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Ask the Chiropractor: How Does Inflammation Affect my Health?

by Oasis Wellness Partners on January 7, 2019       Oasis Wellness Partners

A lot of what we see at Chiropractic Family Wellness Center—back and neck pain, lowered immune function, illness and disease—is a result of chronic inflammation. Luckily, regular chiropractic care can help. But first, let’s talk about inflammation—what it is, what causes it, and what you can do about it so that you can live a healthy life!

What Is Inflammation?

Inflammation is our body’s way of protecting itself from illness, infection, and injuries. The body’s immune system produces an inflammatory response to any invaders or irritants, which includes a higher production of white blood cells, immune cells, and cytokines to help fight off any harmful invaders–such as any viruses, pathogens or bacteria.

Inflammation is needed to fight off foreign substances in the body. To protect the body, inflammation arises and causes redness, swelling, and pain, and can even cause the affected area to stop functioning. This type of inflammation is present in everyone and extremely beneficial to removing foreign irritants and pathogens so the body can begin to heal. In fact, infections and wounds would not be able to heal without an inflammatory response. Normal, beneficial inflammation dissipates with time and treatment, and so do its indicators. After a while, the redness and swelling dissipates and healing has taken place.

Causes of Inflammation

While inflammation is the body’s natural immune response to potential harm, it can also happen due to other factors–anything from lack of sleep to poor diet, among other lifestyle choices, such as inflammatory foods & poor nutrition, extreme levels of stress or fatigue, bodily Injury, sickness and disease, and chronic Illness.

Chronic Inflammation

Chronic inflammation is the real culprit of what we see in our office. This type of inflammation happens when the body creates an inflammatory response that is too strong, for example, in the case of rheumatoid arthritis, where the body produces an inflammatory response even though there is nothing to fight. An incorrect immune response can trigger chronic inflammation which leads to a vicious cycle of long-term pain or illness.

Chronic inflammation can cause serious harm and lead to harmful conditions and diseases, including some cancers, Celiac, Crohn’s Disease, Psoriasis, and much more. In fact, many people are unaware that they even have chronic inflammation until they are diagnosed with a related disorder or disease.

Symptoms & Effects of Chronic Inflammation

There are many different reactions to the body’s natural inflammation, but a few ways to tell that you could be experiencing symptoms that are outside of the norm and indicative of chronic inflammation, include:

  • Fatigue
  • Redness
  • Swollen Joints & Joint Pain
  • High Blood Pressure
  • Chest Pain
  • Abdominal Pain
  • Fever
  • Rash
  • Stiffness
  • Irritable Bowels
  • Weight Gain

With the immune system working so hard to fight off potential infections and pathogens, it becomes overactive. The immune system releases white blood cells to fight off unwanted foreign substances, but when this response contributed to chronic inflammation, the immune system becomes imbalanced and contributes to a cycle of chronic illness.

Chiropractic Family Wellness Center in Scarborough, Maine Can Help

Chiropractic care can help ease the symptoms related to chronic inflammation and eliminate stress contributing to your condition. During an initial consultation with us, we will give you a thorough spinal assessment and health evaluation to determine the source of your pain, discover the cause of inflammation, and create a treatment plan to help you feel better and resolve your issues related to chronic inflammation.

Once we have determined the cause of your health concerns, we can provide manual adjustments to your spine and release tension and provide relief to any pinched or irritated spinal nerves and may reduce the production of neuropeptides and cytokines, which can help reduce inflammation. When Spinal adjustments allow better nerve signaling and communication in the body to promote immune system health, making the immune system less likely to trigger chronic inflammation. Give us a call at our Scarborough, Maine office at (207) 883-5549 to schedule your initial appointment.

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