Stress and Osteopathy
Whilst our bodies are relatively adaptable to stressful situations, longer term stress can create problems for the body. Stress can cause a variety of symptoms which can affect our bodies ability to heal itself and remain strong for our every day activities.
Stress has been shown to have a large affect on the way we sleep, our nutritional habits, as well as the way we communicate with other individuals around us. Stress can also contribute to our health in other ways, including an increase in blood pressure, reoccurring headaches and being more prone to sickness.
In order to tackle stress, it is important to be able to identify the causative factors which are preventing us to move into a relaxed state of mind. The causes of stress are far reaching, and very independent to the individual, what affects one person, may not neccesarily affect another person as much. These include:
Issues in the work place
Long hours working/commuting
Pain from injury
Environmental such as pollution, weather and noise
Medical stress - worry over a medical condition
The list is non-exhaustive, depending on the individual, any combination, or even any one of these items could be causing a maintenance of stress. A principle of physiological load is often applied to stress, with the idea being the stress is cumulative and we can adapt aslong as the overall physiological load is under a certain limit. Once this limit is exceeded, our bodies start to compensate and diminish as a response.
On a physiological level, this can lead to an increase in the stress hormone Cortisol, which can have negative effects on your health in the long term. Cortisol is an essential hormone for the body, in that it helps us to react in our “flight or fight” responses, as well as is a regulator of other hormones in the body. The issue lies when the body becomes more resistant to the cortisol such as in periods of long standing stress, and the body continues to produce more cortisol than is required. This can have a detrimental effect on tissue healing and metabolism. There are various other aspects of how stress can have a negative impact on health, and we will discuss them further at a later date.
Osteopathy is well suited to assisting with stress relief, and is so much more than just manual therapy. Osteopathy views the patient as an individual, and your first appointment is as much as about getting to know how stress is effecting you as it is your neck pain. Osteopaths undergo rigorous training in patient communication and goal setting, and here at RB Osteopathy, we will assist you in working towards a more stress-free environment.
Now, along with goal setting, we can also provide additional advice on a range of factors, including activities aimed at reducing stress (such as undertaking a new sport, exercise on improving breathing techniques, classes such as tai chi). The hands-on aspect of Osteopathy can also prove to be beneficial to most people with stress. Treatment with an Osteopath never needs to be a 30-minute bout of rigorous techniques aimed at correcting postural mechanics and imbalances. More often than not, it is the gentler techniques aimed at stimulating your Parasympathetic nervous systems which will aid you back into your rest and digest routine.