Is stress good or bad? It depends on how well your body can adapt to it. Our capacity to adapt to stress is based on the condition of our nerve system.
Stress is a part of life, no matter who you are. The ability to overcome stress gives meaning to our life experience. There are three basic stresses: Physical, chemical and emotional.
Physical Stress
A whiplash injury from a car accident is a common example of physical stress. Other sources include repetitive motions, a slip and fall or overdoing it in the garden. Early on, learning to walk or ride a bike and even the birth process are sources of physical stress. For instance, stress from the birth process can interfere with the sucking response or cause colic.
Chemical Stress
Common sources of chemical stress include poor nutrition from refined sugars, carbohydrates or unhealthy fats. Drugs, preservatives, tobacco, inoculations, alcohol, pollen and a host of other substances also effect our nerve systems. The problem isn’t the pollen or chemical, because not everyone reacts. Symptoms can appear when we lose our ability to adapt. Chiropractic care helps reduce or eliminate reactions to many types of chemical stress.
Emotional Stress
Fear, grief, anger and other emotions effect our entire body. Notice the posture of someone sad or depressed. Frustration, or a sense of powerlessness at work, is a common form of emotional stress. For example, research suggests that many low back problems can be traced to hidden emotional issues. It’s not the stress, but our response to it that is critical. Chiropractic care focuses on reducing nerve tension and can help you respond more optimally.
How can stress effect my spine?
Think of your spinal cord as a guitar string. The greater the tension, the higher the note. Your nerve system also has “tone”. With each stressor, your body tightens up, like bracing yourself for a tight curve on a roller coaster. The weakest joints of your spine are forced out of their normal position. Like the dissonant sound from an over-tightened string, your body loses harmony and its capacity to respond to human experiences.
Can chiropractic care solve all my stress?
Of course not. Much of the mental stress we experience is largely self-induced. Imagine how much pain and suffering result from attaching inappropriate meaning to events in our lives. Or the constant burden we experience by not forgiving others.
Stress is a natural part of life and can exhaust our health reserves. Chiropractic care can’t eliminate stress. What it can do is help restore your adaptive capacity.
- Jarek Esarco, DC, CACCP
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Jarek Esarco, DC, CACCP is a pediatric, family wellness and upper cervical specific Chiropractor. He is an active member of the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (ICPA). Dr. Jarek has postgraduate certification in Pediatric Chiropractic through the ICPA. Dr. Jarek also has postgraduate certification in the HIO Specific Brain Stem technique through The TIC Institute. Dr. Jarek is happily married to his wife Regina. They live in Youngstown, Ohio with their daughter Ruby
