Archive for September, 2009
Allergies and Chiropractic
HAAAACHOOO…What can we do for you???
Flowers are blooming. Grass is growing. Bees are buzzing. Pollen is EVERYWHERE. WELCOME ALLERGY SEASON. Year after year, we suffer from seasonal allergies and year after year we do the same thing to deal with our allergies – AVOID THE ALLERGENS! It is time for a change.
What is an allergy?
An allergy is a hypersensitivity to a normally harmless substance. There are numerous substances, termed allergens, which could plague you and your family; in turn making life unbearable. Common allergens are pollen, animal dander, house dust, feathers, mites, chemicals, and a variety of foods. Generally allergies typically cause respiratory symptoms; other can cause such diverse symptoms such as headaches, fatigue, fever, diarrhea, stomachache, and vomiting.
Allergens and YOU?
When your body is exposed to an allergen, the immune system releases histamines and similar chemicals to fight what they perceive to be an invader. As a result these chemicals cause a string of reactions, including the swelling and congestion of nasal passages and increased mucus production. This is essentially a hypersensitive or overactive response by a person’s body to an external stimulus. The strength of one’s immune system is directly correlated to how one’s body is capable of fighting off these infections.
YOUR Immune System
Your immune system keeps you 100% natural, organic, and unadulteratedly YOU! It recognizes and destroys anything that is not supposed to be in you: bacteria, viruses, pollutants, dust, pollen, drugs, tumors, dead pieces of your own cells, and even artificial hearts and donor organs. A healthy immune system means a high resistance to stress, to disease and infection, a better ability to deal with stress, and a greater health and well-being.
Your immune system is influenced by your nervous system and hormones, your diet and by emotional stress. If unhealthy, your immune system may fail to recognize and remove abnormal cells (such as cancers); may not overcome infection; may overreact to foreign substances (bee stings, penicillin, foods, or drugs); become depressed (as in AIDS) or even attack itself.
How we can help YOU!
By releasing the stress on the nervous system, chiropractic allows the immune system to function optimally and more efficiently – a benefit in which allergy sufferers can appreciate. Recent developments in psychoneuroimmunology reveals that when the nervous system functions better the immune system benefits.
A study performed by Ronald Pero, PhD., measured 107 individuals who had received long-term chiropractic care which revealed that chiropractic patients had 200% greater immune competence than the people who had not received chiropractic care, and 400% greater immune competence than people with cancer or other serious diseases. The immune-competence did not show any decline with age, it was uniform for the entire group.
The chiropractic approach is to remove vertebral subluxations, a common spinal distortion that puts stress on your nervous system. A nervous system free of stress allows ones body to work more effectively to neutralize the allergy-causing chemicals in your environment. Noted health researcher Dr. Kurt Donsback reinforces the opinion of many natural healers by saying: “A healthy body is capable of neutralizing these toxic substances and a body which has malfunctioning defense mechanisms cannot. The emphasis on allergies must be on building a healthy body, not trying to use evasive tactics by eliminating all the allergens.”
In the end it comes down to this, your nervous system and immune system are interrelated and the health of one affects the health of the other. For over a hundred years chiropractors have , by reducing the nervous stress caused by vertebral subluxations, helped people adapt better to all the stresses in the environment, including those relating to allergies.
