Does Chiropractic Care Help Relieve Stress?
Struggling with stress? In addition to causing headaches and an upset stomach, chronic stress increases your risk for high blood pressure, insomnia, heart disease, and other ailments. Chiropractic care could help you lower your stress level and avoid unpleasant health consequences.
7 Stress-Related Benefits of Chiropractic Treatment
Wondering how chiropractic care can reduce stress? Visiting the chiropractor offers these stress relief benefits:
- Looser Muscles. Muscles in your neck, shoulders, and upper back tighten when you feel stressed, causing pain and headaches. Massage, one of the treatments used by most chiropractors, relaxes muscles, easing pain and tension. During massage treatments, your body releases endorphins and serotonin. These hormones decrease pain and help you feel calm and relaxed. According to research from the University of Konstantz, as little as 10 minutes of massage can lower stress.
- Less Pain. It's hard to relax when your muscles and joints hurt. Muscle and joint pain can be caused or worsened by subluxations, or misalignments of the vertebrae in your spine. Misaligned vertebrae may press on nerves, causing pain. Subluxations also increase tension in muscles and soft tissues, worsening pain and stiffness. Your chiropractor uses spinal manipulation therapy to adjust and realign the vertebrae. Quick movements with the hands or a handheld activator reposition vertebrae, relieving pain and soft tissue tension.
- Better Nervous System Function. Managing stress is difficult when your nervous system isn't working efficiently. Pressure from tight tissues or subluxations can compress nerves that help your body control stress. Chiropractic treatments improve nervous system function, allowing your body's natural stress control system to work more effectively.
- Improved Breathing. Stress can temporarily narrow the airway between the lungs and nose, causing shortness of breath or rapid breathing, according to the American Psychological Association. Tight muscles aren't just a problem in your neck and back. Stress may also tighten the muscles around your lungs, making it difficult to take a deep breath. Unfortunately, your stress level may increase if you can't breathe easily. Regular chiropractic treatments offer a simple way to keep chest muscles loose while enhancing the function of nerves responsible for breathing.
- Fewer Gastrointestinal Symptoms. Do you experience upset stomach, diarrhea, heartburn, cramping, bloating, or nausea when you feel stressed? Urgent dashes to the restroom can be embarrassing and may only worsen stress. The calming hormones released during spinal manipulation, massage, and other chiropractic treatments reduce stress, helping you avoid gastrointestinal symptoms. Treatments also enhance the brain/gut connection by improving nervous system function.
- Better Sleep. Does your brain refuse to calm down when you want to sleep? Poor sleep duration or quality can cause or worsen stress. The relaxing effects of chiropractic treatments help you get the sleep you need. If your sleep issues are due to chronic pain, regular visits to the chiropractor could keep your symptoms under control. Have you ever had a sleepless night due to back pain? Spinal manipulation therapy can be as effective as physical therapy and standard medical care in treating spine pain, according to a systematic review published in Frontiers in Pain Research in 2021.
- Lifestyle Recommendations. An unhealthy diet may affect the way your brain and body react to stress. Making better food choices ensures that your brain and body receive nutrients that help your brain manage stress. Although exercise naturally lowers stress, it's important to choose a form of exercise that won't aggravate chronic conditions, like arthritis or spinal stenosis. Your chiropractor can recommend dietary and exercise changes that help lower your stress level while nourishing and strengthening your body.
Don't let stress take over your life. Lower your stress level naturally with chiropractic care. Contact our office to schedule a convenient appointment.
Sources:
University of Konstantz: Ten Minutes of Massage or Rest Will Help Your Body Fight Stress, 8/9/2020
American Psychological Association: Stress Effects on the Body, 3/8/2023
https://www.apa.org/topics/stress/body
Frontiers in Pain Research: Clinical Effectiveness and Efficacy of Chiropractic Spinal Manipulation for Spine Pain, 10/25/2021
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8915715/
American Chiropractic Association: Trending in the Media and at Home: Musculoskeletal Pain, 10/30/2020
https://www.acatoday.org/news-publications/trending-in-the-media-and-at-home-musculoskeletal-pain/