Chiropractic Can Help With Stress

By Alicia Kovach, DC

Kovach Chiropractic & Wellness Center

. http://kovachchiropractic.com/

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Chiropractic Can Help With Stress

In today’s society we are all running here and there and are busy, busy, busy. We have the stress of work, family, and financial stress. Do you know how the stress is affecting your body?

Stress, whether physical or perceived, triggers a fight or flight response. This is a systemic physical reaction, affecting almost every part of the body. The hypothalamus is a part of the brain that stimulates the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). The heart rate increases, blood volume and blood pressure increase, blood is directed away from digestion and the extremities. Vision becomes more focused, hearing more acute.

In response to the messages from the SNS, the adrenal glands secrete corticoids, including adrenaline, epinephrine and norepinephrine. All of this is very useful if we’re running from a prehistoric raptor, or confronting a more modern threat. However, the long-term effects of this state can be disastrous to good health.

People who have chronic stress are more likely to experience high blood pressure, diabetes, damage to muscle tissue thru prolonged muscle tension and contraction, damage to immune response, nerve irritation and slowed healing from disease and injury.

You may be asking yourself how chiropractic can help with stress.

Adjustments of a chiropractor release muscle tension, and that helps the body return to a more balanced, relaxed state. Adjustments also reduce spinal nerve irritation, and improve blood circulation.

These changes may be enough, in many cases, to convince the brain to turn off the fight or flight response, beginning the process of healing. A healthy and balanced spine is one key to effectively managing stress. A doctor of chiropractic may also recommend relaxation techniques, and discuss posture and environmental changes to help recovery from chronic stress.

A chiropractor cannot make a job less stressful, or create a quieter, calmer world. What chiropractic treatment can do is help you develop healthy responses to stress, reducing potential physical damage.

If you know someone who has stress make sure you ask them if they have visited their chiropractor recently.