Pain tells our body when something is wrong and protects us from further injury. One of the number one causes of pain is inflammation. When you sustain an injury from a sprain, you will experience the pain, swelling, and redness that follows. When you are injured, your body sends extra blood and a type of white blood cell known as inflammatory cells to the injury to help you heal. The pain, redness, and swelling you are experiencing are referred to as acute inflammation and will start to dissipate within a few days to a week. Chronic inflammation is a different story. When the inflammation doesn’t get better or gets worse and spreads throughout your entire body, the diagnosis is chronic inflammation. Left untreated chronic inflammation can have potentially deadly consequences. Revelation Chiropractic delves further into this below.
How Do You Know if You have Chronic Inflammation?
Chronic inflammation directly correlates to several diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, cancer, arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, depression, ulcerative colitis, and Crohn’s disease. When your body sustains an injury, inflammatory cells are sent to the area to help you heal. Sometimes the body works against itself, and the inflammatory cells sent to help you heal overstay their welcome, causing plaque build up in your arteries. The accumulated plaque can cause a blockage, increasing your risk for stroke or heart attack. Some common signs of inflammation include fatigue, gastrointestinal issues, joint and muscle pain, depression, anxiety, infections, and unexplained weight gain or weight loss. A simple blood test can confirm chronic inflammation.
Treatment Practices for Chronic Inflammation
Identifying and understanding chronic inflammation is the first step in your treatment program. If your inflammation is caused by an underlying disease treating the disease will, in turn, help with inflammation. If the cause of your chronic inflammation is unknown, there are several things that you can do to lessen your condition. Exercise and changing your eating habits are practical tools to treat your inflammation. Recommendations include reducing sugar consumption, red meat, and refined carbohydrates. Food choices to reduce inflammation include nuts, tomatoes, leafy vegetables, and fruit. Olive oil and herbal supplements, including turmeric, ginger, garlic, black pepper, and ginseng, can also effectively treat chronic inflammation. Prescription corticosteroids and NSAIDs relieve inflammation, but unfortunately, they have long-term adverse side effects. Fortunately, there is an alternative treatment plan that is safe and non-invasive.
Can a Chiropractor Reduce Chronic Inflammation?
Your Revelation Chiropractic chiropractor can treat your inflammation with chiropractic adjustments to restore your body to its correct alignment, relieve pressure and make you feel better. Chronic inflammation is widespread and more common than you might think. Schedule an appointment with your primary care physician if you are in pain and suffering from digestive issues, fatigue, joint pain, or other inflammation-related symptoms. Once you have a definitive diagnosis, add regular chiropractic adjustments with your Revelation Chiropractic professional to your treatment plan to address the cause of your pain and allow your body to heal.
Chiropractic Care & Therapy in Fort Collins, CO (Just Minutes from Loveland, Berthoud, Johnstown, Windsor and Wellington, Colorado)
Contact the experts at Revelation Chiropractic today to schedule an appointment and learn more about chiropractic adjustments to treat chronic inflammation.