Inflammation getting you down?

This week we have the lovely Angela Perrotta from Angela Perrotta Chiropractic joining us to talk about inflammation. This coincides with the launch of our latest herbal blend for inflammation - Rise + Shine. Inflammation is a hot topic (pun intended!) these days as most of us experience it, and for many, it leads to more serious health problems. Thankfully there are a number of things we can do to reduce inflammation or indeed prevent it in the first place. So I'll handover now to Dr Angela:

Many people will often ignore the signals from their nervous system and body and this lands lots of people into hot water when seemingly a small injury or niggle, turns into debilitating pain and chronic inflammation over time. 

So what can we do to avoid debilitating pain and chronic inflammation?

Let's start with breaking down what inflammation actually is…

When we are injured or have an infection, our body will send white blood cells (aka fighter cells) to that region of the body to help repair the damaged tissues or to protect from infection.

So we can either have inflammation from tissue damage for example, if you’ve sprained your ankle or herniated a disk in your back, or if you’ve spent a big day working in the garden bending over and weeding.

Or we can have inflammation with our immune response for example, if we are fighting off a cold or flu or if we have a cut or graze that’s become infected. 

In both cases we will often feel or see heat, redness, swelling, pain and restrictions in movement in that area.  This is an ACUTE inflammation response which is a super important part in our body’s healing process as it increases the amount of white blood cells to the injured or infected area. 

If we ignore these acute inflammation and pain signals or suppress our body’s healing response, we often will see that the inflammation and pain can become CHRONIC (long term in nature). 

So what can we do if we have acute or chronic inflammation?

There are many ways that we can support our body’s healing process…

1. Nutrition - One of the strongest environmental influencers of chronic systemic inflammation is diet. Usually the more processed a food is, the more difficult it is to digest and the lower the nutrient value will be. Aim to nourish the body with foods free from preservatives, additives and pesticides as this will help reduce much of the inflammation stemming from the gut. 
2. Sleep - improving sleep hygiene and consistency can improve sleep quality. Poor sleep is associated with increase in white blood cell count (inflammatory marker) and cardiovascular disease.
3. Reducing stress levels - large bodies of evidence indicate that stress can activate inflammatory responses in the brain as well as the body. 
4. Cold exposure therapy, meditation, breathing exercises - the combination of all three improves initiation of the immune response in acute inflammation and in chronic inflammation related to immune-mediated inflammatory conditions. 
5. Chiropractic care - chiropractic care has been found to improve function and reduce pain for chronic pain patients.

A big thanks to Dr Angela for sharing your knowledge with us. If you're suffering from inflammation and would like to take some practical steps to reducing it, you might like to try the following:

 

1. Reduce inflammatory foods such as dairy, coffee, refined grains and processed or fried foods.

2. Try introducing foods that reduce inflammation, like coconut oil, leafy greens, beetroot, celery, broccoli and blueberries (to name a few of the best). 

3. Add herbs to your diet like Turmeric, Ginger, Cloves, Cinnamon, green tea, black pepper, and of course - garlic!

Our Rise + Shine tea is a combination of Turmeric, Cinnamon, Black Pepper, Orange Peel, Calendula and Hibiscus created to help reduce inflammation, heal and refresh. It's a fruity, antioxidant-rich tea with a hint of spice and works beautifully hot or as an iced tea. It's a lovely way to support your body all year round. 

 

4. If you live in the Newcastle/Hunter region and feel that your body is experiencing chronic pain or inflammation, you can book in for a Chiropractic consultation with Dr Angela Perrotta via her online booking system.

5. Cryo King in Newcastle offer Cryotherapy, (and also Infrared Sauna, and Red LED Therapy ) A cryotherapy treatment involves exposing the entire body to sub-zero temperatures. The icy temps stimulate blood circulation, triggering many health benefits ranging from accelerated healing to anti-ageing, weight loss and stress relief. Metabolic and caloric burn rates are increased, inflammation and pain are reduced, and endorphin levels are boosted - helping to elevate mood and reduce stress. This top-to-toe treatment is perfect for anyone looking to speed up the body's natural recovery process, lose weight, manage pain or amplify their general health & wellbeing.

 

References:

1.  Ahluwalia, N., Andreeva, V. A., Kesse-Guyot, E., & Hercberg, S. (2013). Dietary patterns, inflammation and the metabolic syndrome. Diabetes & metabolism, 39(2), 99-110.

2. Nakanishi, N., Suzuki, K., & Tatara, K. (2003). Association between lifestyle and white blood cell count: a study of Japanese male office workers. Occupational Medicine, 53(2), 135-137.

3. Rohleder, N. (2014). Stimulation of systemic low-grade inflammation by psychosocial stress. Psychosomatic medicine, 76(3), 181-189.

4.  Buijze, G. A., De Jong, H. M. Y., Kox, M., van de Sande, M. G., Van Schaardenburg, D., Van Vugt, R. M., ... & Baeten, D. L. P. (2019). An add-on training program involving breathing exercises, cold exposure, and meditation attenuates inflammation and disease activity in axial spondyloarthritis–A proof of concept trial. PloS one, 14(12), e0225749

5.  Haavik, H., Niazi, I. K., Holt, K., & Murphy, B. (2017). Effects of 12 weeks of chiropractic care on central integration of dual somatosensory input in chronic pain patients: a preliminary study. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, 40(3), 127-138.