Every year allergy season hits and people everywhere begin feeling stuffy, irritated, and itchy both indoors and outdoors. This is followed by the rush to the doctor or drugstore for boxes of medication meant to treat the symptoms of allergies so that these individuals can get back to life as usual. Unfortunately, these medications do not treat the issue of sinuses and allergies, they only mask the problem. So, year after year the same individuals continue to suffer from allergies.
What are Allergies?
Allergies are caused by allergens which are elements of the environment that cause the body to have an immune response. When a person has an allergy attack, or experiences mild allergies throughout the year, they are experiencing an immune response to an outside allergen. This immune response is damaging, and can cause irritation, runny nose, itching, sneezing, and even difficulty breathing.
How Can a Chiropractor Help With Allergies and Sinus Issues?
Because allergies comes from an immune response, the idea behind naturally treating allergies is to treat the immune system itself. In a person with allergies, the immune system is not properly functioning. It has become hypersensitive and is attacking without a proper target. Generally the immune system responds to invasions by foreign bodies like microorganisms. While pollen isn’t a microorganism, it is a common allergen, so clearly the immune system is going haywire.
As with other issues, such as dealing with stress or lack of restful sleep, chiropractors work with the body’s nervous system that serves as the control and organizational center for the rest of the body. The central nervous system consists of the brain and spinal cord, while the rest of the body has smaller peripheral nerve systems. Chiropractors often work directly with the spine, stimulating and adjusting it to open the vertebrae and stimulate the nerves.
The idea behind this nerve stimulation is that when the nervous system is working at optimal levels, it is better able to regulate the other areas of the body that it is responsible for. One of these areas is the immune system. A properly working nervous system is able to enhance the quality and effectiveness of itself. In turn, the immune system can function more effective and efficiently. This means less hypersensitivity, and fewer negative reactions to environmental allergens. Additionally, opening up the vertebrae that contain nerves that send signals to the lungs helps to open up the lungs, thus allowing for easier breathing.
This same concept is applied to those who experience asthma since asthmatics suffer from inflammation of the bronchi in the lungs. Chiropractic care can assist in not only stimulating the lungs, but by stimulating a health immune system and immune response, it can prevent, or decrease the prevalence of asthmatic inflammation.
Chiropractic care isn’t meant to heal a person of allergies, but it is meant to provide an option that isn’t centered around the use of medication. This frees up the body to work on maintaining homeostasis, instead of processing allergy medications. It also makes the body more easily able to attain and maintain homeostasis.