How You Can Relieve Stress with Help from a Physiotherapist in North York

Stress is a part of our lives that we cannot completely ever eliminate. It is important to understand a low to moderate levels of stress can be beneficial to help keep us motivated and energized. However, when the levels continue to increase, this is when stress starts to become a health concern that needs to be addressed with to reduce levels.

Many people have developed bad habits for attempting to deal with stress on their own, and end up feeling worse, rather than better. One of the more common ones is to treat stress through eating. We like reaching for our favourite “comfort” foods, like ice cream, salty foods, fatty foods, and others that often are not healthy and contain high levels of cholesterol, sugars, sodium and the “bad” fats.

Prolonged periods of stress have a wide range of effects on the body and how stress affects you, can and does vary from someone else. One of the more common side effects of increased stress levels are pain, soreness, and aches in different locations including:

• Neck
• Shoulders
• Upper Back

The muscles in these regions become tense and tighten up from heightened levels of stress and creates discomfort. In order to release the tension in the muscles, various methods and techniques using physiotherapy can be used, such as massage therapy and stretching exercises. In addition, a combination of different types of treatments involving both physiotherapy and chiropractic methods can be beneficial.

Furthermore, the body’s immune response system is compromised during elevated and prolonged stress levels. Not only does this increase the risk of getting ill, but also increases the risks of injuries, like muscle strains and sprains.

Aside from body aches and pains, stress can bring on severe headaches and even migraines in some people. Physiotherapy is also beneficial for alleviating frequent headaches and developing different techniques to help reduce the frequency, severity, and duration of them. Physiotherapy also teaches proper breathing techniques. Learning these techniques can help prevent panic attacks and anxiety attacks brought on by elevated levels of stress.

Another effective way to reduce and relieve stress is to develop exercise methods. Learning how to perform these exercises allows us to prevent stress-induced pain and discomfort from occurring. Regular exercise in an effective tool to help maintain proper stress levels, rather than reaching for “comfort” foods. Plus, the exercise techniques you are taught can prevent weight gain and address concerns over obesity.

If you are noticing body aches and pains, or muscle discomfort due to the stress in your life, you can try physiotherapy and discover for yourself just how beneficial in can be in treating elevated stress levels. To learn more or to book a consultation appointment, please feel free to contact P&C Rehabilitation Services, Inc. at 416-652-6223 today.