What is a Threat Bucket?
Understanding the Connection Between Stress and Pain
Have you ever experienced unexplained pain?
It’s that moment when your pain comes on out of nowhere, when you can’t seem to pinpoint anything that would have caused an increase in pain - you didn’t lift anything heavy, overdo your activity, or sleep weird - and yet there it is. The frustration of a set-back.
This is a pattern I see often with my patients.
When we zoom out and consider the turbulence and chaos of life in the United States and around the world, seasonal illnesses, and the stressors of everyday life, it’s not surprising.
While pain is complex and multi-factorial, one concept that can help you understand what’s contributing to your pain is the threat bucket.
The role of your nervous system
One of the primary jobs of your nervous system is to keep you safe. When you experience a threat, a threat being anything that causes stress in your body, its default pattern is protection.
In the body, these protective patterns can show up around your central nervous system, peripheral nervous system, organ systems, or muscles and joints and can have an impact on your movement quality.
What is the threat bucket?
We all have a threat bucket that has a limited amount of space in it. Everyday your bucket gets filled up with different threats.
Threats can be:
Current Injury, Past Injury (including your beliefs about your healing)
Acute Illness (cold, flu, Covid, etc), Chronic / Invisible Illness (autoimmune
Work Demands, Financial Stress, Relationship Challenges
To-Do List, Mental Load
Exercise Load, Recovery, Sleep, Nutrition, Hydration
Environment, World Events, Climate Crisis
I like to think of these threats or stressors as rocks that are placed in your bucket.
When your bucket fills up, your nervous system responds with an output - pain, tension, overwhelm, anxiety, fatigue, or some combination.
Your bucket is unique to you
It’s important to note that what your nervous system views as a threat or stressor may not be the case for someone else.
For example, your nervous system might view an upcoming work deadline as a big rock that takes up a lot of space in your threat bucket, but that same work deadline might be a small pebble in my threat bucket.
How to work with your threat bucket
Noticing and understanding what fills up your bucket is a powerful practice.
You might ask yourself:
What are the biggest rocks in my bucket right now?
Which stressors come and go throughout the day, week, or month?
What small adjustments can I make to minimize certain rocks?
Who might I ask for support (ie - partner, friend, therapist, coach, employer, etc) to help create more space in my bucket?
When you zoom out and look at the bigger picture, you might start to see patterns and gain a clearer sense of how full your bucket is and what’s contributing to your pain, overwhelm, anxiety, or fatigue.
But, this isn’t about getting rid of every rock - because, well…life. That said, small shifts can make a big difference in creating more space in your bucket.
Shifting your stress state
Identifying a few quick and easy nervous system practices that create a sense of safety, settling, ease, and/or calm in your system will help you free up space in your threat bucket.
These practices can include:
Tapping (EFT tapping or tapping along your trigeminal nerve)
Box breathing or 4-7-8 Breathing
Eye exercises (pencil push-ups or eye circles)
Gentle mobility work (self soft tissue work or mobility practices)
I encourage you to get curious and experiment with these practices to find which one(s) work best for you, your body, and your nervous system.
Explore your threat bucket
If this concept resonates with you, I’ve created a free Threat Bucket Workbook to help you identify your stressors and create a plan to support your nervous system.
And if you want individualized support, send me a message. I’d love to help!
Disclaimer: this post is intended for informational purposes only and is not medical advice. If you are experiencing pain, it is always in your best interest to consult with your medical doctor and/or your physical therapist.
