The human body is not a smart machine, as it is often perceived in Western society. Therefore, it is not possible to repair or replace an individual component in isolation and thus eliminate the problem. Organ systems communicate closely with each other using thousands of chemicals and nerve impulses. The musculoskeletal system is one of the first to respond to various problems in everyday life.

When a person stands firmly on his feet, perceives his body and its center of gravity, has a stable connection with the ground. This term – not by chance – is also used by psychotherapy „to be grounded“. As is the case in nature, the same principles are constantly repeated in small and large, physical and mental stability are very closely intertwined. The connections between body and soul are also described in many different sayings: to lose ground under your feet, to stiffen with terror, to go on shaky legs, to go to your knees, to stoop in front of someone. Or a comparison describing the nature of a person „he is a straight man“ or vice versa „he is a crooked“, „he is stubborn“ or „he is soft“.

If we accept the symbolic idea of the body as the projection screen of the soul, where else could our attitudes to the world be represented more prominently than in the attitude/posture. It is known that depressed patients tend to be very „stiff“ physically. Anxiety is caused by convulsive muscle contraction and is often accompanied by dizziness. Pressure to perform, sexual taboos, childhood traumatization, current relationship problems – these are all topics that permanently disrupt muscle performance, change the perception of pain, interfere with nerve-hormonal regulatory circuits.

Very often, patients with pain in the musculoskeletal system can be traced that by changing the external posture, they try to disguise the internal attitude. For this reason, it is so important to stand alert to the soldiers, who often experience the worst humiliation inside. However, it is precisely this pressure between actually experiencing and trying to act differently that leads to increased muscle tension, which creates pain and which reactively increases muscle tension. A vicious circle is formed, and the pains become chronic.

In most patients with long-term musculoskeletal pain, we find a suppressed reaction to stress. On the one hand, it is the fear of inappropriate behavior – the fear that they might take an aggressive counterattack against the provoking cause, and on the other hand, the suppression of the escape reaction, which is also associated with the suppression of anxiety. Often it is even both of these phenomena at the same time and thus contradictory impulses are sent to the muscles, which in aggregate increase muscle stupor. A person working under an authoritarian boss cannot afford to physically assault his boss or immediately run away from his job without losing his job. This conflict is then experienced at the level of the body – back pain. To specific conflicts of this type, other stressors are added nowadays, because the times favor the young, upright, successful, always potent. Especially in men, back pain is also related to the loss of authority in the family, subjectively insufficient financial remuneration, failure in the intimate-sexual area.

The holistic approach to dealing with pain in the musculoskeletal system is gradual, focusing first on overall calming, relieving both physical and mental tensions. Psychotherapeutic methods deal with the search for connections between pain and stereotypes of behavior, relationship patterns, ambivalences in the life story. Therefore, psychotherapy is of great importance in such patients and, together with physiotherapy, brings significant relief from physical difficulties.

MUDr. Tereza Hodycová

Článek Psychosomatic aspects of musculoskeletal pain se nejdříve objevil na BeBalanced.

Chronic inflammation is a very mentioned topic in connection with the development of both civilization diseases (diabetes, heart disease, obesity, etc.), autoimmune diseases, pain in the musculoskeletal system and oncological diseases.

Like acute inflammation that lasts for a few days, a maximum of weeks can be life-saving. And that is why nature has equipped us with it. However, chronic inflammation, which has been marauding in the body for months and years, exhausts, destroys its own tissues and in a slow, fierce way destroys the body from within.

Acute inflammation

It aims to eliminate the enemy in tissues or cells, whether it is bacteria, viruses or a foreign body, heal injuries and then restore full health. The physiological mechanism of the inflammatory response is common to all vertebrates and, in some variations, to lower animals. The evolution of the immune system dates back evolutionarily to 65 million years ago.

Modern toxic substances, chemically modified or contaminated food, environmental pollution have been a matter of the last few decades or hundreds of years, to which in many cases even such ingenious defense mechanisms as the human immune system cannot adequately respond, chronic inflammation occurs.

The principle of acute inflammation

If any cell in the body is damaged, it releases signaling molecules – histamine and prostaglandins. These substances cause the smallest blood vessels-capillaries in the damaged area to dilate, become more permeable, so that immune cells-white blood cells can begin to travel from the blood to the affected tissue.

In addition to directly destroying infection or foreign particles, these immune cells produce other chemicals that can be compared to pheromones that attract other immune cells of another kind – phagocytes. Phagocytes act as cleaners, absorbing dead cells, remnants of bacteria, foreign particles and everything that does not belong to healthy tissue. As soon as it is cleaned, regeneration processes are started, healing occurs.

Chronic inflammation

But if the immune system does not manage to get rid of the provoking cause, it passes into chronic inflammation. Immunity no longer reacts as violently as in the case of acute inflammation, but tries to displace the opponent from the body, for example, by encapsulation, ligament stiffness, or the development of systemic inflammation, which is no longer limited to the affected area, but begins its „trench warfare“ throughout the body.It is a very exhausting process and therefore it often happens that the own immune system stops distinguishing between its own and the foreign and attacks the cells of its own body from the inside. Autoimmune diseases arise, chronic damage to organ systems, up to oncological diseases. In parallel, inflammatory destruction occurs, as well as tissue repair, which, of course, is ineffective.

Symptoms of chronic inflammation can be quite nonspecific, difficulties begin to appear in different organ systems. For example, joint pain associated with digestive disorders, eczema, long-term fatigue, sleep disorders.

These manifestations do not surprise us when we realize that chronic inflammation triggers hundreds of biochemical reactions in the body, which are feedback- affect. Substances circulating through the bloodstream get throughout the body and trigger the reactions of the hormonal system, the nervous system, the processes taking place in all organs of the body.

It is also interesting that chemicals that are related to an inflammatory reaction – for example, the relatively well-known interleukin 6 also has its functions in the process of hematopoiesis, in the metabolism of bones and other areas, which are then also affected by its increased level.

How to determine chronic inflammation in the laboratory

Unlike acute inflammation, laboratory markers are less pronounced and it is necessary to take into account the overall context of the patient’s problems.

• CRP – a protein whose value rises significantly in acute inflammation, but in chronic it can be increased only slightly, below the resolving ability of conventional laboratories.
• Sedimentation – this is an examination of red blood cells, which in the case of inflammatory proteins (fibrinogen) clump together and sink to the bottom of the tube faster. In chronic inflammation, sedimentation may be only slightly increased or within the limits of the norm.
• Homocysteine – from the point of view of the classical professional public a controversial marker that rather responds to the lack of folic acid and vitamins B6 and B12 in the diet.
• Ferritin – released from damaged cells and therefore its level rises during inflammation. However, this marker is rather used in routine examinations to monitor iron metabolism in anemia.
• HDL – the fraction of cholesterol, which is mentioned as good cholesterol. However, with inflammation, it changes its structure and, on the contrary, becomes pro-inflammatory. Without a specialized examination, it is not possible to detect structural changes in the laboratory and assess whether it is a form OF AGAINST – inflammatory, or PRO – inflammatory
• Glucose in the blood – again, this is a non-specific signal of inflammation. Blood glucose is monitored most often in connection with diabetes mellitus

As can be seen from the above, until chronic inflammation causes such a mess in the body that there are already significant organ changes that allow medical diagnosis, the patient struggles with his various problems from doctor to doctor and often begins to appear as a simulant not only to his surroundings, but also to himself.

How to start self-healing processes, relieve and dampen inflammation

In the first plan, these are lifestyle changes. Before you start swallowing all sorts of pills, whether pharmaceutical industry products or natural supplements (which are mostly also products of the pharmaceutical industry), do an audit of your diet.

Lifestyle audit

• Sleep

Sleep is the main and most important means of relaxation, there is a synchronization of cells, tissue regeneration, correction of hormonal imbalance, maintenance of the proper functioning of the nervous system.

• Diet

The body and all regeneration processes work with the substances that we supply through the diet. Pro-inflammatory or anti-inflammatory reactions can be greatly influenced by diet. A diet with plenty of vegetables and fruits, kitchen herbs, a reasonable supply of animal protein, a sufficient supply of healthy fats from fish, nuts and vegetable oils helps against inflammation, on the contrary, a diet with an abundance of industrially modified foods, refined sugars, burnt fats, sausages, excess meat and alcohol plays into the hands of inflammation.

• Sport

Physical movement, which makes us happy, on a regular basis is the basic prevention against the development of chronic diseases.

• Psychological well-being

The art of resting, not stressing, loving yourself are also very important stones on the way to health and overcoming inflammatory processes.

I discuss other ways to practically take care of my physical and mental well-being with the participants at my workshops focused on various areas of health functioning from a holistic perspective.

MUDr. Tereza Hodycová

Článek Chronic inflammation – internal struggle with oneself se nejdříve objevil na BeBalanced.

Do you have problems with headaches or even migraines, tinnitus or insomnia? Do you suffer from digestive tract disorders or long-term back or joint pain?

This is a very gentle, non-invasive manipulation technique by which the therapist tries to influence the autoregulatory abilities of the person as a whole and works mainly with soft tissues and the central nervous system. On the proper functioning of the central nervous system and the nervous network in our body depend all vital systems, relevant organs, their functions and psychological well-being.

The founder of this method is considered to be Dr. Sutherland and subsequently the American surgeon Dr. Upledger, who further developed and supplemented this technique. Both of these men were interested in the human skull in their research and found that the individual cranial bones are bitten into each other like a child’s jigsaw puzzle, and the cranial seams allow the individual parts of the skull to move. Thus, during observation and investigation, they came to the conclusion that these micro-movements can be experimentally imitated and can also be felt with your hands.

This mentioned movement is called craniosacral-rhythm, which is the frequency of pulsation of cerebrospinal fluid. This clear fluid acts as a hydraulic component of our nervous system, washing and protecting our brain and spinal cord. Thus, the craniosacral rhythm is a kind of „heart“ frequency of the nervous system and is the main indicator and corrector of the quality of functioning of our internal computer controlling all processes. This movement of cerebrospinal fluid is transmitted to all cells and intercellular spaces, organs, tissues and blood vessels, and the therapist is able to feel it with a gentle touch.

As part of the therapy, this rhythm is then worked with, the therapist tries to return the client’s body back to the lost balance, works with the whole body – from the head and its cranial bones (cranium) to the sacrum bone and with all nerve structures to the hard diaper of the brain, which is the membrane that covers and protects our brain. All the manipulations used in this work do not exceed the pressure or thrust of five grams – for your idea, it is about the weight of ten crowns.  It often brings deep relaxation, a feeling of deeper and easier breathing, relieves heaviness, returns the patient to communication with his own body and his ability to self-heal. It is a practice complementary to other manual therapies that are used in physioptherapy.

The therapy is suitable for all ages, from babies to seniors. In addition to very serious acute conditions, there are no known contraindications to this therapy, so almost every person can try it.

If you are interested in therapy in our center, you can make an appointment for initial treatment.

Článek Craniosacral osteopathy – a gentle therapy that goes in depth se nejdříve objevil na BeBalanced.