Keeping Calm and Carrying on: How Chiropractic Care Can Tackle Stress

Now, let’s be honest – stress in the UK is as common as spotting a pigeon in Lincoln City Centre. From navigating the chaotic rush hour on the trains and main roads to fretting over what meal to cook the kids each night, us Brits have plenty to stress about.

But fear not, for there’s a secret weapon in the battle against stress and it goes by the name of Chiropractic Care. Yes, you heard that right – chiropractic care isn’t just for adjusting your spine; it can be a helpful stress-busting superhero in disguise.

Fortunately, there are many effective treatments for stress including exercise, diet, meditation and getting more sleep each night. You might be surprised to learn that chiropractic care can also be useful in facilitating the reduction of stress.

Many people that visit Epoch know this well, as they often mention that they feel relaxed and de-stressed after a chiropractic adjustment.

In this week’s blog I’ll share some more information about stress and why it can be harmful for your health and why stress can manifest into many different conditions further down the line – this is when we generally see people and that is why for us, we want to try and help more people earlier on so you don’t get to the point of years of compounded stress on your body.

So, what is stress?

Stress is a normal physiological response that occurs when you are in a situation that you perceive to be dangerous. Threats that trigger the stress response can be physical or mental, real or imaginary.

When entering a stressed state, the body produces higher levels of hormones including adrenaline, cortisol, epinephrine and noradrenaline. These so-called “stress hormones” trigger a wide range of changes in your body including:

·        Faster breathing

·        Elevated heart rate

·        Tense muscles

·        Higher blood pressure

·        Higher levels of mental focus

·        Increased glucose that is released into the blood stream for energy

·        Your brain patterns are altered to focus more on the threat in front of you

·        Certain biological functions are deprioritised, including digestion of food

Now you might notice that most of these changes would be quite helpful when running from a life-threatening situation, which is exactly what the stress response is designed for.

Unfortunately, the stress response can also be triggered by anxious thoughts, work or financial pressure, physical pain, personal arguments and many other ‘perceived threats.’ If you experience long-term stress, it can eventually increase the risk of several health conditions including:

·        Obesity

·        Heart disease

·        Anxiety

·        Depression

·        High blood pressure

·        Diabetes

·        Insomnia

How can chiropractic care help to relieve stress?

Chronic stress often results in pain, which in turn causes stress. It can become a vicious cycle. The pain can lead to irritability and other mood issues, clouded thought processes, and an inability to focus.

Here are just a few of the ways that chiropractic care can relieve the symptoms of stress:

Relieving tension
When you are in a stressed state, your body will become tense as it prepares to either fight the threat or run away from it. This can cause tension throughout your musculoskeletal system, which contributes to poor posture, back pain, neck pain and headaches. A chiropractor can help you deal with this tension by performing specific adjustments to your spine and joints.

Correcting physical issues causing pain
It’s common for people experiencing chronic pain to also experience chronic stress. Your chiropractor can help by identifying the source of any musculoskeletal pain you are experiencing and developing and effective treatment strategy. By reducing or eliminating your pain, your stress levels may be greatly reduced too.

Clearing your mind
When chiropractic care is used to align the spine, this aids in unblocking the central nervous system. This is useful for dealing with the symptoms of stress that affect the brain. You may find it much easier to think clearly after a spinal adjustment which further eases feelings of stress.

Dealing with a misalignment of the spine will also make it easier for your nervous system to communicate with other parts of the body. This reduces feelings of stress and pain associated with a subluxation (misalignment of the vertebrae).

Better sleep
Getting more sleep is one of the most effective ways to deal with stress. When you are sleeping your body will remove waste, help balance hormone levels and perform several other biological tasks.

Chiropractic care can make it easier to get to sleep, which in turn gives your body plenty of time to deal with stress hormones like cortisol.

It’s important to note that your Chiropractor can’t treat the cause of your stress, but Chiropractic care can certainly help to treat associated symptoms such as muscle tension, pain, headaches and poor sleep.

Here at Epoch myself or one of the team would be more than happy to see you and discuss how chiropractic treatment could benefit you, so please do reach out.

With love,
Sophie