Bethesda Chiropractor Helps With Allergies

It seems like every spring and fall there are people all across the country that experience an outbreak of runny noses, itchy eyes, and sneezing. For some people these symptoms can be so intense that it prevents them from going to work, participating in their favorite recreational activities, or even stepping outside. Typically, staying indoors or taking medications that seem to make you feel worse than the actually allergies themselves seem like the only solutions. While many people know that chiropractors can help provide relief from back pain, there are fewer that understand how beneficial chiropractic is for helping people with allergies.

Your doctors at Montgomery County Chiropractic have designed this article to provide you with vital information on how chiropractic patients are finding relief from allergies and give you another tool to fight this seasonal foe.

What Exactly are Allergies?

While almost everyone knows what the symptoms of allergies are, there are few that understand what causes them. Many people make the mistake of thinking that whatever substance a person is allergic to causes the allergy attack. But if it really was the pollen, seafood, hay, or dust that caused the allergies wouldn’t everyone that encountered these substances have some sort of an allergic attack? Instead, it is actually the persons own immune and nervous systems functioning improperly that gives rise to allergies. It is also what dictates who has allergies and who doesn’t.

When a person’s nervous system sends improper messages to their own immune system their body begins to mistake harmless substances such as pollen as dangerous invaders such as the flu. Once this abnormal pattern has been established the body will release a substance known as histamine which causes the throat and eyes to swell, a person to sneeze, and their nose to run. Typically, these responses would be beneficial in stopping a harmful substance from traveling further into the body, but when it is simply dust or pollen the reaction causes more harm than good. This is why people with allergies are often referred to as having a hyperactive immune system. Instead of determining which substances are good and which ones are bad, the body simply reacts to everything. Just as some people have allergies whereas others don’t, there are also varying degrees of severity for people with allergies. This is often due to the amount of nerve interference present and its resultant effect on the immune system. In fact, some people’s allergies can become so severe that they actually lead to death.

How can Chiropractic Help Provide Relief of my Allergies?

If you had the choice, would you rather gain relief from allergies by taking medications each time you have an attack or prevent them from happening in the first place by treating the underlying cause. Unfortunately, the large majority of allergy medications only function to stop the release of histamines each time you are exposed to an allergen. While this can stop the symptoms of allergies, it never addresses that overactive immune system which is the actual cause. As a result, people with chronic allergies are often stuck taking allergy medications their entire life.

In contrast, chiropractic offers a different approach for the treatment of allergies, by concentrating on the underlying cause. As mentioned earlier, your immune system depends on normal signals being transmitted from your brain and through your nervous system to function properly. In order for this message to reach its destination, it must travel along nerves located within your spinal column. As a result, there are a number of different areas in your back that can become problematic and result in the development of a hyperactive immune system.

Chiropractors are highly skilled at locating and correcting the most common cause of this interference, subluxations (misalignments of the vertebrae in the back). Through the correction of these subluxations, the nervous system is allowed to send the proper messages to your immune system enabling it to interact with your environment normally. In other words, your body will no longer interpret that harmless dust or pollen as a dangerous virus or bacteria. As the underlying cause is addressed, people begin to also gain relief from the symptoms caused by their seasonal allergies.

At Montgomery County Chiropractic, our number one goal isn’t necessarily treating allergies, but instead it is simply allowing your body to function properly and reach its optimal potential. If you are interested in learning more about the relationship between allergies and chiropractic or would like to start gaining relief from your allergies, please take advantage of our new patient special offer today.

By Cory Aplin