Mental and emotional health is not something people readily talk about. They can see it as owning up to vulnerability and weakness, especially men (not being sexist - it's fact). But whether people like to talk about it or not, they nearly always underestimate the effect of stress on their body.

Pain, especially chronic pain, can generally appear as a result of our lifestyle in one way or another. We all know that pain can be caused by how we sit, stand, twist, bend, move, carry or even how we exercise. The involvement of stress in the onset of pain is not so obvious.

Our lifestyle and what we mentally feed ourselves can be causative factors when it comes to sickness - they can also play a huge role in preventing sickness.

We should never underestimate the effect of stress on our health.

I have lost count of how many people I have treated over the years who have reached an excellent state of health but, during a period of mental stress, have had a flare up of pain for no obvious reason. As soon as the source of their stress has been dealt with or diminished their pain has disappeared.

I talk to people everyday both in a clinical setting and a personal setting about their levels of stress. I am grateful people feel they can talk to me about it because it can really help in their healing and road to recovery. I want to encourage people to look at their levels of emotional stress, to see it not as a weakness but to see their willingness to talk about it as a strength.

Addressing stress can have a huge effect on recovery from pain and on the journey to overall wellness.