Chiropractic for Stress
Most people know that stress takes a toll. What’s less understood is exactly how and why the physical effects can linger long after the stressful period has passed. The answer usually lies in the nervous system. Your nervous system is the body’s master control centre and it runs everything from how your muscles hold tension, how you sleep and how quickly you recover. When your nervous system is under sustained pressure, the effects show up all through the body. That’s where chiropractic care comes in.
When you’re under stress, your nervous system shifts into a state of high alert. This is often referred to as ‘fight or flight’. In short bursts this is helpful. But when stress is ongoing, the nervous system can get stuck in that high-alert state. Muscles stay braced tight, the spine stiffens up, sleep becomes light and less restorative, pain becomes easier to trigger and harder to settle and you body stops recovering the way it should.
What we commonly see:
Neck and shoulders are constantly tight, no matter how much you rest
Tension headaches that build through the day or wake you up
People clenching their jaw, especially at night or when life gets busy
Patients feeling wired but exhausted, tired but unable to switch off
Tight lower back when under pressure
Bodies always tensed and braced
Told everything is find but you just don’t feel right
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The nervous system regulates the body’s stress response and this runs through and out of the spine. When the spine is restricted or held under tension, it can affect how well the nervous system communicates and how easily the body stays in that high-alert state. Addressing spinal tension is one way of supporting the nervous system to regulate better.
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Massage works primarily on the muscles and it is great for releasing tension. Chiropractic care works on the joints of the spine and the surrounding nervous system. Both can be useful and they complement each other well. The differences is in what’s being addressed and how deep the effect goes.
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No chiropractic is not a treatment for anxiety or any mental health condition. What we address is the physical side like how stress affects the spine, the muscles and the nervous systems ability to settle.