Inflammatory Response

I try not to repeat myself in these articles, but this is a request from a client who asked me to discuss the causes of chronic inflammation.  This is a big deal because several years ago a large amount of research was devoted to this inflammatory response in the body.  The outcome of this research determined that inflammation is implicated and at the root of not only all forms of pain but of every disease known to man.  In effect, if you can reduce inflammation in the body, you reduce your risk of every disease out there.

The inflammatory response should be considered synonymous with the stress response.  So when we look at inflammation, we need to evaluate the cause in terms of physical, chemical and emotional stress.  The main culprit with physical stress can be trauma from recent or old injuries.  This is where chiropractic, massage and physical therapy come into play.  But the biggest physical stress is a sedentary lifestyle – you have to move your body!  Exercise of the joints and muscles stimulates the coordination center of the brain which feeds into the emotional system to inhibit the stress response.  In terms of chemical stress, it amazes me in this day and age that people don’t see the connection between how they feel with what they eat, drink and breathe.  Sugars, grains (yes, all grains!) and oils are all pro-inflammatory.  They will feed into the stress response and increase your pain/inflammation levels.  Fortunately, nature provides us with an antidote.  The minerals and antioxidants found in fresh fruits and vegetables shut off the stress response in the brain and reduce inflammation in the body.  Omega three fatty acids from fish oil and flax seeds are essential building blocks for all your anti-inflammatory hormones in your body and should be included.  I’m a very big fan of doing regular detoxification programs to reduce the environmental toxins we invariably take in regardless of how clean our diets are.  Emotional stress can be the hardest one.  This is the essence of the stress response and since our way of thinking is a habit, it can be hard to change.  Just like the diet, you start eliminating negative emotional stress by replacing it with positive thoughts and feelings.  This is literally how the brain works.  Instead of focusing on all your worries, regrets, and fears, make a gratitude list that you add to every day and review in the mornings and evenings.  Purchase a guided meditation c.d. where someone walks you through the process of quieting your mind and reducing the stress response.  This should be a 10 minute ritual every day.  The biggest thing with emotional stress is simply becoming more aware of your thoughts and learning to cultivate you way of thinking.  The brain is just like a garden – it will grow flowers and weeds equally well.

Reducing inflammation may be the single most effective thing you can do to feel better and achieve a higher level of wellness.  Arthritis, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, bowel disoreders, heart disease, stroke, and diabetes are all directly related to increased inflammation associated with the stress response.  Look at some of these tips to see where you can make the biggest impact in your lifestyle to begin turning things around.

The Problem with Pain

A few years ago in the Journal of Manual Therapy, a research group looked at patients with chronic neck pain.  The intent of the study was to see if there was a possible connection to spinal pain and other health complications.  The outcome of the study determined, “It can be concluded that patients with chronic neck pain present weakness of their respiratory muscles.”  They continued that the respiratory weakness seemed to be related to local and global muscle weakness around the area of injury to the neck.

In this study, they are telling us that people with chronic neck problems are more likely to have other health problems.  In this case they determined that those with neck problems are more likely to have weakness and dysfunction of their respiratory system.  These findings would support numerous prior studies that showed a connection between asthma, allergies, bronchitis, and other respiratory problems with spinal conditions of the neck.  The point I’d like to make here is that the pain is not the problem.  Remember that pain is your body’s smoke alarm that serves to tell us that something is not functioning properly.  Thus we need to move our focus from how we are feeling to how we are functioning.  When all we do is manage pain with pain relievers and anti-inflammatory drugs, without addressing the function of the anatomy and physiology, the real root of the problem continue to progress.  The first thing that is taught in Anatomy and Physiology is that Anatomy dictates Physiology – meaning our structure determines our function.  They were so close in this study to getting the big picture that chronic neck pain is a sign of a structural and functional problem.  When the neck becomes misaligned or subluxated, resulting in inflammation and degeneration of the vertebrae and discs and tension or pressure is placed upon the nerves of the cervical spine, function will always be compromised.  In this case, the nerves that exit the holes between the vertebrae of the neck are the very nerves that go to control the muscles of the neck, shoulders, and chest; but they are also the nerves that go to control the function of the lungs themselves.  The chronic neck pain is a sign of a chronic neck problem.  While the study did not look at the function of the nerves, most likely the connection between the respiratory function and the neck pain was directly related to a compromised function of the nerves of the neck as a result of pressure from misalignment or degenerative changes (arthritis) as a result of years of excessive wear-and-tear of the cervical spine.

We are cultured to treat the pain in our society.  When you have pain, begin to ask the question, why?  Disciplines such as chiropractic, massage, physical therapy and various other health services look to restore function in order to reduce the pain.  When function is restored, health can be expressed and there is no longer a need for pain.