Last month Zoe Ball resigned from BBC Radio 2’s breakfast show to “step away from the very early mornings and focus on family”. More recently, however, the 54-year-old has revealed she has a painful jaw condition, which must have made those early starts difficult to face. “I have TMJ and wake most days with awful headaches from tension and jaw clenching,” Ball wrote on Instagram.
The symptoms of TMJ — temporomandibular joint — disorder include pain around the jaw, ears and temples. According to the NHS it can be caused by clenching or grinding your teeth, stress, or habits like biting your nails or holding a phone between your neck and shoulder.
“Zoe’s jaw pain has brought attention to how stress and repetitive strain can lead to debilitating issues,” says James Davies, an osteopath who has worked as the official therapist for the Team GB Olympic team and has worked with David Beckham and Joe Wicks. “It’s a powerful reminder that tension doesn’t just affect athletes or individuals with physically demanding jobs, but all of us. And often, we wait too long to address it.”
So, where can stress show up in your body — and what can you do about it?
Jaw and face
“Stress manifests in the body in various ways, often in the areas we rely on most,” Davies says. “Teeth clenching and jaw tension are common, leading to conditions like TMJ disorder.
“The TMJ, which allows us to talk, chew and yawn, is situated deep near the base of the skull, just in front of the ears. It’s one of the most used joints in the body, and like any joint relies on the surrounding muscles for support and movement,” Davies says. “When stress or tension affects these muscles through teeth clenching, grinding or poor posture it can lead to significant discomfort and chronic pain.”
What can you do about it? “One particularly effective method involves internal massage of the jaw muscles,” Davies says. “Using gloves, an osteopath can access the deeper muscles inside the mouth to work on the medial pterygoid and lateral pterygoid, which are often tight and overworked. Gently massaging these can relieve tension, improve the joint’s range of motion, and reduce referred pain, which is the kind that radiates to your head or neck. You can also help yourself by using gentle circular motions with your fingertips to massage the jawline, and practise slow mouth-opening and closing exercises to relax the muscles.”
Dr Aditi Desai, who is president of the British Society of Dental Sleep Medicine, says that stress is often behind tooth grinding. “This puts all the muscles around the TMJ into tension, which can cause facial pain and headaches around the temples. So, an important step is to remedy the reason you’re stressed in the first place, either through yoga, meditation, managing your workload or getting more sleep. If it’s particularly bad, your dentist may recommend Botox injections or a splint to take the pressure off the joint.”
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Shoulders
“In 2024 I’ve seen a shift towards more shoulder pain,” says Anji Gopal, who is an osteopath, yoga teacher and the founder of the BackCare Foundation. “Everyone is overwhelmed at work, this time of year is particularly stressful, and if you step back even further there is international and environmental stress from the news. Hence the saying, the weight of the world is on my shoulders.”
When this happens, Gopal says, we tend to hold our breath, tense our jaw and hunch our shoulders. It can also lead to other unhealthy behaviours, like too much caffeine or not enough physical activity, which exacerbates the problem.
“The most important thing is to notice there’s a problem,” Gopal says. “This applies to all types of pain, of course. But if you start to notice your shoulders tightening, stop what you’re doing, let out a big sigh of breath and release them, rolling them back and down away from your ears.”
Davies also recommends ear-to-shoulder stretches, where you slowly tilt your head towards one shoulder, seeing how far you can go without pain, holding for 20 seconds, before repeating on the other side. Chin tucks can also help: sitting upright, look straight ahead before gently gliding your chin in and down towards your chest. Hold for five seconds, return to the start and repeat.
Neck
If you’re reading this on a laptop or phone on your lap, you may be familiar with the telltale stiff neck from prolonged screen time or poor posture. According to the NHS, the average adult in the UK spends about nine hours a day sitting down, and much of that is spent looking downwards.
“Whether it’s looking at a laptop or phone, there’s a good chance you spend a lot of your day looking down, which puts an enormous strain on your neck,” Davies says.
“Do this simple exercise throughout the day. Look up at the ceiling and then imagine your eyes are two pencils and draw a figure of eight with them. Repeat a few times. Or sit in a chair with your back straight, your shoulders back and down, and slowly turn your head from left to right. Next, lower your chin to your chest.” Make sure you take regular screen breaks and spend more time looking up and forward, instead of down at a screen.
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Lower back
Approximately one in six adults in England have some form of back pain, according to official data. As well as a sedentary lifestyle, a lack of sleep may play a role.
“We need to sleep more, sit less and move around,” Gopal says. “There are many misconceptions about perfect posture, but all the research shows the best posture is moving posture. Lower back pain can also start in your bottom, so when you’re sitting for long periods squeeze the muscles in one buttock, release, and then squeeze the other.”
She also recommends sitting for one meeting and standing for the next, and limit leg crossing, which can rotate your pelvis out of alignment and lead to muscular imbalance in your lower back. One client complained of lower back pain when watching their child play sports. She advised them “to keep moving around — don’t sit or stand in the same position for too long”.
Davies says: “Set up an ergonomic workspace with your screen at eye level and your chair adjusted to support your back. And remember to move every 30 minutes to reset your posture.”
Eyes
Eye-strain headaches are a common type of headache caused by staring at a screen or working too intensely for too long, Gopal says. “If you feel one coming on, lean back from your computer and focus your eyes on the furthest thing away that you can see for a few moments.”
Most importantly of all, take steps to reduce stress. Davies says: “The mind and body cannot be separated, and stress often triggers tension that leads to pain. Incorporating relaxation techniques is crucial, whether it’s yoga, meditation, or simply taking moments to check in with your body. Reducing stress at its source can have the most profound impact of all.”
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