If you’ve heard the dangers of chronic inflammation, you’re probably wondering how you can reduce yours.
A Washington Post article reports that many people don’t even know they have it until it’s already damaging their bodies. In fact, scientists believe chronic inflammation enhances oxidative stress on the body which leads to a host of chronic illnesses, including cancer.
They also agree that many aspects of modern life can trigger chronic inflammation — especially diet and stress.
However, there’s evidence that chiropractic care helps chronic inflammation.
But first, what is inflammation?
What is Inflammation?
There are two kinds of inflammation: acute and chronic inflammation. Acute inflammation is what you experience when you’re chopping veggies and accidentally cut your finger. It throbs and turns red. That’s your body sending blood cells to kill any potential infection and start the healing process.
But chronic inflammation is different. It’s long-lasting, and when your body stays in a state of chronic high-alert, it damages your body. Those white blood cells that rush to destroy infection can attack healthy cells because they mistakenly think those cells are dangerous. Over time, they’ll also attack healthy organs and joints too. It’s a miscommunication in your body where it attacks itself.
Why Does It Occur?
In simple terms, inflammation is a symptom of a larger problem. With acute inflammation, it’s obvious what the problem is and when the broken arm or cut heals, you’ll be fine.
But with chronic inflammation, it can be tough to dig out the underlying problem. Doctors know that many people with chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and Crohn’s disease often suffer from chronic inflammation. But they’re not sure which comes first.
How Does Chiropractic Care Help Chronic Inflammation?
Chiropractic care can help because it opens up the communication channels in your body. You probably think of chiropractic care as something for back pain. That’s true, but it also has applications for chronic inflammation.
The goal of regular chiropractic adjustments is to re-align the vertebrae in your spine. This practice promotes a healthy nervous system, which affects your entire body. It means your brain can send messages easier through your body, and it can reduce your body’s production of cells, promoting inflammation.
Chiropractic care is an integral part of overall wellness and can easily co-exist with traditional medical care.
What Can Other Lifestyle Changes Help?
Your lifestyle plays a big role in reducing inflammation, and all the usual suspects are at play here. Eating a healthy diet, getting regular exercise, and reducing stress is critical for your health and well-being.
Eat Healthy Foods
What you eat plays a role in combating chronic inflammation. The usual culprits, white bread, pasta, red meat, and alcohol, can make the inflammation worse. Whereas a diet heavy on vegetables, lean protein, and healthy fats can help reduce your inflammation.
Exercise Most Days
Aim for four to five sessions a week and make sure you get in a mix of cardio and weight training. You don’t have to go to the gym. Just get out and make sure you have a brisk walk for 30-45 minutes 4-5 x a week and make homemade weights by using filled water bottles. There are also thousands of YouTube videos geared towards everything from kickboxing to yoga.
You may be surprised by what a difference this can make in your health if you do these regularly.
Manage Stress
You knew this was coming, didn’t you? Modern life is stressful, and this past year has been unusually stressful. Stress takes a significant toll on our bodies, so whatever you can do to reduce it is good. Many people find meditation is a powerful way to reduce stress. Again, YouTube can be your friend here. There are many guided meditations there.
You can also simply practice deep breathing, also, reduce your social media time as that can drive anxiety.
Your Next Steps
Chiropractic care helps chronic inflammation and has applications for many other health concerns. Whether you’re new to the practice or you haven’t been in a while, your body will likely benefit.
If you’re in Doylestown, PA, why not give us a call and see if chiropractic care is right for you? Here’s what you can expect on your first visit.
When the leaves turn gold and copper, you know winter is right around the corner. For some, seasonal allergies act up and the first colds of the season start.
Yet, if you’re like most wellness-minded folks, you want to boost your immunity. Chiropractic care is a great tool to add to your arsenal of Vitamin C, healthy eating, and exercise.
While most people think of chiropractic treatments as something for back or neck pain, it turns out it’s highly beneficial for the immune system too.
What IS the Immune System?
We talk about the immune system a lot. At least the media does and chances are, you’ve seen friends or family ask about favorite flu or cold remedies on Facebook.
But you might not have stopped to wonder about the immune system itself. That is, as long as it’s doing its job in keeping you healthy, you don’t wonder. But with cold and flu season coming and with COVID-19 still here, you might be wondering more than usual how you can boost your immunity. As you may know, your immune system is a collection of cells, proteins, and tissues that work together to keep you healthy. When it’s compromised, your body is at risk of kinds of diseases. From annoying allergies to serious issues like cancer.
It could be possible to boost your immunity with chiropractic care.
How Can You Boost Your Immunity with Chiropractic Care?
Good question.
Now, let me be clear, chiropractic care is only one component of a healthy wellness regimen. You still want to eat your fruits and veggies, get regular exercise, plenty of sleep, and reduce your stress.
But aside from those healthy habits, regular chiropractic care can also help because it’s maintenance for your spine. As you might know, a chiropractic adjustment realigns your spine which can help open up the highway so to speak between your brain and body. Essentially, when your spine is straight, your body is better able to send messages from the brain and back again.
When your brain and body have open communication, it benefits the nervous system.
The nervous system is like a central highway in your body. Your spinal cord serves as that highway and it delivers messages back and forth to your brain. You can probably see why it could be helpful to prevent roadblocks like pinched nerves and other pains that put obstacles in the way of your brain and body connection.
You want to keep the traffic flowing on that highway and chiropractic care can help.
“The World Health Organization defines health as being “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” (Source)
We agree. The goal of health is a state of complete well-being.
What about you? Do you boost your immunity with chiropractic care?
If you’re in Doylestown, PA, stop in for a chiropractic consultation, and let’s help you feel your best!
Do you feel over-extended this time of year and your immune system is low? It’s common. There are work-related holiday gatherings, kids’ programs, and all manner of social invites. Sometimes, it can seem like you’re on a treadmill frantically wrapping gifts and rushing to this or that event around Bucks County and into Philadelphia.
Next thing you know, you or a family member have picked up a cold or the flu. While there’s no substitution for rest and getting enough sleep it’s tough to prioritize those things until it’s too late.
Here are 7 Ways to Supercharge Your Immune System
From supplements to squeezing in a chiropractic appointment or three, making time for healthcare will help you and your family feel your best.
1- Vitamin C is a tried and true supplement -Take it in capsule form and/or increase your dosage via one of those powdered forms like the “Emergency C” to boost your health. Most adults can go as high as 2000 mg a day for a short time. Children are less and it depends on size/age and general health.
2-Wash your hands – Your mother was right. Wash your hands before you eat. It’s common sense and yet gets tricky when you’re at a stand up gathering shaking hands with people and surrounded by finger food. Depending on the situation, you may opt to put a plate in one hand and a drink in the other, not eat until later, or use a cocktail napkin to put a tasty tidbit in your mouth.
Fortunately, more people are adopting new habits that don’t require hand shaking as much which lessens the social pressure.
3- Wipe down door handles – Since so many germs are spread via hands, it makes sense to wipe down door handles and anything else that a lot of people touch. Whether at home, work, or public places. Fortunately, the grocery stores around Doylestown started offering disposable wipes for the grocery cart handles years ago. We recommend using them.
4- Get regular treatments – Many people don’t realize that chiropractic treatments can boost your immunity, but they can. The reason is because chiropractic adjustments relieve tension related to a mis-aligned spine. You may have heard, “the spine is your lifeline.” It is. And even if you’re not in pain, it’s natural that tendons, muscles, and bones may be a out of alignment and causing your body stress.
5- Reduce stress – It’s tough when you’re juggling a million priorities. Yet, stress always lowers the body’s defense against things like colds and flu. So, practice deep breathing throughout the day if you can. Take a break and breathe. Remind yourself of all the good things you have in your life and breathe.
And book yourself a massage or chiropractic appointment – or better yet, both! You’ll feel better.
6– Build in rest time – Remember the nap schedule when your children were small? If you’re like a lot of parents, that nap schedule dictated your entire schedule if you wanted to have happy children (and happy parents.)
That may be a thing of the distant past now but if you can assess your crowded schedule and prioritize having some quiet time, you’ll help ease the stress. Especially, if you leave your phone in another room for an hour or two. Encourage your entire family to take some time to unplug and rest the brain.
A Forbes says we touch our phones 80 times a day! For teenagers it may seem more like 80 times a minute. All that interruption makes us anxious. Why not give yourself permission to take a break from it now and again. You may be surprised at how much calmer you feel!
7-Exercise – With all the holiday shopping, wrapping, gatherings, loaded on top of regular life, it’s easy to push exercise to the bottom of the “to do” list but the truth is, you need it. If you participate in regular yoga classes or go to the gym, try to keep your schedule. It gives your brain a rest from all the other thoughts racing through it and boosts oxygen levels which boosts immunity.
These seven ways to supercharge your immune system are not earth shattering. Yet, it’s all about making them important in your day to day life so you feel your best. People with healthy wellness habits usually pick up fewer cold and flu viruses.
If you’re in Bucks County, Pa. and want boost your immunity with chiropractic care, call us at 267-247-7000, we take most insurance.
It’s a proactive approach to your health by eating healthy food, getting regular exercise and ideally, seeing your chiropractor on a regular basis to keep you functioning at your optimal capacity.
Does that surprise you?
A wellness chiropractor can boost your immune system, reduce stress, and generally help you feel your best all the times. That may sound like a tall order but research shows that being proactive about your health can help you stay healthy rather than “fixing” it when your sick or in pain.
Wellness chiropractic care can also improve your nervous system which helps your body operate at its best.
How Your Nervous System Affects Your Health
Many people don’t think much about their nervous system. Yet, those 46 miles of nerves that run through the human body carry thousands of messages all day. From walking down the hall without thinking about it, to tasting the freshly ground black pepper on your pasta, the nervous system runs the whole show.
People who’ve lost their sense of smell or have paralyzed limbs have lost the nerve function in that part of their bodies.
The nervous system is like a giant internal “superhighway.” However, if there are blocks or traffic jams like a pinched nerve or disc, then you can feel pain.
The accumulation of everyday stress also disrupts your nerve function which may show up as high blood pressure, physical pain, or a low immune system.
Yet, a wellness chiropractor puts everything back in place with a few simple adjustments.
For many, that means you feel better, stand straighter, and even have internal improvements like enhanced blood flow which makes everything in your body work better.
That’s the benefit of a regular wellness visit. Because chiropractic care treats the cause, not the symptom.
How Chiropractic Care Affects Your Nervous System
It’s perfectly normal to experience partial dislocations in your body. This what which is what chiropractors call “subluxations.” These subluxations occur from severe impacts like a fall or from habits like bad posture or an accumulation of stress. They can be very painful, especially when they’re ignored for a long time.
In fact, virtually any back, neck, or shoulder pain is because of a spinal misalignment or “subluxation.”
However, chiropractic adjustments re-align your spinal column and help everything find its proper place again. That means, your nervous system can flow freely again, carrying its messages throughout your body helping you feel your best.
The difference between “wellness” care and crises care is the difference between taking care of yourself on a regular basis and only seeking healthcare when you’re sick or are experiencing pain.
If you’re in the Doylestown, Pa area, Dr. Jeff McQuaite is a successful wellness chiropractor. He works with people of all ages from infants to the elderly to help them feel their best.
Dr. Jeff McQuaite
McQuaite Chiropractic
295 Logan Street
Doylestown, Pa. 18901 267-247-7000
Office Hours
Mon: 8:30 am – 12 pm, 2:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Tues: 10 am – 1 pm, 2:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Weds: 8:30 am – 12 pm, 2:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Thurs: 2:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Fri: 8:30 am – 2 pm
Sat: 8:00 am – 10 am
