Every day it seems we’re bombarded by a host of stressors that can wreak havoc on our well-being. These include physical ones such as slips and falls; chemical stressors including pharmaceuticals and preservatives in our food; and emotional ones such as work-related stress.
Traumas
While auto accident or work-related injuries may come to mind when we mention physical stress, repetitive daily traumas inflict damage on the body as well. These include actions like sitting at a desk all day or driving in a car. These seemingly harmless activities represent a significant cause of misalignments.
Toxins
From personal care products to chemical-laden processed foods toxins seem to be everywhere. One of the biggest toxins in our opinion is sugar. In fact, around Halloween time I often see a lot of young patients with misalignments. That’s because they’re so overloaded with sugar due to all the candy they received from trick-or-treating. When we consume too much sugar, the body has to combat it and it does so with the pancreas (located in the low back area) which is producing insulin.
Thoughts
Believe it or not, emotional stress is the most significant cause of misalignments with everyone we see. Hundreds of years ago the biggest source of stress people faced were wild animals that would cause a fight-or-flight response in humans. In such a situation, within 20-30 minutes you’d either fight the animal or run away. I like to joke with people that I would run away! But then after doing so that stress would be gone.
Today, however, stress that’s caused by relationships, finances, work, etc. doesn’t go away after 20-30 minutes. We see so much more of this fight-or-flight response in our adult patients in particular. Stress manifests itself in the form of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), asthma, headaches and sleep issues.
Many of our pediatric patients are also in a fight-or-flight state and are dealing with issues such as bed-wetting and ear infections. These young kids shouldn’t be dealing with stress. Their only jobs are to eat, sleep and poop. When they don’t do any one of those things, they’re not doing a third of their life.
Fortunately, chiropractic care can help you reduce stress, function optimally and live an adjusted life!