44 • create a trinity lifestyle
ing the inflammation. It is wonderful to know something is inflamed but what is the cause? Practically speaking, inflammation causes heat, swelling, redness and pain. And yes, we have all experienced this. A sprained ankle is a great example. Inflammation is normally characterized as acute or chronic. However, “we should not limit our understanding of inflammation to the point where we characterize it merely as the body’s response to injury. The inflammatory process is actually the healing process. Without inflammation, tissue healing could not take place. It is chronic inflammation that is always destructive…” (Seaman 37). For clarification and practical purposes, it is easier to categorize inflammation into three phases. I will not attempt to explain every phase in detail as entire textbooks are devoted to that topic. Phase 1 can be called the acute inflammatory phase. It begins from initial injury and lasts up to 72 hours (3 days). This phase has a wide array of physiological and neurological responses that start the healing process. “Whatever the trauma [think of the three stories I started this chapter with]…the initial biological response is a generalized nontissue-specific inflammatory response” (Seaman 38). Phase 2 can be called the repair phase. It can last from 48 hours to 6 weeks. Phase 3, the final phase, can be called the remodeling phase. “The outcome of the acute inflammatory process should be repair and remodeling of the injured tissues. In certain instances, acute inflammation does not resolve and a state of chronic inflammation develops” (Seaman 37). It is this chronic inflammatory state that is the basis of every disease we know excluding congenital defects (birth defects) and even then some would argue that the mother’s inflammatory state contributed. Furthermore, besides unresolved acute inflammation, chronic inflammation can be proliferated by a wide array of other causes (see Figure 6). As you can see from Figure 6, if the normal neurophysiological response does not happen or is impaired chronic inflammation can result. (Note: this can happen for a host of reasons not to be discussed here because it deals with a vascular response and a cellular response). As complicated as that may sound, let me try to give you an example you may understand. When you cut your finger, the acute inflammatory process occurs. The blood clot formation and scab that results is the vascular and cellular response. What if that response did not work, the wound would not heal, infection may occur and it could become chronic and systemic (whole body). How do we treat inflammation? The old thinking was R.I.C.E. which stands for rest, ice, compression and elevation. The more modern version of this is M.I.C.E. which stands for movement, ice, compression and elevation. Research and patient testimonies have proven that slow, controlled movement is best for healing. Is that all we do to treat inflammation? Of course it isn’t. We use ice bags, heat packs, rice