Two out of three adults experience neck pain at some point

Have you also tried multiple treatments for your neck or shoulder pain, only to find the discomfort keeps coming back? You’ve probably visited a physiotherapist or chiropractor, tried different massages, and even done exercises. Yet the tension seems to return again and again. This can be incredibly frustrating—especially when you notice how much it affects your work, your sleep, and even your mood.

You’re not alone. Research shows that about two out of three adults experience neck pain at some point. More than 30% of adults suffer regularly from neck and shoulder pain, and these complaints are often chronic or recurring (source: RIVM). The risk of pain flaring up repeatedly is especially high in people who spend long hours at the computer or who experience a lot of stress.

But why does this actually happen? The answer often lies deeper than just tense muscles. In this article, you’ll discover the main causes of recurring shoulder and neck pain. You’ll also get practical tips and exercises you can apply right away, and learn when it’s wise to seek professional help.

Why symptoms keep coming back

When neck and shoulder pain keeps coming back, it’s rarely just a stiff muscle that needs to be released. It’s almost always several factors working together. As a result, the root of the problem isn’t addressed, and the pain or discomfort simply returns after a while.

Symptom relief versus root cause

Many treatments focus on reducing pain and tension in the moment. Think of a massage or short stretching exercises. While this can bring relief, it’s often temporary. As soon as you fall back into the same posture, face a busy schedule, or experience stress, the symptoms return. To create real and lasting change, the underlying causes need to be addressed.

Chronic muscle tension and compensation patterns

Our body is smart: when certain muscles become overloaded or don’t function properly, other muscles take over the work. In the neck and shoulders, this is often seen in people who spend long hours sitting or working at a computer. The deep postural muscles of the core and upper back weaken, causing superficial muscles like the trapezius and neck muscles to hold constant tension. This can lead to trigger points (muscle knots) that radiate pain into the jaw, head, arms, or even the fingers.

Fascia and trigger points

Fascia is the connective tissue that runs through your entire body like a web-like network. It surrounds your muscles, joints, organs, nerves, and even your blood vessels. You can think of it as a “3D spiderweb” that connects everything while providing both stability and flexibility.

When fascia is healthy, it is supple, elastic, and well-supplied with blood. Movement then feels effortless and pain-free. But under stress, poor posture, lack of movement, or injuries, fascia can stiffen or form adhesions. This is sometimes referred to as “scar tissue.” As a result, elasticity decreases, blood flow is reduced, and tension and pulling forces develop in the tissue.

Effect of fascia on neck and shoulder pain

• Restricted movement: adhered fascia limits the smooth gliding of muscles and joints
• Pain and stiffness: fascia contains many nerve endings, which means tension and pressure can be directly experienced as pain
• Radiating to other areas: because fascia is a continuous network, a restriction in the chest or upper back can manifest as pain in the neck or shoulders. Read more about how fascia can influence your overall well-being and pain.

Stress and mind-body connection

The role of stress should not be underestimated. Mental tension often translates directly into physical tension in the neck and shoulders. Under stress, you may unconsciously raise your shoulders or tighten your neck.

The difficult part is that pain itself also causes stress. You worry about whether the symptoms will ever go away, you sleep poorly, and you feel limited in your daily life. This increases the tension in your body even more, which in turn makes the pain worse. A vicious cycle of pain and stress.

The role of suppressed emotions

In addition to acute stress, suppressed emotions can also contribute to chronic tension. Theories by Dr. John Sarno, Alan Gordon, Dr. Gabor Maté, and Bessel van der Kolk describe how unconscious emotions—such as anger, sadness, fear, and trauma—can become stored in the body and cause pain. The body then uses tension and pain as a kind of distraction mechanism, so you don’t have to feel the underlying emotion. Read more about the mind-body connection and pain.

Awareness and relaxation

By taking stress and emotions seriously, you can break this cycle. Breathing exercises, journaling, bodywork, and therapy can all help release tension and give emotions space. The goal is not to “push away” pain, but rather to learn to listen to what your body is trying to tell you.

The role of posture and lifestyle

One of the biggest culprits behind recurring neck and shoulder pain is our modern lifestyle. On average, we spend more than 8 hours a day sitting, often behind a computer or holding a phone. The body simply isn’t designed for this.

Forward head posture

You probably recognize this posture: head leaning forward, shoulders slightly rounded, and eyes fixed on a screen. This is called forward head posture. Did you know that for every 2.5 cm (1 inch) your head moves forward out of alignment, the load on your neck muscles doubles? That means your muscles are constantly working overtime to hold up that relatively heavy head. The result? Muscle fatigue, stiffness, discomfort, and pain.

Lack of variety in movement

By now, we all know that too much sitting is problematic, but what’s especially taxing for the body is doing the same thing over and over again. Your body thrives on variety. If you stay in the same posture day after day, your muscles and joints don’t get the chance to recover. Even a short 2-minute break can help stimulate blood flow and reduce tension.

Sleep and recovery cycle

Sleep plays a major role. Too little sleep or restless sleep gives your muscles insufficient time to recover. Recommended guidelines from the Dutch Brain Foundation and the National Sleep Foundation suggest getting 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night. With less than 6 hours per night, the risk of pain complaints, reduced concentration, and low-grade inflammation increases significantly.

It’s not just the duration but also the quality of sleep that matters: deep sleep phases and REM sleep are crucial for muscle recovery, pain regulation, and emotional processing. Many people with neck and shoulder pain often sleep poorly because of the discomfort—creating a vicious cycle: little sleep → less recovery → more pain → even worse sleep.

Breathing and nutrition

It’s often underestimated how much breathing and nutrition influence your body. Shallow chest breathing increases muscle tension in the neck, shoulders, and upper back, and lowers the pH level in your body—leading to acidity. A diet that regularly includes processed foods or sugars increases inflammatory reactions in the body, which prevents muscles and connective tissue from properly recovering.

Low-grade inflammation

Low-grade inflammation is a silent, chronic form of inflammation in the body that can smolder for years. Unlike an acute inflammation (such as with a wound or the flu), you don’t notice it right away. Still, the tissue is constantly mildly irritated, which slows down recovery and increases pain sensitivity.

Common symptoms of Low-grade inflammation

• Persistent fatigue
• Recurring muscle and joint pain
• Brain fog (concentration and memory problems)
• Poor recovery after exercise
• Sensitive intestines, irregular bowel movements

This form of inflammation is strongly influenced by nutrition, stress, negative thoughts, and sleep. A diet rich in vegetables, omega-3 fatty acids, and low in processed foods can help reduce low-grade inflammation and support tissue recovery.

Stress gets stuck in your body

When you experience stress, the autonomic nervous system is activated, particularly the sympathetic mode—better known as the “fight-or-flight” response. This is an ancient mechanism designed to prepare you to flee or fight.

What actually happens in my body when I am in a state of alert?

• Heart rate and blood pressure increase, making more blood available to your muscles
• Cortisol levels (the stress hormone) rise
• Breathing becomes shallow and faster, often high in the chest. As a result, you use your accessory breathing muscles (including those in the neck and shoulders) much more than usual
• Muscles contract reflexively, especially around the neck and shoulders, as the body instinctively protects itself against perceived “danger”

This process is of course very functional and useful when you really need to respond to acute danger, for example if your house is on fire. But with chronic stress—high workload, difficult events in your environment, constant worrying, negative thoughts, and unconscious or suppressed emotions—this system remains continuously activated. The result is that your muscles never fully relax.

Many people are not consciously aware of this. A typical sign is that you unconsciously raise or tense your shoulders while typing, driving, or even sleeping. If this goes on for weeks, months, or even years, a muscle memory develops: your body “thinks” that tension is the normal state, the default setting so to speak.

Case example: how stress can manifest in neck and shoulder pain

“I remember it so well. She walked into my practice with tears she could barely hold back. For months, actually years, she had been struggling with chronic neck pain and a jaw that constantly felt tense. She had already seen physiotherapists, manual therapists, and even tried alternative treatments. Nothing truly helped.

As she began to tell her story, it became clear how much she was carrying. A divorce that had turned her world upside down. Two young children living entirely with her, leaving her on her own 24/7. And on top of that, a job that kept demanding more than she could possibly give.

She described it herself as a constant “survival mode.” Her body always tense, as if she had to be ready at any moment for the next blow. Anger about how things had turned out, fear of not being able to keep going, shame about admitting she was struggling and, as a result, snapping at her children more often than she wanted. Everything was stuck—literally in her neck and jaw.

What struck me was her remark: “I can’t relax my jaw anymore, not even at night. It feels like my body never finds rest.”

It became painfully clear: her complaints were not just about muscles and tissue. They were an expression of everything she had been carrying for far too long.

I invited her to start by simply connecting with her breath, placing my hand on her lower back, and asking her to breathe into that area. Very simple, yet for her it felt almost unfamiliar. She immediately noticed how shallow and high her breathing was. We began with a few gentle exercises to bring her out of her head and back into her body.

After that, I worked with my hands on the areas where the tension had built up. The muscles in her neck felt like hard ropes, and her jaw muscles reacted as if they hadn’t released in years. With gentle pressure, fascia release, and trigger point techniques, layers of tension began to let go.

At one point, her body began to shake spontaneously. Uncontrollably, as if everything that had been locked up for years finally had space. Tears and heavy sobbing followed. Later she said: “It felt like a weight had been lifted off me, as if my body was finally safe enough to let go.”

We also discussed the role of emotions in pain—how anger, fear, and shame that you can’t express often find their way into the body. I gave her a simple journaling exercise to create daily space for everything that needed to be felt.

In the weeks that followed, I saw her slowly begin to change. Her neck felt lighter, her jaw relaxed, but most importantly: she was breathing more deeply and fully again. She admitted that, for the first time in a long while, she sometimes actually felt moments of real calm.

What she discovered—and what I see so often—is that chronic pain is not purely physical. It is often a story of both body and mind. And it’s precisely by addressing the two together that space for true healing opens up again.

Practical tips and exercises

Chronic neck and shoulder pain requires a broad approach. You don’t need to turn your whole life upside down—often small, mindful adjustments can make a huge difference. Below you’ll find practical tips and exercises you can start using yourself.

Movement exercises

Chin Tuck

• Sit or stand upright with relaxed shoulders.
• Slowly draw your chin straight back (as if making a “double chin”), without tilting your head downward.
• Hold for 20 seconds and then relax.
• Repeat this 10 times.

This exercise helps bring the head back over the torso and strengthens the deep neck muscles that are often weakened in forward head posture.

Trapezius stretch

• Slowly bring your right ear toward your right shoulder (without lifting the shoulder).
• Hold for 20 seconds, breathe calmly, and then switch sides.

Shoulder blade activation

• Sit or stand upright
• Slowly draw your shoulder blades down and then together as if holding a pencil between them. Hold for 20 seconds, then release
• Repeat 10 times.

Wall Angels

• Stand with your back against the wall, feet about 10 cm (4 inches) away
• Press your lower back gently against the wall
• Place your arms in a “goalpost” position: elbows bent at 90 degrees, hands raised
• Slowly move your arms up and down against the wall while keeping your shoulder blades together
• Repeat 8–10 times

How often should you do the exercises?

• Chin tuck, trapezius stretch, shoulder blade activation, and wall angels:
  👉 1–2 times per day, each exercise 8–10 reps or hold for 20–30 seconds
• Micro-breaks at work:
  👉 Every 30–45 minutes, stand up, move, and do one exercise (like chin tucks or shoulder rolls)
• Self-massage with a trigger point ball:
  👉 3–4 times per week, 1–2 minutes per trigger point depending on sensitivity, always within pain limits
• Breathing exercise “4-2-6” (inhale for 4, hold for 2, exhale for 6) with one hand on the belly, breathing into the belly:
  👉 Daily, ideally 2–3 short sessions of 3–5 minutes (morning and evening)

When to seek help?

Still, sometimes it’s not enough. That’s when it’s wise to seek professional help, so your complaints don’t become chronic or get worse.

Signs that it’s best to seek help

• Symptoms persist for longer than 6 weeks, despite trying exercises and lifestyle adjustments

• Radiating pain into the arm, hand, or fingers (tingling, numbness, and/or loss of strength)
• Daily recurring pain that interferes with your work, sleep, or daily activities
• Headaches originating from the neck that occur more frequently
• Limited mobility that prevents you from using your neck or shoulders normally

Why professional guidance helps

An experienced therapist looks beyond just the site of the pain. The cause often lies in a combination of factors: tight fascia, trigger points, breathing patterns, lifestyle, unconscious stress, and unresolved or suppressed emotions. By addressing these layers together, you can achieve lasting results.

If you notice that your symptoms are increasingly affecting your life, don’t wait too long. With the right guidance, you can break the vicious cycle and rebuild toward a pain-free and energetic life.

Do you truly want to get rid of recurring neck and shoulder pain?
Let’s explore what’s possible for you. In my programs, we don’t just work on your body, but also on the underlying patterns that keep bringing your symptoms back. This way, we create lasting change instead of short-term relief.

Excited to get started together?
Feel free to send me a direct message or schedule a free phone call. That way, you’ll immediately discover whether one of my programs is the right fit for you.