Inflammation is the root of all evil.
In fact, we know that it’s a part of every disease process known to man. The tricky thing is that it can be caused by many different things within the body and if present, it dramatically hinders the body’s ability to perform properly and recover efficiently.
Inflammation can come from:
- overuse
- trauma
- gut dysfunctions
- food sensitivities
- improper eating patterns
- hormone dysfunction
… and many other things. The trick is to figure out if there is inflammation present, what various things are causing it, and what strategies are needed to eliminate it.
Unfortunately, most people only think of inflammation in situations where they can see visible swelling. A sprained ankle, for instance, creates obvious swelling and the damage is apparent. If the ankle were to stay swollen for many months it would make you concerned and you’d wonder why it wasn’t healing. You would probably seek medical advice in order to determine why the swelling remains and what to do to eliminate it. However, inflammation can be present in your body and causing damage without any obvious signs. This can be the worst kind because it goes for months, sometimes years, undetected and causes continual irritation and destruction.
One of the most common causes of systemic inflammation is gut dysbiosis. This is basically just a dysfunction or imbalance of the gut environment. There are many things that can cause this, but all of them cause gut irritation and increased levels of inflammation. Some common things that cause gut inflammation are:
- chronic medication use
- food sensitivities
- chronic constipation
- viruses
- excessive bacterial growth
- infections
- inefficient enzyme production
- alterations in acid production
as well as many others. What’s concerning about this list is that many of these are very common. Most people don’t consider GI symptoms like bloating, constipation, and diarrhea to be anything serious. The reality is that these symptoms are telling you that something is wrong! And if these are causing inflammation then your ability to recover from workouts and the stressors of life is drastically reduced.
Another common situation that we see in our office is the dysfunction of the adrenal gland. The adrenal gland is responsibly for many hormones, but most notoriously for cortisol, known as our ‘stress’ hormone. When cortisol is dysfunctional it can not only promote inflammation, but it can also cause problems with sex hormone function and your body’s ability to regulate blood sugar effectively. These things can further lead to promotion of inflammation. Since our collective stress levels have never been higher in the history of mankind, this is an important area to normalize in the body — especially for athletes, whose use of cortisol is increased due to the stress of training on the body. Training, by nature, creates inflammation on its own, so it is important to know if your ability to handle and recover from that stress is diminished.
In summary, we all know that inflammation is a problem when it is allowed to continue excessively in our bodies. What we need to realize is that there are many things that can cause inflammation that don’t signal us to a problem as clearly as a sprained ankle. Uncovering and eliminating other more subtle areas of inflammation allows your body to recover faster and more efficiently. After all, recovery is simply the name of the game. Improve recovery ability and you can train harder and longer!