Your jaw just plain hurts. How much of the jaw pain is a medical issue – and how much is stress related? Find out more.

Mental stress has always had its physical component. In fact, that's what the stress response is: the visceral priming of the body to either fight or run away from a perceived danger. Less well recognized is that even chronic, unpleasant stress, the kind that's so constant you consider it normal, can cause aches and pains that you might not attribute to emotions. By some estimates, half of the patients doctors see for various common body aches, such as jaw pain, are actually expressing psychological distress through physical pain.

The source of stress-related pain lies in the brain, which, when you feel under the gun, triggers the release of cortisol, adrenaline and other hormones that prepare the body for action by, for example, increasing heart rate, blood pressure and respiration. Less noticeably, these hormones also make muscles tense up, which can cause aches and irritate nerves.

Here's a guide to the areas stress hits most often, and simple steps you can take to relieve the pain and symptoms of stress.

Jaw pain: symptoms of stress and what you can do to relieve the ache

Pain on the side of the face that can radiate to the head or neck may be indicative of the jaw malady known as temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJ). But in many cases, the problem isn't the joint connecting the jaw to the skull, but muscular tension caused by clenching your teeth while under stress. Before you schedule that operation, ease tension in muscles that operate the jaw:

• Open your jaw as wide as you can, hold for a few moments, then gradually let it relax. You may feel more pain initially, but that's a function of muscle tightness; the discomfort should dissipate as you work the muscles.
• Try to make a habit of holding your jaw open slightly so that your upper and lower teeth don't touch. Resting your tongue against the roof of your mouth while you do this can help keep teeth separated so you won't clench or grind them.
• Stress can cause you to clench or grind your teeth at night. Speak to your doctor; she may recommend a mouth guard to both minimize damage to your teeth and cushion pressure from the jaw, which may help relieve jaw pain.

What about your lower back pain? Is that another symptom of stress?