In today’s world, we have accepted stress as being a normal part of our lives. Unfortunately, it plays a big role in a lot of the mental and physical health problems we witness across the nation. Luckily, chiropractic care can help.
If you are living in a chronic state of stress, your body is continuously releasing cortisol. This is the hormone that causes you to gain weight and become sluggish and fatigued. With the use of Denver chiropractic services, you can reset your body and improve your nervous system’s communication, while enhancing your immune function.
The stress-relieving abilities of chiropractic have already been proven in a three-year study that monitored the way the body responds to stress. In the study, individuals who received chiropractic care for four years or longer showed twice the immune competence of those who didn’t. They also had four times the immune competence of those with cancer and other types of illnesses.
Other recent research has shown that chiropractic care also can aid in the treatment of some orthodontic conditions. According to an orthodontist in Pensacola, the link between chiropractic and orthodontics is real: “there is a strong relationship between body posture and the way the jaws fit together. Combining an orthodontic approach with an orthodontic approach leads to powerful results for some patients.”
Governor’s Park Chiropractic is your premier full-service chiropractic firm. Proudly serving patients throughout the greater Denver metro area, our chiropractic office offers a range of therapeutic and healthcare services, including chiropractic treatments, massage therapy, physical therapy and rehabilitation, spinal decompression, acupuncture, and custom orthotics.
If you’re experiencing chronic back pain, shoulder pain, limited mobility, or stress, we can help. With unmatched experience and a knowledgeable and friendly staff, let us help you find relief from stress and begin your journey toward better health.
CHRONIC STRESS AND THE ADRENAL GLANDS
When learning common chiropractic facts and information, many people are surprised to learn how chiropractic care can work to not just provide pain relief, but also reduce stress. To understand how chiropractic care helps relieve stress, you must first understand the effects that stress has on your spine and throughout your body. Additionally, you should understand the interconnectedness these effects have on your body.
Humans have active adrenal glands that respond to stressful situations such as an angry customer at work or a careless driver on your way home. These situations put your body into fight or flight mode. Most of the time, we don’t effectively deal with stress, and that stress gets stored in your body. Your brain signals fear to your adrenal glands and releases hormones such as cortisol.
Stress is many things, according to James Wilson, ND, DC, Ph. D., and it can be physical emotional, psychological, environmental, infectious, and all of the above. All stress threatens your homeostasis (your body’s balance). When your body’s natural processes get interrupted, you face the repercussions of stress such as pain, fatigue, and weight loss.
As Alan Christianson explains in The Adrenal Reset Diet, when you experience stress, your adrenal glands divert energy away from your body’s day-to-day procedures and direct it toward the task at hand. Other procedures, such as digestion, take a back seat.
Adrenal responses to stress are normal and critical. However, if your adrenal glands stay in stress mode, they can produce stress hormones even when you don’t need them, leading to chronic stress. Chronic stress wreaks havoc on your body.
THE IMPACTS OF CHRONIC STRESS
Chronic stress is classified as a continuous, low-grade stress hormone release that manifests in a few common symptoms that include:
· Fatigue
· Headaches
· Digestive issues
· Aches, pains, and tense muscles
· Trouble sleeping
· Compromised immune system responses
· Libido effects.
Low-grade chronic stress impacts your daily decisions and can affect your overall health. Among other potentially negative effects, chronic stress reduces the likelihood that you work out regularly. You don’t sleep as deeply, compounding stress, and potentially causing unhealthy coping mechanisms such as increased alcohol consumption or overconsuming sweets.
On a physiological level, chronic stress contributes to chronic pain disorders, immune disorders, cardiovascular disorders, metabolic ailments, and behavioral disorders.
Luckily, chiropractic care can help relieve chronic stress.
CHRONIC STRESS AND YOUR SPINE
The mental and physical repercussions of chronic stress deeply affect your spine and spinal abnormalities are often overlooked effects caused by chronic stress, which is why we high recommend chiropractic care as a safe treatment for the physiological effects of stress.
Have you ever looked at someone’s posture when they experience an intense stress response? Their breathing quickens and their muscles tense. Both of these elements cause shifts in your vertebral alignment. Numerous studies support the claim that repeated stress adversely affects spinal volume and size.
Chronic stress also causes muscles to contract and the spine to lock in an abnormal position. This position can interfere with the nervous system’s proper functioning and impair the body’s immune response and slow the healing process.
Poor spinal health and chronic stress are circular. In other words, one causes the other. Poor spinal health causes chronic stress and chronic stress causes poor spinal health.
Proper spinal alignment helps break the circle. When the spine is misaligned, the body can’t send the correct nervous signals throughout the body. Better spinal alignment results in improved neurological functions and less interference.
STRESS AND INTERFERENCE IN YOUR SPINE
There are three types of stress and they all interfere with your bodily functions and spinal alignment. The first type, physical stress, is the more directly damaging of the two. Chemical and emotional stress are more subtle, but they still can wreak havoc on your health.
1. PHYSICAL STRESS
Researchers have connected a staggering 70-90 percent of human diseases to chronic stress. Injuries, physically demanding work, a sedentary lifestyle, strenuous exercise, and poor breathing can block oxygenation and nutrients, taking a toll on your spine and overall health.
While these elements aren’t completely avoidable, chiropractic care can help keep your body functioning properly and can even help prevent injuries.
2. CHEMICAL STRESS
What we put into our bodies affects our stress production. Substances such as cleaning products, medications, and dietary ingredients bombard our bodies and keep our lungs, skin, and digestive tract in a constant state of stress. Over time, this can have both immediate and cumulative effects on your body.
3. EMOTIONAL STRESS
Mood disturbances such as anxiety, depression, and irritability all influence both your physical and mental health. It can also impact your memory, concentration, and sex drive. Work-related stress can cause physical illness, psychological distress, and mental illness.
HOW DOES CHIROPRACTIC CARE RELIEVE STRESS?
REDUCING MUSCLE TENSION HELPS REDUCE STRESS
Stress of all kinds causes you to tense your muscles. Over time, tense muscles can cause improper spinal alignment and cause chronic pain, making a pain free life next to impossible. Chiropractors can not only restore proper spinal alignment. Many chiropractors, such as Governor’s Park Chiropractic, offer massage therapy that can relieve pain, reduce stress and help you relax, and even boost your mood.
The combination of these treatment methods properly aligns your spine while preventing your muscles from pulling on your joints. With continued therapy, your chiropractor can restore your body to its natural balance and keep it that way.
SPINAL ADJUSTMENTS RESTORE FUNCTION TO THE BODY
Your body controls your neurological system. Without it, things get funky pretty quickly. Your brain communicates everything, from swallowing to moving your finger via your spine. As stress accumulates, and your spine becomes misaligned, it compromises your brain’s ability to send signals throughout your body.
Chiropractors can help restore function to your body by realigning your spine. Doing so results in less frequent illness and less stress overall. Your Denver chiropractor will work closely with you to develop a personalized treatment plan that works for your specific needs.
PROMOTE A HEALTHY IMMUNE SYSTEM
Stress is known to wear out your immune system, causing you to get sick easier and stay sick longer. With chiropractic adjustments, your immune system and nervous system communication are improved.
GIVE YOU AN ENERGY BOOST
Chiropractic adjustments enhance your mind and body connection. With proper alignment of your spine, your nervous system is better able to send and receive messages. This will improve your sleep, giving you more energy the next day.
IMPROVES YOUR DIET
Unhealthy eating habits often become the norm for stressed individuals. By relieving the stress using these techniques, you will go back to normal eating habits. Plus, our chiropractor will discuss your diet and help you get back to healthy habits by offering expert medical advice and even dietary guidelines.
CONCLUSION- CAN CHIROPRACTIC CARE RELIEVE STRESS?
Chiropractic care helps reduce stress in many ways. The most notable way it helps relieve stress is through properly realigning the spinal column. Chronic stress causes the spine to misalign and spinal misalignment causes stress. Regular chiropractic care serves as an excellent way to break the cycle of stress and restore your body’s optimal function.
Are you looking for a safe and holistic way to relieve stress and improve your overall health? Let us lend a hand. Governor’s Park Chiropractic understands that every patient has unique needs and a unique journey toward recovery. No matter your treatment needs, we’re here to help you recover as fast as possible and even prevent future injuries.
Need a solution from your stress? Contact us today at Governor’s Park Chiropractic to discover what our full-service chiropractic care can do for you. Schedule your appointment to get started on your journey toward better health.
Governor's Park Chiropractic is the Colorado chiropractor team dedicated to helping individuals get out of pain and achieve better health. Offering a range of services and treatment options to meet the specific needs of each patient.