Chiropractic and Allergies

Runny nose, itchy eyes, a headache that just won’t go away… It’s allergy season folks and I see these complaints in my office every day. Many practice members are quite surprised to find that chiropractic may help. Let’s take a look how.

The most common immune system disorder is an allergy. Allergies occur when the immune system overreacts to an allergen such as dust, pollen, dog/cat dander, milk, strawberries, mold, etc. The body produces too many neutralizing chemicals or histamines in response. Many things influence how your immune system functions such as your nervous system, diet, stress, and emotions.

Orthodox medicine has no cure for allergies, only treatment of symptoms. Since many allergy symptoms-runny eyes, irritation, redness, fullness in the sinuses and others are caused by histamines, anti-histamines are often prescribed to dry up mucous membranes. However, anti-histamines can cause drowsiness, headaches, nausea, vomiting, blurred vision, dry mouth, confusion and more serious heart problems.

Allergy sufferers have praised chiropractic for over a century. Chiropractic is NOT a treatment for allergies though. The goal of chiropractic care is to remove nervous system stress through spinal adjustments. A misaligned neck can easily cause your nervous system to become imbalanced. When the upper cervical spinal joint is irritated, it can provoke or worsen asthmatic and allergic symptoms. Chiropractic enables the immune system to function more effectively, something all allergy sufferers need since a nervous system with less stress functions more efficiently.