Take a typical day. You wake up, rush to the office, hunch over your laptop all day stressed over the growing pile of paperwork, slouch over the steering wheel during traffic hour, get home, make dinner, loll over your smartphone, sink into the couch with the kids, lounge in the recliner, and then get ready for bed.
All the slouching around plus the tension-filled workday adds up, and by the end of the week, you have five days of compounding stress and tension in your back and neck muscles. Over time this can cause pain and even affect your posture.
Chiropractic care can help you deal with and mitigate everyday stress. But why? “I’m not injured,” you might say. You don’t have to have an injury or an acute problem to benefit from spine realignment and chiropractic care.
Here’s how a professional chiropractor can help alleviate compounding stress, back pain, and neck pain.
Full-Body Wellness —The Foundation of Quality Chiropractic Care
There are a lot of misconceptions out there surrounding chiropractic care. People often associate it with invasive manipulation techniques that can aggravate pain instead of alleviating it. A professional and knowledgeable chiropractor, however, will combat these misconceptions by promoting the central purpose and mission of chiropractic care: targeting the spine as the control center of a lot of muscle tension and spasms.
In essence, chiropractic care is all about promoting wellness and healing by activating the body’s ability to regenerate, recuperate, and recover on its own. By releasing the tension, blood flow and mobility are encouraged.
The spine and nervous system are central to achieving the necessary balance and it is why a chiropractor works closely with your spine, as it is the central force of the nervous system.
Tackling Stress Through the Spine
Stress often functions as a catalyst for other problems including chronic pain, migraines, depression, anxiety, and more. If there has been an injury, stress can make things worse and make surgery seem like the only way out. That’s not always the case. Many people will seek noninvasive interventions before they look to surgery, as healing can be promoted with the right treatments.
Stress not only causes pain and discomfort, but it can assault your quality of life in different ways like preventing proper focus, stifling productivity, and causing perpetual lack of energy, bad moods, and more.
3 Ways Chiropractic Care Promotes Healing and Wellness
Chiropractic care is very individualized. Here, at Southwest Chiropractic, we take your unique circumstances into consideration. We look at your ergonomics, ask about your habits, health history, etc. Sometimes we can pinpoint areas of life that might be the source of our pain. Whether it’s lifestyle habits, work, posture, or previous injuries.
So while everyone’s treatment plan is different, here is how general chiropractic care can treat your stress:
#1 Reduction of Muscle Tension
We hear the phrase “muscle tension” quite often, and to a certain degree, people understand what is meant by that. It’s a common experience and so the phrase is universal.
Muscle tension refers to when certain muscles remain in a semi-contracted state for extended periods. As muscles remain contracted or semi-contracted, it can restrict blood flow and cause physiological effects like pain. It also causes people to tense up more, which aggravates the condition—creating a vicious cycle.
As we experience pain, our movement is restricted and mobility is affected. Chiropractic treatments are meant to decompress the spine (where much of this tension accumulates) and release the contracted muscles.
#2 Increase Mobility
The body is interconnected. It’s why chiropractic treatments are considered as a type of functional approach that sees the body as an interconnected system. As you begin to release tension in the muscles and they relax and return to a healthier state, mobility increases.
This makes exercise easier and more accessible, which in turn helps people stick with an exercise routine that strengthens muscles and promotes better health. By increasing mobility, you are opening up a world of possibilities for your body to return to a balanced state.
#3 Spinal Adjustments Restore Function
The central nervous system communicates with the spine by sending signals from the brain and to nerve cells in the spinal cord. This has an effect on every muscle in your body. The spine is the backbone of the nervous system, literally and figuratively speaking. So when a chiropractor aligns the spine properly, collected tension is released and this release spreads throughout the rest of the body.
How Often is Chiropractic Care for Stress Recommended?
This is really up to you. If you have recently lived through a particularly stressful event, you might benefit from consecutive sessions once a week for a month. If you are trying to mitigate the stress of daily life, once a month can also prove beneficial. It really depends.
Chose Chiropractic Care that Targets Pain and Promotes Healing
Don’t live your life down in the dumps. Shed the stress and embrace vitality. Whether you are in your 20s or in your 70s, your body has the potential to heal and transcend pain and stiffness. Southwest Chiropractic serves the El Paso area and helps people get back to an active lifestyle.
Find out what we can do for you. Call our office today and make an appointment.