The human body is extremely complicated and requires us to maintain it extensively to remain functional. Unfortunately, our bodies are also susceptible to external and internal damage, making it difficult to care for them completely. Sometimes, physical injuries cause internal injuries as a side effect and disrupt the function of our bodies.
Some injuries require surgical intervention if severe enough, while others require less invasive attention. One of the more common avenues for some physical injuries is chiropractic treatment. However, whether chiropractic treatment is enough to handle some of the other issues that might arise is another matter entirely.
The hormones that drive our body and development are part of the human condition. When these hormones fall out of balance, they can cause serious issues that leave us incapacitated and unable to function. It can also lead to additional complications that affect you physically and emotionally, making hormonal imbalances a serious issue.
Unfortunately, it is rare for a physical injury to cause hormonal imbalance, making it difficult to believe that chiropractic care could benefit the issue. However, it is worth investigating whether a visit to your chiropractor can offer any aid in managing a hormone imbalance. This article aims to answer that question.
What Causes a Hormone Imbalance?
Hormone imbalances are a deeply unpleasant problem for people worldwide. They adversely affect the way our bodies work and become debilitating if left untreated. However, the causes of a hormone imbalance can vary widely and be difficult to track. Unless you know what is causing the imbalance, you might have difficulty finding the proper treatment, chiropractor or not. Hormonal imbalances mean that one or more of your hormones are above or below the proper levels. However, the factors that impact the body’s hormone levels include chronic diseases and poor lifestyle choices.
The number of causes for hormone imbalances are so prevalent that it is terrifyingly easy for one to develop. Some causes are far more common and could strike when you least expect it.
Among the more common and possibly more prevalent causes of imbalances are:
- Medications
- Chemotherapy
- Tumors (both cancerous and benign)
- Pituitary Tumors
- Eating Disorders
- Stress
- Physical Injury
Other causes can cause hormone imbalances; however, these are far less common and indicative of an underlying issue. The major distinction between the more common causes is that most can be rectified with a lifestyle change. Others will require intervention from a medical professional. The main focus here, however, is that physical injury can cause a hormone imbalance in some circumstances.
However, another question is what symptoms a hormone imbalance can cause. While you can detect a physical injury, determining if it has caused a hormone imbalance will require an awareness of your body. Fortunately, you can use a few symptoms to make this determination.
Symptoms of a Hormone Imbalance
The endocrine system dictates the production and release of hormones in the body. When hormone levels are balanced, you can rely on them to develop a healthy body without much concern. However, when the endocrine system is damaged or fooled, your body might fail to release hormones properly. When this occurs, there is a wide range of potential symptoms you might experience due to the imbalance. These symptoms can alert you to a hormone imbalance in your body, but most require an awareness of your body’s baseline for you to notice them.
Some of the more common symptoms of a hormone imbalance include:
- Weight Gain
- Fatigue
- Muscle Weakness
- Pain
- Increased Sensitivity to Temperature
- Urinary or Bowel Issues
- Increased Thirst and Hunger
- Decreased Sex Drive
- Depression
- Infertility
- Hair Loss
The biggest problem with these symptoms is that they are common issues for countless other health conditions. This makes determining whether they are the result of a hormone imbalance challenging. Unfortunately, the reality is that there is no way to reliably self-diagnose a hormone imbalance, and you will likely need a doctor to examine you. The visit will alert you to the underlying cause if you suffer from a hormone imbalance. However, if these symptoms have begun shortly after a traumatic physical injury, it becomes a little easier to determine if it is a hormone imbalance.
The knowledge that physical injury can induce a hormone imbalance is terrifying. After all, such injuries are extremely common and can occur out of nowhere. The real question is how to rectify the injury and restore your hormone levels simultaneously. This brings us to chiropractic care.
Can Chiropractic Care Help?
The idea that chiropractic care can help with something as complex as a hormone imbalance might seem insane. However, there is evidence that a chiropractor can help rebalance your hormone levels. The most incredible part is that they are not necessarily limited to hormone imbalances caused by physical trauma.
This is due to the endocrine system regulating the body’s hormone levels. This system is a part of the central nervous system that operates the body and helps all the different components work together to produce a healthy and functional body. The CNS and endocrine systems are extremely important and often coordinate the hormone levels in tandem.
However, many people do not know that the endocrine system requires signals from glands in the body to release hormones properly. Many of these glands are found at the center of the vertebral column, or spine. When a physical injury damages your spine, it can also cause these glands to be damaged and interfere with the endocrine system’s function. These glands can be damaged by any of the previously listed causes as long as they relate to the spine in some way.
For example, a benign tumor manifesting along the vertebral column could interfere with one or more of the glands in that area. As a result, the endocrine system fails to receive essential signals and cannot release the proper hormones as needed. The fact that the spine houses such an essential part of our nervous system can be terrifying, given how much pressure is put on the spine daily. However, this is why chiropractic care offers relief from hormone imbalances.
One of the primary purposes of chiropractic care is to offer spinal adjustments, essentially the “bread and butter” of chiropractic care. A misalignment of the spine that is compressing the endocrine glands and preventing them from signaling the endocrine system can be rectified with such an adjustment. This procedure stops the spine from pressing down on the glands, and signals can travel properly. Over time, your body will start releasing hormones at the proper rate again as the endocrine system catches up.
A chiropractor can easily conduct this adjustment, which often takes little time. However, you might be a little curious about the details of spinal adjustments and how they work.
What is a Spinal Adjustment?
A chiropractic adjustment, otherwise known as a spinal adjustment, is an extremely common procedure in a chiropractor’s office. It is a fairly simple process in which a sudden force is applied to the spinal joint to realign it with the rest of the body. This is usually accomplished by the chiropractor applying the force by hand or with an instrument, but either method helps restore spinal function and eliminate misalignments. This procedure might be able to alleviate interference with the endocrine system, but you might want a little more information.
The procedure is not something you need to prepare for, and you need only walk into your chiropractor’s office to have it performed. It is non-invasive and takes very little time to perform with no recovery period. However, there might be a few steps your chiropractor will have to take before adjusting your spine. The initial visit is more of a consultation where your provider will ask for general background on your health before examining you. They will specifically examine your spine for irregularities to determine where the problem is.
Depending on the injury, your chiropractor might ask you to seek an x-ray or a similar examination. This is not something to worry about but will help your chiropractor locate the injury and verify that it exists. Once the injury has been located, you will be placed in a specific position that allows the chiropractor to perform the procedure. The adjustment itself will push your joint beyond the normal range of motion it has but will ultimately be beneficial to your vertebral health and prevent the spine from pressing down on the endocrine glands.
The procedure is relatively painless, and you will likely only feel minor discomfort. You will probably hear cracking or popping sounds during the adjustment, but this is normal. It simply signifies the movement of the joints. After the adjustment, you can go about the rest of your day unimpeded, as you will not need a recovery period afterward. However, you might experience benign side effects a few days after the procedure. These will include:
- Pain
- Headache
- Fatigue
However, these side effects are rare and should not risk your health. Given how simple a spinal adjustment seems, you might think you can get away with having a friend perform it. This is a mistake as only professionals should attempt the procedure. If an adjustment is performed by someone who is not properly trained, you risk severe consequences.
Risks of Spinal Adjustments
While spinal adjustments are considered safe, they must only be performed by trained professionals. Even with a professional hand, risks become more likely if someone attempts it without formal training. These risks can make a hormone imbalance the least of your worries if you attempt to adjust your spine yourself or with the help of an equally inexperienced friend. When performed by a trained professional, however, the risks involved in a spinal adjustment are extremely rare.
The risks that are involved include:
- Herniated Disc: A herniated disc involves one of your vertebral disks falling out of alignment and pressing on the surrounding nerves. The odds are that a herniated disc is what is pressing on the endocrine glands in your spinal column. If an untrained individual attempts an adjustment, they could herniate another or worsen the original herniation.
- Nerve Compression: If a misaligned spine is realigned improperly, it can cause the nerves at the base of the spine to be compressed by the vertebral column. Nerve pain is excruciating and will make your hormone imbalance seem like a minor inconvenience in comparison.
- Stroke: In extreme cases, adjustment from an untrained party could result in a stroke due to trauma in the neck. Strokes can be fatal in worst-case scenarios, making the risk involved with an untrained party a potential death sentence.
While the risks involved are nowhere near common enough to be a concern when going through a trained chiropractor, they should still be considered. Making sure the adjustment is performed by a trained professional will ensure that the worst-case scenario remains little more than a minor possibility than a near certainty. The only thing left to consider is where to find quality chiropractic care.
Take Your Health to the Next Level
Hormone imbalances might seem like something that can only occur when you have a major disease. However, they can be remarkably common if you are regularly exposed to physical harm. The endocrine system is as much a physical component of the body as it is a neurological one, and the glands that control the signals are primarily based in the vertebral column.
This makes chiropractic care a potentially viable treatment option to alleviate the cause of your hormone imbalance with a simple adjustment. Chiropractors are extremely common, with offices being found just about everywhere. But, to ensure the best chances of a full recovery, you will want to find a provider with the best possible training.
This is why we at Ortho Integrative have made providing quality physical care our mission. We know that few things in the world are as painful as damage to the spine, and we are dedicated to combatting it. We offer spinal adjustments and countless other chiropractic treatments through specialized programs devised by doctors like Emmett Blahnik. So, visit our website today if you want to resolve your pain and neutralize your hormone imbalance. Let us take your health to the Next Level!