mean I’ll always have pain?

No. Hypermobility itself does not necessarily cause symptoms, and many hypermobile people are pain-free.

For people who do experience pain, fatigue, recurrent injuries or difficulties with joint control, an individualised approach to strength, movement, activity and physical load may be useful.

Does persistent pain mean that something is being damaged?

Not necessarily. Pain can persist even when an original injury has healed, and the presence or intensity of pain does not always correspond directly to ongoing tissue damage.

However, persistent or changing symptoms should not simply be assumed to be “normal”. Appropriate assessment can help determine whether further investigation or medical review is needed.

Can stress really affect pain?

Yes, but this does not mean that pain is psychological or imagined.

Stress, sleep, mood and other factors can influence the way pain is experienced and how well someone is able to manage it. Considering these factors alongside physical symptoms can therefore form part of a more complete approach to persistent pain.

What Happens Next?

If this sounds familiar, an individual assessment may be a useful starting point.

At Body Spheres, I take time to understand your symptoms, movement, physical demands and wider context. An osteopathic consultation provides an opportunity to explore what may be contributing to your symptoms and discuss appropriate next steps.

That might include movement and self-management strategies, hands-on care where appropriate, or working alongside another healthcare professional.

The aim is not simply to find something that is “wrong” with your body and correct it. It is to understand what your body is experiencing and help you make informed decisions about what may be appropriate for you.