When asked how they are doing, almost everyone in the UK will reflexively respond with, “I’m fine”. We say this being polite, perhaps not wanting to open up a full on conversation when we are just scrambling through the shops looking for some milk.
But living in a City, living in the times that we do, uncertainty and stress is ever present and can show up in different ways, and as it applies to chiropractic, affect our ability to heal.
Many people that come and see us have issues that have been present for many years, they just may not be experiencing pain currently, because they’ve learning to adapt and accommodate to these issues.
When we understand where these stresses come from we can then start to implement different strategies to help reduce their affect on us, and ultimately allow us to improve at a faster rate, get well, and state healthy in the long term.
Physical
Physical stress in the body manifests as injuries or repetitive strain to our bodies. We’ve all probably experienced some form of injury whether during sports when we were younger or even stepping of the kerb and spraining an ankle.
The feeling is often immediate and accompanied by a swelling of pain, and then weeks, sometimes months of recovery before we are back feeling the same.
In engineering, stress refers to the strain on a building or material when under pressure, this stress can often build up overtime and cause failure of the system.
This is like many of the people we see in clinic who work office jobs, or at home with a less than ideal setup, and spend most of their day hunched over their desks. Imagine what that does to their spines, constantly in a flexed position, causing irritation to the joints and muscles. This stress, just like the structures in engineering can build overtime until we too fail, and this is when we experience symptoms.
Our bodies are designed to move, ideally through their full range of motion, in each joint, every day. This is how we stay healthy — we move!
Overtime if we have adapted to poor posture due to our work, or because of old injuries, our bodies can no longer easily move through this range. This in itself has a negative affect on your nervous system. The body’s ability to see where it is in space and time is compromised, its ability to respond to its environment is compromised, its ability to regulate its systems accordingly is compromised.
Initially this may not seem like a big problem, there may not be much in the way of indications that there is even an issue, no pain, we may feel a little more restricted in our movement, and it doesn’t really stop you from doing your day to day activities.
However this exactly the thing that builds in the background and causes bigger problems overtime. How many people have you heard of that were absolutely fine, but they go to put their shoes on one day and all of a sudden their back goes. Or the person who ‘slept funny’ and now they can’t move their neck. They’ve done these movements thousands of times before with no issue, so its not the movement, its just that their bodies ability to adapt has reached breaking point, and its now that they feel those symptoms.
This is why we encourage people to be checked at elevate regardless of their symptoms. Chiropractic is about much more than pain, its about moving well, being in a balanced state and letting your body function at its best so you do the things in life you want to.
Emotional
Probably the stress that we most think of when asked if we are stressed.
We often think about our work, that manager that’s pushing us for more. Our relationships with family, our partners, our friendship group or the many tasks we feel we need to accomplish which can feel overwhelming.
Outside of acute injury, this is probably the biggest factor affecting people we see here in the office. When we are stressed it affects our body’s ability to respond to inflammation, joints that were restricted but otherwise not causing problems can easily flare up in times of stress.
Often patients will have a multitude of stressors going on at once, like waiting for a bus then a few come along at once. Why is that always the way?
We only have so much capacity for stress in our lives before we they become overwhelming, and when that capacity is exceeded, symptoms arise.
I think it highlights how interconnected everything that we do is, and explains in part how, when we are adjusted, and in balance, all our stresses are reduced or ability to deal with them strengthened. Who wouldn’t want to be able to manage stress in their life’s more easily?
Nutritional
The final component we like to focus on is what we fuel our bodies with. I think most of realise what food is good, or bad, but we give little thought to how this makes us feel.
To much over indulgence at Christmas highlights this for most people, too much alcohol or sugar and we feel lethargic, bloated and need a few naps to get through the day even though we haven’t actually done very much.
It like putting the wrong fuel in your car, it might turn over and go a short while but soon it will conk out and stop.
The same is true of your body, its incredibly proficient at turning whatever we put into it into making energy to let us thrive. However the better the fuel the better the results.
We should be prioritising whole foods, limiting the excesses of alcohols and sugars and staying hydrated throughout the day to support your chiropractic adjustments.
Each of these components affect each of us in different ways, and sometimes some of these things can be outside of our control. So put your focus on what you can influence and try to let go of what you cannot.
To a better, healthier you,
– Michael
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