When back pain doesn’t go away after a period of time, many people jump to the conclusion that something is wrong with their body. Believe it or not, the biggest driver isn’t damage for consistent back pain, but fear. Fear silently impacts your back through many ways. For example, when your brain senses danger it can increase muscle tension, limit movement variability, and can amplify pain signals. In response to these things your back may feel tight for no reason and may be sore after activities that used to feel easy. Fear also affects the way you move. You may notice that you brace before bending, move slower and stiffer, and/or avoid certain positions. 

To stop the fear and break the cycle, you should start with movements that you trust and move slowly to give your body confidence. After achieving more confidence you can start moving on to movements that you previously avoided and work through each one gradually. Overall you should focus on control and not perfection. Fear and pain are occasionally connected so when you start to reduce the fear, pain will most of the time follow.