Our body has a reason for inflammation: swelling and discomfort causes us to slow down and often makes us unable to participate in any movement that might further injury; however, sometimes inflammation continues even after the injury has been addressed, which can put a big halt on recovery and daily activities. In today’s article Dr. Bristow explains inflammation, offers a few dietary options that can help prevent further discomfort, and explains a little about how stress can contribute to prolonged swelling.
Inflammation has a vital role in our body and is actually a normal, healthy function of our immune system. Acutely, it’s the process our body creates to protect itself against a stress, a trauma, and for fighting off foreign ‘invaders’ such as a virus or bacteria. We can observe inflammation in our respiratory system (e.g. runny nose and cough), in our joints (e.g. swelling after a fall), or in our muscles (e.g. whiplash after a car accident). As our body mounts the inflammatory response, it brings increased blood flow and immune system activity to the area of injury in order to deal with and protect the area from further damage.
It is important to allow the normal inflammatory response to occur during the acute phase of a first injury: time for rest; relaxation; hydration; ice/cold; and depending on the severity, very gentle movement. Most of us are pretty great at mounting this initial inflammation, but we tend to have more difficulty as things drag on. Injuries healing slowly, improperly, maintaining an underlying chronic inflammation or becoming a weak area that swells far too easily and too often.
What is behind chronic inflammation?
Digestion: You probably knew this one was coming! Eating foods your body is sensitive to aggravates and inflames the intestinal tissues, which leads to increased intestinal permeability. This permeability allows improperly digested molecules to enter the blood stream without going through the proper digestive channels. Because this food isn’t broken down properly, your immune system sees it as a foreign body and attacks it–causing more inflammation! This immune attack brings with it hundreds of pro-inflammatory molecules to deal with these ‘invaders’. The invaders and your immune system buddy up and travel through your blood stream. Because your body is so very smart, it knows to get these buddy molecules away from your vital organs by shunting them to your extremities. But along the way, these molecules can hit a swollen weak joint, find themselves a new home, and then compound the existing problem and pain.
So how do we halt chronic inflammation?
- We have to prevent these molecular buddies from developing in the first place at the gut level by following an anti-inflammatory diet or by getting tested for food sensitivities and avoiding your inflammatory triggers. This doesn’t need to last forever, but it is an important thing to do when you are injured. If you have lots of permeability and inflammation in your gut, avoiding your triggers and following an intestinal healing program will get you to the point where you can occasionally consume sensitive foods and not trigger an inflammatory response.
- You need to get your lymphatic system moving! Our lymphatic system is our waste disposal and immune defence network. It’s like the drains and plumbing in your house: when they get clogged, everything backs up and stagnates and the waste has nowhere to go. The lymphatic system does its job better with more alkaline foods and nutrients, so you can eat more greens, sprouts, leafy greens, fruits and vegetables to help the body and lymphatic system move and detoxify. If you have IBS or IBD, cooked greens or powders will help you avoid unnecessary digestive discomfort. Daily dry skin brushing and herbs like Manjista, Devil’s Claw and Cleavers will stimulate the movement of the lymph. Dehydration is another common cause of stagnated lymph; sipping on warm water throughout the day is critical to keep your fluids moving.
- Seek support or help to deal with stress. Some of us don’t ‘feel’ stressed, but our bodies tell us otherwise. How much is on your plate right now? Can you reduce your load or ask for help? Consider talking with a psychologist to learn some tools on dealing with stress in a healthy way.
If you’re interested finding out more about this, you can book an appointment with me, Dr. Stephanie Bristow, here!