Can shingles be caused by trauma?

Answer 1

Shingles are not caused by trauma.

Shingles is caused by the same virus that causes chicken pox. After chicken pox, the virus remains dormant in the body. Every child or adult who has previously had chicken pox is at risk of potentially developing shingles, usually after age 50. Doctors believe outbreaks of shingles coincides with times the immune system is stressed. Also, after one attack of shingles, shingles can re-occur at any time.

Although shingles develop when the immune system is stressed they can also develop as a result of surgery or trauma. And although shingles can be triggered by trauma, the cause is still the dormant virus that is re-activated at that time. Without the dormant virus becoming triggered, shingles could not occur in any circumstance (regardless of the trigger).

Ref Merck Manual of Health and Aging Sect 3 Ch 25

Answer 2

I'm not entirely sure if traumatic events are directly linked, in research, to shingles. However, any life event that affects you emotionally or psychologically can have a physiological affect on your body. For example, depression is often linked to chronic migraine headaches and recent research suggests that migraines are closely related to depression in women. In other cases, depression is also linked to fibromyalgia and other physical ailments including the common cold. As you can see, traumatic events or any type of event that has an emotional affect on you, can also have a physiological affect on you as well. This is why it is important that speak with your doctor if you are experiencing an uncommon medical condition or ailment such as a rash with no explaination, headaches, dizziness, nausea, etc.