Everyone experiences stressful situations from time to time. But when chronic stress starts to affect your musculoskeletal and nervous systems, a temporary discomfort can turn into ongoing pain, stiffness and other symptoms -- symptoms which can then boost your stress level even higher.
To break this vicious cycle, don't numb your pain with chemicals; turn to Health in Motion Chiropractic for longer-lasting, healthier solutions. Our chiropractor, Dr. Jenette Auchter, can ease your pain and reduce your stress through natural healing techniques.
When you experience a stressful situation, your body responds by producing stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline. These substances ready you for a "fight or flight" reaction. Your muscles tense up in anticipation, and they may remain tensed up long after the threat has passed. If your job, home life, or other factors have you feeling stressed all the time, those muscles may never get a break to relax.
Over time, that constant tension has some significant effects on your comfort and function. Muscle spasms in the neck, for instance, can pull against pain-sensitive membranes, triggering tension headaches. Tight muscles elsewhere in the body can pull on bones, gradually shifting joints out of position.
The results may include everything from chronic back or neck pain to dislocated ribs. If a muscle situated next to a major nerve goes into spasm, it can compress the nerve, causing numbness, pain, tingling and other sensations to flow along that nerve to whatever part of the body it serves.
The worst thing about the relationship between stress and chronic pain is that it can work both ways. The body's instinctive response to pain is to tighten up the muscles in the painful area. This reaction, of course, only causes more musculoskeletal pain and/or neurological problems. Chronically tight muscles are also more prone to injury.
Here at Health in Motion Chiropractic, our functional medicine approach takes every aspect of your life and health into account -- including how your body is being affected by stress. Our chiropractor will examine you to look for signs of musculoskeletal misalignment, muscle spasms, and mobility limitations due to stiffness. We can then make use of two effective, non-pharmaceutical healing techniques:
Chiropractic care - Chiropractic care helps to lower your stress levels in a number of ways. By correcting painful alignment errors that promote muscle tension, we can eliminate one obvious source of stress right off the bat. Chiropractic adjustments can also improve your overall nerve function, which allows your body to respond to stress triggers in a natural, unexaggerated way.
Massage therapy - Nothing can relax a tight muscle more quickly and effectively than massage therapy. This healing modality loosens and relaxes tissues that have been holding pent-up stress. Muscle spasms subside, relieving nerve impingement, tension headaches and other discomforts. Massage therapy also makes chiropractic adjustments easier and more effective.
In addition to these two forms of care, our chiropractor can provide you with recommendations that support stress relief, from changing your sleep and work habits to getting better nutrition. By restoring balance to your life and body, we can help you get your chronic stress under control.
If stress is turning your life and body into a painful wreck, turn the tables on this problem by getting the help you need at Health in Motion Chiropractic. Call us today at (386)-320-0325 for relief of your symptoms or for assistance in reaching optimal health.
