Arthritis

Arthritis… You can help.

Wear and tear or degeneration of the spine is caused by long standing stress at certain segments or joints of the spine. Along with the joints, muscles, tendons and ligaments can also be affected. Day-to-day stressors can also cause your spinal vertebrae to become misaligned.

Physical stressors such as poor posture, sitting too long or repetitive movements can cause the spine to become misaligned. Some of these stresses can occur as early as birth, with a difficult or traumatic labour.

Chemical stressors can have a significant impact on our bodies as well. Stimulants such as caffeine and even sugar can affect the soft tissues of our body, which in turn attach to our bones to affect our joints. Being dehydrated can also have adverse effects on both soft tissues and joints.

The most significant and least acknowledged are Emotional stressors. How can that affect our joints? Well, when we are stressed we usually have elevated levels of adrenalin in our blood stream. This hormone makes us ready for fight or flight. In other words it prepares our body to be physical - to stand up and fight or to run away! So if we don’t have the opportunity to blow off steam, that adrenalin sits in our blood stream making our muscles tense and pulling tighter on our joints.

So what can you do to help yourself?

Apart from being aware of your physical, chemical and mental stressors, any therapy that is going to stimulate movement and blood and nerve flow through your spine will help. Massage, Chiropractic, acupuncture, yoga, kinesiology, physiotherapy, homeopaths, naturopaths all take a natural, conservative approach. Consult us or email us for further information.