Do you have aches and pains? It May be Dehydration
Did you know that mild dehydration can be responsible for common aches and pains? Dehydration affects the body in many ways: one of them is through the connective tissues, responsible for the structure of other tissues and organs, as well as the transfer of nutrients within the body.
Types of connective tissues include your bones, cartilage, fat, blood, and lymphatic tissue. These tissues are composed of varying percentages of water, and as they dehydrate, they will hold onto waste products, which can create unpleasant sensations in the body. The tissues become less fluid and more stagnant - affecting the body’s function because they rely on the constant turnover of fluid to deliver nutrients and remove waste. The buildup of waste products in our tissues can create discomfort and immobility.
In osteopathy, we pull a lot of examples of how the body works from nature. A good example of dehydration in nature is the phenomenon of droughts and floods. Just like the human body, input and output must be balanced, and if there is not enough rainfall and there is more evaporation, then the environment will experience drought. Conversely, if there is too much rainfall and not enough evaporation, the environment will experience a flood. The body will experience the same phenomenon with dehydration and swelling.
Next time you experience any kind of discomfort, consider hydrating your body to see if that helps to relieve any of the unpleasant sensations.
Ways to Increase Your Body’s Fluidity:
When you are congested use a neti pot, saline spray, or drink a minimum of 8-10 glasses of water per day. Extra fluids can help reduce inflammation by carrying waste products away.
Take a shower, bath, use a sauna, or take a steam bath when experiencing any neck or back aches. Heat can help to increase kinetic energy (fluidity) to overcome the forces in the body that hold membranes together.
Increase movement. Find an activity that you love and practice moving with fluidity. This will help to release stagnation in the body, and purify and vivify the body of water so it can freely flow, helping to discharge the body of toxins!
Deep breathing exercises. Slower, deeper breaths release tension through the rib cage and diaphragm, supporting fluid flow through a main channel of lymph, called the thoracic duct! There are many other benefits to breathing deeply that our practitioners at Nourish Osteo are happy to educate you on.
When the body is dehydrated, tissues start to change and it has to work harder to self-regulate so intervention is necessary. Osteopathic manual therapy can help to create the environment for healing to occur, helping to balance the nervous system. It is important that we find the root cause of the symptoms a patient is experiencing. We do this with hands-on work, improving the drainage in the affected region with gentle manipulation.