Alright, and Welcome Back!
Let’s understand inflammation a little better. In case you missed the first part of the blog, you can read it HERE.
It’s been said there are two (2) types of inflammation:
1. Screaming Inflammation which could be called Acute Inflammation.
– This is where you are in pain and know all about it!
2. Silent Inflammation which could be called Chronic or Low-Grade Inflammation.
– This is a low-grade inflammatory incident that smolders without causing any real pain or discomfort. This is the stuff that will eventually make your life not worth living.
This silent or low-grade inflammation is a major problem. It means whatever your immune system was fighting and whatever damage occurred to your body- the inflammatory response signal has NOT stopped and your body has not recovered. The inflammatory response continues to destroy the tissues of the body. This would include, but is not limited to cardiovascular disease, cancers, dementia, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, all auto-immune diseases and most deadly of all…(gasp!!!!!!) pre-mature aging!
Quite honestly, almost every disease or disorder known to man is the result of uncontrolled inflammation, but since I am a chiropractor I mostly see aches and pains in the joints and spine. Here’s a thought though, if the chiropractor could help you control inflammation maybe he should be considered for more than just sore backs and joints, hmmm? Chiropractor controls inflammation… wow-how healthy could you really be? Just a thought.
For example, consider playing tennis, going to the gym, or even sitting at the computer 12 hours a day. These activities are destructive; knees, elbows, shoulders, back, neck, muscles, tendons, joints… and while initially sore and painful, after a while the pain kind of goes away-but did your body resolve the injuries it sustained, or is your immune system and low grade, silent inflammation continuing to destroy your joints; meaning, the cartilage, ligaments, and bones, or worse the organs of your body?
That’s a good question. A multi-million dollar question when you consider what some athletes are paid- and yet, there really aren’t any tests or ways to evaluate specific, unresolved, low-grade inflammation. In my opinion, look at your lifestyle. Are you happy? Are you winning? Are your relationships and friends doing well? Does what you do each day charge your batteries, and do you feel the “ers”? You know, smart-er, strong-er, happi-er, tall-er, handsome-er, healthier? If not, you probably have unresolved inflammation and it is taking its toll on your life.
Resolution is necessary and the younger you are, the quicker you recover. BUT…those knees and shoulders and elbows need time to recover and adapt. That is to say, repair and build themselves up like callouses to handle the burden of sport and living. This is where steroids become so desirable. They reduce healing and recovery time. Where a natural athlete might need a week to recover, the steroid athlete can probably get back to training the next day! (By the way, steroids will eventually lead to inflammation that can not be stopped.)
If the inflammatory response does not resolve it will continue to damage and destroy the joints- in time they heal with scar tissue but don’t adapt. Instead, this leads to dysfunction. And further exercise and activity continues to destroy the tissues and trains the body and its mechanics to dysfunction. This is why there really isn’t any profit to training through an injury. One further injures himself and trains the body mechanics to dysfunction. Dumb!
When injured, some see PT’s, some Chiros, some trainers, some MD’s and surgeons; but isn’t it interesting that the problem is unresolved inflammation, poor recovery times and dysfunction? This has to be understood and addressed-SO THERE ARE NO MAGIC PILLS, EXERCISES, STRETCHES OR ADJUSTMENTS OR SURGERIES… THE INJURY AND ITS INFLAMMATORY RESPONSE HAVE TO BE RESOLVED, AND THE TISSUE/BODY GIVEN THE TIME NECESSARY TO ADAPT. There is a process here and the way out is the way through! I know, but, but, but I have a big tournament… don’t tell me, tell your body. It has to go through its process to resolution, or else.
So, What’s the solution? Stop playing sports? Stop living? Just have the worn-out joints replaced? Honestly, it’s not any more complicated than getting the inflammatory response to resolve, and allow your tissues to build up to handle the new workload. This might take a minute or two!
Alright, we’ll look at this a bit more next time. Thanks for taking the time to read this. If you have questions feel free to stop by or contact me through this website.
Take Care,
Dr. Dave