Inflammation is your body's response to irritation, infection, or injury. It's characterized by redness, warmth, swelling, and pain. This important defense mechanism helps protect and heal damaged tissue.
When tissues in your body are injured, your immune system releases chemicals that make blood vessels leak fluid into the tissues, causing swelling. This influx brings in white blood cells that ingest harmful microbes and dead or damaged cells. As blood flow increases, you may observe redness and warmth. These inflamed areas become tender or outright painful owing to pressure from the swelling.
Inflammation serves the vital purpose of ushering immune cells to the site of damage and preventing the spread of pathogens or toxins. It removes debris to pave the way for repairs. As healing occurs, swelling gradually subsides.
Though uncomfortable, mild short-term inflammation assists the healing process. However, prolonged severe inflammation contributes to conditions like arthritis, asthma, heart disease, and cancer.
What triggers inflammation? Causes include injuries such as sprains and wounds, infections (bacterial, viral, or fungal), medical conditions like arthritis and bowel diseases, immune reactions like allergies and autoimmune diseases, and toxins like pollution and tobacco smoke.
You can take steps to avoid sources of inflammation when possible. Maintain good oral hygiene. Get vaccinated. Wear protective gear during contact sports. Ask your doctor at Restore Health Clinic about anti-inflammatory medications if you have chronic inflammatory conditions.
To wrap up, inflammation manifests with typical symptoms like swelling, redness, heat, and pain. It signifies your immune response is active, working to heal an irritated or damaged area. Though usually helpful, inflammation sometimes persists and contributes to certain diseases. Knowing the causes aids prevention. See your doctor promptly about severe or widespread inflammation.