Inflammation has become an increasingly popular buzz word in the health and wellness community, which is why I think it’s important to spend some time explaining what inflammation is, the damage it can cause to your body, and share effective ways you can treat chronic inflammation naturally and reduce the pain associated with acute inflammation.
Two Type of Inflammation:
- Acute Inflammation: Acute inflammation is your body’s first line of defense. It occurs over a short period of time and is a part of the body’s natural healing process. Acute inflammation happens after you have been injured or exposed to an infection and is characterized by a release of antibodies, proteins, and increased blood flow to the affected area.
- Chronic Inflammation: Chronic inflammation occurs over long periods of time and is not part of the body’s natural healing process. It occurs when the normal acute response lingers on and leaves your body in a constant state of alert. This can cause long term damage to your tissues and organs.
“WHAT HAPPENS WHEN MY BODY IS IN A STATE OF CHRONIC INFLAMMATION?”
When your body is chronically inflamed, you’re in a constant high state of alert. Most people don’t realize that chronic inflammation is the root cause of almost all chronic illnesses. All of these diseases and more are caused by chronic inflammation:
Whether you are suffering from pain associated with acute inflammation or think that you may have chronic inflammation read my tips below to reduce pain and decrease harmful inflammation!
7 WAYS TO REDUCE PAIN AND DECREASE INFLAMMATION NATURALLY
1. Focus on making healthy lifestyle changes. Losing weight, avoiding gluten and dairy, getting more sleep, and meditating have all been shown to decrease inflammation.
2. Choose hands-on treatments. Osteopathic manipulation, chiropractic care, and acupuncture are all effective treatments to help reduce pain and decrease inflammation. I frequently use osteopathic manipulation in my practice to treat headaches, back pain, muscle spasm, and plantar fasciitis to name a few.
3. Consider getting natural injections. Peptide therapy injections such as BPC-157 have been shown to decrease inflammation and help heal damaged tendons and ligaments. Furthermore, Biopuncture homeopathic injections into joints and ligaments have been shown to decrease arthritis pain as much if not more than steroid injections. Platelet-rich plasma and stem cells can also help decrease pain.
4. Make use of technology. Most of us use technology on a daily basis, so why not use it to help reduce your inflammation? LED treatments like Lightstim and JOOVV have been shown to help decrease inflammation. PEMF, hyperbaric therapy, cold therapy, and flotation tanks are also effective ways to decrease inflammation.
5. Use supplements for pain that have little to no side effects. Consider using Low Dose Naltrexone (read about LDN in one of my recent blogs), Colostrum, SPM’s (fish oils), Curcumin, Resveratrol Cat’s Claw and others
6. Find a good functional physical therapist. Physical therapy is usually an important part of the picture when it comes to treating pain. I recommend Bespoke Physical Therapy, Kima Center for Physiotherapy and Wellness, Perfect Stride PT, or Fit Club NY.
7. Meditation, deep breathing, and the Wim Hof Method can all be used to help with the pain. Deep breathing decreases pain and inflammation, controls cortisol, and calms down parasympathetic system overdrive.
It’s important to note that some prescription and over the counter pain medications such as Percocet and ibuprofen have harmful side effects such as: decreased testosterone levels, addiction, rebound pain, kidney issues, and ulcers.
Because there are so many natural ways to treat your pain and decrease inflammation, traditional medication should be your last resort. If you would like to learn more about how to reduce your pain and decrease your inflammation, book an appointment with me today and together we can discuss your health issues and goals!
