INFLAMMATION
Inflammation is part of your body’s defense and repair system. When your body finds an injury, infection or other threat, your immune system sends special cells and chemicals to the area. These helpers fight germs, remove damaged tissue and begin the healing process.
Inflammation is not always bad.
Short term inflammation helps protect you after an injury or illness.
Long term inflammation can become a problem when the immune system stays active for months or years, even when there is no clear danger left.
The goal is not to remove every bit of inflammation. The goal is to help your body use inflammation when it is needed and shut it down when the work is done.
What Does Inflammation Feel Like?
Inflammation can feel different depending on where it is and what is causing it.
A specific injured area may feel:
Red.
Warm.
Swollen.
Tender.
Painful.
Stiff.
Hard to move.
These are common signs of the body sending blood, fluid and immune cells to protect an injured or irritated area. Inflammation throughout the body may be harder to see.
A person may experience:
Ongoing fatigue.
Joint or muscle pain.
Morning stiffness.
Skin changes.
Digestive problems.
Poor sleep.
Low energy.
Frequent illness.
Changes in weight or appetite.
These symptoms do not prove that inflammation is the cause because many health challenges have inflammatory symptoms, so ongoing problems deserve a proper evaluation.
Acute Inflammation Versus Chronic Inflammation
Acute inflammation starts quickly and normally lasts a short time.
Examples include:
A sprained ankle.
A cut.
A burn.
A sore throat.
A dental infection.
A strained muscle.
The area may swell, hurt or become warm. This response helps protect the area and begin healing. Acute inflammation may last from a few hours to several days, depending on the cause.
Chronic inflammation lasts much longer. It may continue for months or years.
It can happen when:
An infection does not fully clear.
The immune system attacks healthy tissue.
The body stays exposed to an irritant.
A health condition continues to trigger the immune system or the body has trouble ending the inflammatory response.
Long term inflammation can slowly damage healthy tissue and is connected with many chronic diseases. Again, why an appropriate work up is so important. Oftentimes, people are afraid to know the truth, because they are worried that it is worst case scenario. Even if it IS worst case, scenario, catching it early(-ier) is always better than later.
That is why we designed The Body Fix Assessment the way we did: it is short, affordable ($67), is a functional exam - so that we can see what you can and cannot do and the intake paperwork is 12 Qs long and very quick. The goal is for you to leave with a "direction", to know what and where to go next.
Common Causes of Inflammation
1. Injuries
Sprains, strains, cuts, burns, fractures and repetitive stress can trigger inflammation. This is usually part of the normal healing process.
2. Infections
Viruses, bacteria, fungi and other germs can activate the immune system. Inflammation helps your body fight the infection, but the infection may need medical treatment depending on its cause and severity.
3. Autoimmune Disease
An autoimmune disease develops when the immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue. Examples include rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and some forms of inflammatory bowel disease.
Arthritis can cause pain, swelling, stiffness and reduced movement. Some forms involve wear and damage inside the joint. Other forms are driven by an overactive immune system. There are more than 100 types of arthritis.
Repeating the same movement may irritate muscles, tendons, joints or other tissues. This may happen with work, sports, computer use, lifting or poor movement habits.
6. Ongoing Physical Stress
Poor sleep, long periods of inactivity, excess body fat, smoking and prolonged stress may contribute to chronic, low level inflammation. These factors are not the only possible causes, but they may add to the body’s total inflammatory load.
7. Environmental Irritants
Pollution, smoke, allergens and certain chemicals can irritate the body and activate an inflammatory response.
8. Digestive Conditions
Conditions such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis cause ongoing inflammation in the digestive tract. They may lead to pain, diarrhea, bleeding, fatigue and weight loss.
9. Certain Medications or Substances
Some medicines, alcohol, tobacco and other substances may irritate certain tissues or affect the immune response. Never stop a prescribed medicine without speaking with the healthcare professional who prescribed it.
10. An Unresolved Health Problem
Ongoing inflammation may be a clue rather than the full diagnosis. The real cause might be an infection, autoimmune condition, metabolic problem, injury, digestive disorder or another medical condition.
Is Inflammation Helping You Heal, or Quietly Wearing You Down?
Inflammation has two very different jobs:
Short term inflammation protects you: it helps fight infection, control damage and begin tissue repair.
Chronic inflammation is different: it happens when the immune system stays turned on too long. Over time, this can begin damaging the tissues it was meant to protect.
Think of inflammation like a fire alarm: You want the alarm to sound when there is smoke. You do not want it screaming all day after the fire is gone. The key is obviously to find out why the alarm is blaring .
How Can I Tell if I Have Chronic Inflammation?
There is no single symptom that proves you have chronic inflammation, although tests such as C reactive protein, hemobglobin A1C or erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) may show that inflammation is present, but they do not always explain where it is coming from.
Additional clues we would be looking for include: ongoing fatigue, body aches, joint stiffness, digestive problems, skin changes or symptoms that keep returning.
However, those symptoms can also come from thyroid problems, anemia, infection, sleep disorders, medication effects and many other conditions.
So expect that multiple labs will be need and must be viewed alongside your symptoms, medications, health history and physical findings.
What Foods Cause Inflammation, and What Should I Eat Instead?
No single food causes every person’s inflammation. Your overall eating habits matters more than one meal.
A healthy complete diet built mostly around vegetables, beans, whole grains, nuts, fish, olive oil and other minimally processed foods may support better long term health. Diets high in heavily processed foods, added sugar and excess saturated fat may contribute to poor metabolic health and chronic inflammation.
Start with simple changes:
Eat more vegetables.
Choose protein at each meal.
Drink more water.
Reduce sugary drinks.
Eat fewer heavily processed snacks.
Choose whole foods more often.
Do not build a giant list of foods you are afraid to eat. Build a pattern you can actually follow.
Can Exercise Reduce Inflammation, or Will It Make It Worse?
Both can actually be true.
Regular movement can support circulation, strength, sleep, blood sugar control and overall health. These changes may help lower some of the factors connected with chronic inflammation.
However, hard exercise also creates a short term inflammatory response because the body must repair the tissues you trained. That response is normally part of adaptation. This can show up on your lab results.
The problem is not movement, the problem is often doing more than your body can recover from. If every workout leaves you hurt for several days, the answer may not be to stop moving forever. You may need to adjust the type, amount or intensity of exercise.
Start where your body is. Build gradually. Recovery is part of training, not a reward for finishing it.
When Is Inflammation a Sign That I Need Medical Care?
Seek professional care when pain, swelling or stiffness:
Keeps getting worse.
Does not improve.
Returns repeatedly.
Limits normal movement.
Interrupts sleep.
Comes with ongoing fatigue.
Affects several joints.
Is paired with unexplained weight loss.
Is paired with lasting digestive problems.
Comes with weakness or numbness.
Seek urgent medical attention when inflammation is accompanied by:
Swelling of the face, tongue or throat.
Chest pain.
A very hot, red and swollen joint.
High fever.
Confusion.
Fainting.
Severe abdominal pain.
Rapidly spreading redness.
A serious injury or visible deformity.
A hot, swollen joint with fever may signal an infection and requires prompt medical evaluation.
Do not wait for a dangerous problem to become unbearable before asking for help. if you need someone to listen, assess, weigh in and give you honest feedback and a "next best step", then The Body Fix Assessment is for you: it includes abbreviated intake paperwork, a functional exam and a short consultation directly with the doctor. If this sounds like what you are ready for, then schedule at the button below.
What Can I Do About Inflammation?
First and Foremost: Figure out the cause. The right answer always depends on the cause. Inflammation from a sprained ankle needs a different plan than inflammation from an infection, rheumatoid arthritis or inflammatory bowel disease.
Helpful steps may include:
Getting enough sleep.
Eating mostly whole foods.
Moving regularly.
Rebuilding strength gradually.
Maintaining a healthy blood sugar level.
Managing ongoing stress.
Stopping smoking.
Limiting alcohol.
Treating infections correctly.
Managing autoimmune or metabolic disease.
Addressing painful or poorly moving joints and muscles.
Reviewing medications with your healthcare provider.
Do not spend months treating “inflammation” while ignoring the condition causing it.
The real win is helping the body remove the cause, repair the damage and return to normal control. Chiropractic care does not treat every cause of inflammation. It does not cure autoimmune disease, eliminate infection or replace medical treatment for serious inflammatory conditions. However, chiropractic care may be useful when pain, joint stiffness, poor movement or physical overload is adding stress to the body. Or when you just want to maximize your bodies capabilities, which is ALWAYS ;).
AFC AZ's approach
At Active Family Chiropractic AZ, we look at:
How the joint moves.
Which movements cause pain.
Whether muscles are guarding the area.
Where the body is compensating.
Whether weakness is adding stress.
How the problem affects work, sleep and daily activity.
A painful area may become irritated because it is doing too much.
Another area may be stiff, weak or failing to do its part.
That is why simply chasing the pain may not create lasting progress.
The goal is to identify the mechanical stress, define where and why you are having inflammation, address those causes, improve movement and help the body become stronger and more capable.
The Alpha 5 Phase System helps move you from relief toward better function.
Relieve
Calm pain and reduce the immediate irritation affecting your daily life.
Realign
Improve joint movement and reduce harmful mechanical stress.
Rebuild
Strengthen the muscles that protect and support the area.
Retrain
Teach the body better movement patterns so it does not keep repeating the same problem.
Reclaim
Help you return to the work, exercise and activities that matter to you.
REMEMBER: The enemy is not inflammation itself.
The enemy is inflammation that never gets the message to shut down.
When that process gets stuck, the body can stay sore, swollen, tired and overprotective: the smoke alarm keeps ringing and ringing and ringing... Do not spend your life fighting the alarm. Find out what keeps setting it off.
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Hours of Operation
Mon: 7:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Tue: 2:30 PM - 6:00 PM
Wed: 7:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Thu: 7:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Fri: Appointment only
Sat: Appointment only
Sun: Closed
129 S Smith Road Tempe, AZ 85288
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