Chronic Stress-Related Pain

Arms crossed in front of face Stress is a killer—it’s one of the biggest reasons people have pain and disease, and one of the primary reasons for seeking medical care.

Fight or Flight

But stress isn’t all bad. Experiencing stress in short bursts is necessary when we have to perform at a higher level (for example, in sports or when you need to finish a project for a deadline). And stress, also called our “fight or flight” response, evolved from our need to survive the dangers of living in the wild. So it’s a survival instinct.

The problem is that, in today’s society, many of us have gotten stuck in a long-term fight-or-flight response, and it’s this chronic stress state that interferes with our body’s ability to heal, which results in chronic pain and other symptoms.

At Freedom Chiropractic, we focus on all three types of stress: mental, emotional and physical to help restore your body’s ability to heal itself and function optimally.

Parasympathetic and Sympathetic Nervous System

One of the first things we do in our new patient consultations is to educate on the difference between the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems. The sympathetic nervous system controls that fight/flight, protection and survival response. The parasympathetic nervous system controls rest, relaxing, healing, sleep and digestion.

To use an analogy, a body in a sympathetic response is like having your foot on the gas pedal all the time. The parasympathetic nervous system is the brakes. Your body needs to be able to hit the brakes, otherwise it will crash. Chiropractic adjustments have been shown to help tap into your parasympathetics to allow the body to rest, recover and heal.

Our Approach

We’ll begin with our state-of-the-art scanning technology, which allows us to assess your nervous system and determine if you’re stuck in fight/flight, as well as how much of that tension is stored in your body and where. X-rays may also be performed to determine how the spine may be physically stressing the nervous system.

Based on our assessment, we will design a care plan that will include chiropractic adjustments and rehab to address the physical stress. We’ll also help address the mental and emotional tension with a customized “to do” list for you. When you address all areas of your tension at once, the results can be life-changing.

Even Babies Have Stress

Birth is traumatic for both mom and baby, and anything that happens from pre-conception through (and after) birth can affect your infant’s neurology. Babies should be in a parasympathetic state of sleeping, eating, pooping, growing and developing pretty much around the clock. You can’t be in the protection mode (sympathetic) and growth mode (parasympathetic) simultaneously. We offer care for kids from newborns on up, to help get their bodies out of the fight or flight, stressed out mode so they can develop optimally.

Be Proactive

We will always have stress in our lives. But by being proactive in addressing that physical, mental and emotional stress, we can manage it appropriately and prevent it from becoming chronic and leading to pain, disease and other issues..