April 2007 - Inflammation
Encyclopedia definition:
Inflammation is the first response of the immune system to infection or irritation and may be referred to as the Innate immune system and as "healthy" nor "unhealthy" on its own: Inflammation helps fight disease, but it comes at the cost of suspending the body's normal immune and catabolic processes. In the short term this is often a valid trade-off, but in the long term it causes progressive damage.
What do you know about it? When you have an injury, inflammation is likely to be present. Anti-inflammatories such as extra strength ibuprofen are what doctors may prescribe to reduce the inflammation. Did you know that ice could do the same thing without any side effects? The reason you want to get rid of inflammation is that it can start a cycle and lead to further complications such as long-term pain and scar tissue.
Inflammation is sticky and it becomes worse with heat. If the inflammation remains, over time the muscles may become stuck together and function more as unit than the way they were designed to move. Then your body begins to "compensate" and pain, discomfort and structural alignment problems might appear.
Are you aware that inflammation can inhabit many parts of your body? You can have inflammation in your entire body; heart, brain, little toe. It can begin from bad nutrition, an injury, and scar tissue from a surgery.
There are many ways to rid your body of inflammation, too many to discuss here. Please contact me at 858-945-6199 to do an assessment of your situation. For more information about my practice and myself you may visit my website at www.networkforhealth.com. Next month I will talk about Nutrition and how to determine your needs from a biochemical viewpoint.
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