Chiropractors know that not all stress is bad. A 20-minute workout for a fit and trim 65-year old can be a good stress. Yet, the same workout might be a source of bad stress for an out-of-shape 35-year old.
Once chiropractic patients understand vertebral subluxations, and their chiropractor’s intent to reduce them and revive their ability to self heal, many chiropractic patients ask the next logical question, “What causes subluxations?”
In a word: stress. There are three types of stress.
Vertebral Subluxation and Physical Stress
The workout at the gym might be a form of physical stress. A whiplash injury from a car accident is another obvious source of physical stress. As are repetitive motions, a slip and fall, lack of sleep or overdoing it in the garden. Children experience all kinds of physical stress – learning to walk or to ride a bike and even the birth process are sources of physical stress.
Accumulated stress exhausts our reserves. Then, something as simple as bending over to tie our shoes can put us over the edge.
Vertebral Subluxation and Emotional Stress
Another common form of stress is emotional stress. Fear, grief, anger and other emotions can affect our entire body.
Frustration, a sense of powerlessness or feeling trapped are all common forms of emotional stress. Emotional stress is often something we create ourselves as a result of the meaning or “story” we attach to some event or situation.
For example, starting a new job can be emotionally stressful. Learning new things, yet wanting to look good and avoid making a mistake, can contribute to stressful feelings of defensiveness, worry or being overwhelmed. That in turn can affect our spine and nervous system. Notice the posture of someone who is sad or depressed. Or watch someone clench their jaw when they’re angry. Emotions are a whole-body phenomenon.
Vertebral Subluxation and Chemical Stress
The third type of stress is chemical stress. Common sources of chemical stress include poor nutrition, sugar, refined carbohydrates and unhealthy fats. Drugs, preservatives, tobacco, alcohol, vaccinations, pollen and a host of other substances also affect our nervous systems, muscle tone and our spines.
There are two other commonly-overlooked chemicals that put a toll on our body. The first is fabric softeners that are infused into our clothing and then come into contact with and are absorbed by our largest organ (skin). The other is aspartame, the artificial sweetener found in most “diet” products that is a known neurotoxin.
The chemical load on our body can have profound effects on spinal muscle and neurological function.
Stress, Chiropractic and Your Ability to Adapt
If you lack the reserves to adapt to stress, your body reacts by “tripping a circuit breaker” and causing vertebral subluxation.
Those who enjoy good health, with everything working properly, can accommodate stress better than someone who isn’t eating right, isn’t getting the proper rest and is walking around with a subluxated nervous system. Their ability to adapt to and to accommodate everyday stress is severely impaired.
Increase your body’s ability to cope with stress by keeping your nervous system in tip-top shape – the goal of chiropractic care.
