Pain, especially chronic can often be a trigger that motivates us to seek out advice
or support. Various physical therapies like those offered at BodiWorks can be a great
way to help strengthen areas of the body to help manage and reduce pain.
However, when it comes to managing chronic pain there’s an important piece that
when combined with exercise therapy, can make a big difference on the quality of
life and pain experienced-that piece is your diet!
Part 1(of 2)-How Food Choices Impact Pain
Understanding Inflammation
Inflammation is a term that is used to describe your body’s response to injury or
illness. Let’s explore physical injury as an example, since many people are more
familiar with how the immune system responds those. For instance, say
you sprain your knee; it would become red, swollen, warm and painful, the cardinal
signs of inflammation. This is the body’s natural immune response, helping to heal
from injury and infection, so a bit of inflammation is natural and a good thing!
This inflammatory response has a purpose though: to control the foreign invader or
damaging agent (which can be the food you’re eating if it doesn’t agree with you!).
As a result of this response, some of the healthy cells and tissues surrounding the
area are damaged.
The key piece in the inflammatory response is that it is ended before it damages too
many healthy cells.
Inflammation and the Digestive Tract
The same inflammatory response that also occurs systemically (as above example), is rooted within your digestive tract! Often ignored or unfelt by most.
The inflammatory response is often ongoing since foods that are causing the
inflammation are eaten regularly. This means what you choose to eat at every meal
influences your immune system response and its ability to function optimally and
keep you safe!
Reducing inflammation within the digestive tract is so important to your overall health and how you feel day to day because this is where 70% of your immune
system lies! This is called the 'innate immune system'.
If this inflammatory response within the digestive tract becomes chronic, the
immune system is constantly being stimulated and inflammation levels can increase
and travel throughout the body, contributing to worse inflammation in the areas of
your body that are already experiencing or are prone to pain like your back, knee or
shoulder. Think of having regular pains and why you have them?
This inflammatory response can feel invisible to many of us because it may not feel
the same way as a sprain or injury would which means over time chronic
inflammation can continue creeping up until the levels are really high and the
symptoms become severe.
Chronic inflammation left unaddressed can also lead to the development of various
disease including: cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, autoimmune disorders (RhA, Lupus etc) so it’s best to make changes to your diet and lifestyle sooner than later to reduce risk of disease development.
How to tell if you have chronic inflammation
Everyone will have some level of inflammation in their body from time to time. It’s
the chronic, body wide inflammation that you want to focus on reducing overall
levels which will impact your overall future health or if you currently have an
inflammatory disease positive lifestyle and dietary changes can improve your
overall quality of life and reduce symptom severity.