Understanding the hidden signs of inflammation and how integrative health can support your body.
Has your doctor recently told you that your blood test results say that you have inflammation?
And the question is: Do you know what that actually means?
Sometimes inflammation is easy to understand because you can see it or feel it.
When you sprain your ankle it becomes swollen, warm and painful. You cut your finger and the skin around it turns red. You develop an infection and experience swelling or fever. A joint becomes inflamed and suddenly movement is painful and restricted.
In these situations, inflammation is obvious, however you can see that your body is responding to an injury, infection or irritation.
When your immune system detects an injury, infection or potential threat, it sends out chemical signals that increase blood flow and activate immune cells in the affected area.
But what happens when you can’t see the inflammation?
At Studio Australia Barcelona, many of the people who come to us are experiencing health problems where inflammation may be occurring much more quietly within the body.
They may have been diagnosed with PCOS, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, rheumatoid arthritis, endometriosis, an autoimmune condition, inflammatory bowel disease or another chronic health condition in which inflammatory processes can form part of a much more complex picture.
Others come to us because they simply don’t feel well.
And because there isn’t necessarily anything visibly “inflamed”, it can be difficult to understand how the unrelated symptoms that we explore below in this post might connect.
This is where we believe it is important to look at the bigger picture.
Inflammation isn’t a diagnosis in itself, and it isn’t something we should simply try to suppress without understanding why it is there.
This is why we work from a holistic, functional and integrative health perspective, alongside conventional Western medicine, to explore the many factors that may be influencing a person’s health.
That may mean looking at:
Because when inflammation is part of a chronic or complex health problem, the more useful question isn’t simply:
“How do I get rid of inflammation?”
It is:
“Why is inflammation occurring, what else is happening in my body, and what can I do to support my health as a whole?”
In this article, we’d like to share some of the less obvious ways inflammation can show up in the body, the health conditions in which inflammation may play a role, and how we work integratively with our clients to help them better understand and support their bodies.
Before we start talking about how to reduce inflammation, there is something very important to understand:
Inflammation isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, we need it.
This response helps your body to:
Think again about that sprained ankle we mentioned earlier.
The swelling, heat and discomfort aren’t simply things that have “gone wrong.” They are part of your body’s response to the injury. Blood flow increases, immune cells move into the area and the repair process begins.
This is what we call acute inflammation.
Acute inflammation usually happens relatively quickly and is designed to be temporary.
You might experience it following:
Once the immediate threat has been dealt with and healing is underway, the inflammatory response should gradually settle.
In other words, your body knows how to switch inflammation on when it needs it, and importantly, switch it off again when the job is done.
The problem can arise when that inflammatory response doesn’t fully resolve, or when something within the body continues to stimulate it.
Chronic inflammation is different.
Rather than being a short-term response to an obvious injury or infection, inflammatory activity can persist over weeks, months or even years.
And unlike the swollen ankle, you may have absolutely no idea that it is happening.
Chronic inflammation can occur for many different reasons and can be associated with:
It is also important to understand that these relationships are not so simple.
Inflammation may contribute to a health condition, be a consequence of that condition, or become part of a cycle where several factors continually influence one another.
This becomes particularly important when inflammation is part of a more complex hormonal, autoimmune, metabolic or chronic health condition.
No, and this distinction is important.
We don’t want a body that is incapable of producing inflammation. We need an appropriate inflammatory response to protect us, repair tissue and fight infection.
What we want is a body that can respond when necessary, regulate that response appropriately and return towards balance once the threat has passed.
This is why at practitioners we want to understand when working with our clients:
Because once we begin asking those questions, inflammation stops being something we simply want to get rid of and becomes something that may help us understand what the body is trying to respond to.
This is where the conversation about inflammation becomes much more important.
At Studio Australia Barcelona, many of the people who come to us have already received a diagnosis from their doctor or specialist and are looking for additional ways to understand what may be influencing their symptoms and how they can better support their health alongside their existing medical care.
Our role isn’t to replace their doctor, medication or medical treatment. Instead, our holistic, functional and integrative approach works alongside conventional Western medicine and asks another important question:
What else may be influencing this person’s symptoms, inflammatory burden and capacity to recover?
Here are some of the health conditions and inflammatory issues we commonly help people to better manage and support:
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is commonly thought of as a reproductive or hormonal condition, but the picture is considerably more complex. PCOS is also closely connected with metabolic health, and research has identified associations with insulin resistance and chronic low-grade inflammation.
For someone with PCOS, we may therefore need to look beyond periods, fertility or weight.
Blood-sugar regulation, insulin sensitivity, androgen excess, body composition, nutrition, movement, sleep and chronic stress can all form part of the wider picture.
From an integrative perspective, this means supporting the individual’s metabolic health as well as their hormonal health, while continuing appropriate medical and gynaecological care.
At Studio Australia Barcelona, this may involve looking more closely at diet and blood-sugar regulation, body composition, appropriate exercise and strength training, sleep, stress and nervous-system regulation.
Depending on the individual, our practitioners may also incorporate nutritional support, naturopathy, acupuncture, holistic or women’s-health physiotherapy, Pilates and lifestyle coaching as part of a coordinated approach.
The aim isn’t to treat PCOS with one single intervention, but to identify the areas where we can support the individual’s overall health, reduce modifiable metabolic risk factors and help them manage their symptoms more effectively alongside their medical care.
Not every thyroid problem is caused by inflammation or autoimmunity, and this distinction is important.
Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, however, is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks thyroid tissue. People may experience fatigue, brain fog, constipation, temperature sensitivity, muscle or joint discomfort and changes in weight, mood and energy.
Medical diagnosis, thyroid testing and appropriate medication remain fundamental. Alongside this, we can look at areas such as nutrition, nutrient status, digestive health, metabolic health, sleep and stress that may influence how the person feels and functions.
Arthritis is another area where we need to avoid putting every condition into the same category.
Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune inflammatory disease, whereas osteoarthritis is a different disease process, although inflammation can also contribute to its progression and symptoms.
Pain, swelling, morning stiffness, muscle weakness and reduced mobility can sometimes lead people to become afraid of movement.
But avoiding movement completely isn’t necessarily the answer.
Depending on the condition and its severity, appropriately prescribed physiotherapy, clinical Pilates, strength work, mobility and restorative movement may help maintain function, muscle strength and confidence while respecting pain, inflammation and recovery.
In autoimmune disease, the immune system mistakenly reacts against the body’s own cells, tissues or organs. Inflammation can therefore become a central part of the disease process.
Autoimmune diseases include conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, lupus, psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, coeliac disease and multiple sclerosis. Inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are also immune-mediated inflammatory conditions.
These conditions require appropriate medical diagnosis, monitoring and, where indicated, medication.
Integrative care is not an alternative to that treatment. Instead, nutrition, appropriate movement, sleep, stress management, digestive health and other supportive practices may sit alongside medical care to support the person living with the condition.
Endometriosis is another condition where inflammation is part of a much bigger picture.
It is associated with a chronic inflammatory environment and can cause pelvic pain, painful periods, pain during intercourse, bowel or bladder symptoms, fatigue and fertility difficulties.
For many women, the most effective support comes from looking beyond the condition itself and understanding how it is affecting them holistically.
This may mean continuing to work with a gynaecologist while at the same time caring for themselves with physiotherapy, nutrition, appropriate movement, pain management and nervous-system support, depending on what that their body needs.
Because when endometriosis begins to affect energy, sleep, movement, work, relationships and everyday life, we believe the support should be just as individual and multifaceted as the condition itself.
The gut and immune system are closely connected, but this is also another area where misinformation is common.
Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are forms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Coeliac disease is an autoimmune condition triggered by gluten in genetically susceptible people.
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), however, is not the same as inflammatory bowel disease, and experiencing bloating doesn’t automatically mean your gut is “inflamed.”
Persistent digestive problems deserve proper investigation.
Once we understand what is happening medically, we can look more closely at nutrition, the microbiome, nutrient status, food tolerance and the gut-brain relationship rather than simply eliminating more and more foods without understanding why.
Inflammatory processes can also be involved in conditions affecting the skin, including psoriasis, eczema, acne and rosacea, although the mechanisms behind each are very different.
Immune activity, hormones, genetics, skin-barrier function, environmental triggers, stress and metabolic health may all be relevant depending on the condition.
We are cautious of claims that every skin problem “starts in the gut.”
Sometimes digestive health may be relevant; sometimes it isn’t.
Again, we need to look at the individual, assess their needs and tailor a treatment plan.
Some of the most important inflammatory changes may be completely invisible.
Chronic low-grade inflammation is closely interconnected with visceral adiposity, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
This helps us understand why blood sugar, body composition, muscle mass, movement, nutrition, sleep and stress shouldn’t be considered separate health issues.
They continually influence one another.
Improving metabolic health therefore isn’t simply about losing weight. It is about creating a healthier internal environment by supporting more stable blood sugar, improving insulin sensitivity, maintaining healthy muscle mass, reducing excess visceral fat and helping the body regulate energy and inflammatory processes more effectively
Finally, we need to distinguish pain from inflammation.
Not all chronic pain means that tissue remains inflamed.
Persistent pain can involve an extraordinarily complex interaction between previous injury, tissue health, movement patterns, the brain and nervous system, stress, fear, sleep and recovery.
A nervous system that has become increasingly sensitised can continue producing very real pain even when tissue damage or inflammation doesn’t fully explain its intensity.
This is why we take a holistic approach to chronic pain, looking beyond the area that hurts to understand what else may be influencing the way the body is responding. Depending on the individual, this may bring together physiotherapy, Pilates and appropriate movement, manual therapies, breathwork, stress management and nervous-system regulation to support not only pain, but movement, confidence, recovery and overall wellbeing.
As we discussed in our article Why Your Nervous System Is Keeping You Tired, the body doesn’t operate as a collection of independent systems.
Pain, inflammation, hormones, metabolism, digestion, sleep and the nervous system continually interact, but they are not the same thing.
And this is exactly why we believe chronic and complex health conditions often need us to look beyond the medical diagnosis to support the recovery of our clients.
If you do not have any of these diagnoses, and if chronic inflammation isn’t always something you can see, how might you know that something is going on?
Unlike the swollen ankle or infected cut we discussed earlier, chronic inflammatory processes may show up through changes that seem completely unrelated.
Here are 15 less obvious signs that can sometimes be associated with inflammatory processes in the body.
This isn’t simply feeling tired after a busy day.
You may sleep for seven or eight hours and still wake exhausted, experience significant afternoon fatigue or feel as though your body never completely recharges.
Persistent fatigue has many possible causes, but it can also occur alongside chronic inflammatory and autoimmune conditions.
If your joints feel particularly stiff when you first get out of bed and take time to loosen up, inflammation may be one possible contributor.
Morning stiffness can be particularly relevant in inflammatory forms of arthritis, although there are many other potential causes.
Recurring pain, tenderness or discomfort in your hands, knees, hips, shoulders or other joints shouldn’t necessarily be dismissed as simply “getting older.”
Inflammation is central to some forms of arthritis and autoimmune disease.
You haven’t done a particularly difficult workout, but your body feels sore.
Persistent muscle aching can have numerous causes, but when it occurs alongside fatigue, joint symptoms or other health changes, it may warrant further investigation.
You struggle to concentrate, forget what you were about to say, lose your train of thought or find tasks requiring mental focus much more difficult than they once were.
“Brain fog” isn’t a diagnosis, but it is commonly reported by people experiencing a wide variety of hormonal, metabolic, autoimmune and inflammatory health conditions.
Perhaps you’re experiencing more:
Not every digestive symptom means inflammation is present. However, gastrointestinal symptoms can be important in conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease, coeliac disease and other digestive disorders.
Persistent changes deserve investigation rather than simply removing more and more foods from your diet.
Your skin can sometimes provide clues that something else is happening.
You may notice:
Inflammatory skin conditions are complex and can involve immune function, genetics, hormones, environmental factors and the skin barrier itself.
Headaches have many potential causes, including dehydration, muscle tension, hormonal changes, migraines, medication, sleep disturbance and stress.
Inflammatory pathways can also play a role in certain headache disorders.
Recurring, severe or changing headaches should always be appropriately assessed rather than automatically attributed to inflammation.
You may struggle to fall asleep, wake repeatedly during the night or sleep for long enough but still wake feeling exhausted.
Interestingly, the relationship between inflammation and sleep can work both ways.
Inflammatory activity may interfere with sleep, while persistent sleep deprivation can also promote inflammatory signalling within the body.
A workout that once took a day to recover from now leaves you depleted for several days.
You take longer to recover from illness, injury, travel or stressful periods.
When the body’s overall physiological load is already high, its ability to recover can sometimes become compromised.
Changes in your menstrual cycle, increased pelvic pain, worsening period symptoms or other hormonal changes can sometimes occur alongside conditions in which inflammation plays a role.
This is particularly relevant when we begin looking at PCOS and endometriosis.
Hormonal symptoms have many potential causes, so appropriate assessment is essential.
Perhaps you’ve been told that your fasting glucose or insulin is increasing, you’re experiencing significant energy crashes after eating, or your doctor has raised concerns about insulin resistance.
Chronic low-grade inflammation and metabolic dysfunction can influence one another, particularly in conditions such as:
Weight gain itself doesn’t mean someone has inflammation.
However, visceral fat, the fat stored deeper within the abdominal cavity around the organs, is metabolically active and can produce inflammatory signalling molecules.
This is one reason why body composition and metabolic health can be more informative than simply looking at the number on the scales.
This is one of the descriptions we hear surprisingly often.
You don’t necessarily feel acutely ill.
You’re still working, exercising, socialising and managing your responsibilities.
But everything seems to require more effort.
Your resilience has changed. You don’t bounce back as quickly. You simply don’t feel like yourself anymore.
That feeling shouldn’t automatically be labelled as inflammation, but neither should it always be ignored.
Perhaps this is the most important sign of all.
You don’t just have fatigue.
You have fatigue and bloating.
Or aching joints and poor sleep.
Or brain fog, menstrual changes, difficulty regulating your blood sugar and increasing exhaustion.
When we look at each symptom individually, they may appear unrelated.
When we look at the whole person, sometimes a pattern begins to emerge.
Do These Signs Mean You Have Chronic Inflammation?
No.
And this is an important distinction.
Fatigue, brain fog, digestive problems, headaches, poor sleep, hormonal changes and joint pain can have many possible causes.
Iron deficiency can cause fatigue.
Thyroid dysfunction can affect energy, weight, digestion and cognition.
Hormonal changes can affect sleep, mood and metabolism.
Medication can produce side effects.
Stress can influence digestion, pain, sleep and energy.
And many medical conditions can produce similar symptoms.
This is why we don’t believe in simply labelling every unexplained symptom as “inflammation.”
Persistent, unexplained or worsening symptoms deserve appropriate medical investigation.
If there is one thing we would like you to take away from this article, it is that inflammation isn’t necessarily the problem itself. Sometimes, it is part of the body’s response to a much bigger problem.
And that distinction matters.
If you sprain your ankle, the reason for the inflammation is obvious. But when inflammation is associated with PCOS, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, arthritis, endometriosis, autoimmune disease, metabolic dysfunction or another chronic health condition, the answer is rarely as simple as taking something to “reduce inflammation.”
Just as, if you’re experiencing fatigue, brain fog, digestive problems, poor sleep, joint discomfort, hormonal changes or a body that simply doesn’t seem to recover as it once did, we don’t believe those symptoms should automatically be labelled as inflammation.
We need to understand what is actually happening.
Sometimes that starts with your doctor or specialist.
Blood tests, imaging, specialist investigations, diagnosis and medication can all be essential parts of understanding and treating a health condition.
But we also believe there can be enormous value in looking beyond the diagnosis.
Because your diagnosis doesn’t tell us how you’re sleeping. It doesn’t necessarily tell us what you’re eating, how well you’re regulating your blood sugar, whether you’re moving enough – or if you are pushing your body too hard.
It doesn’t tell us about your digestive health, nutritional status, stress levels, muscle strength, recovery, relationships, work demands or what your nervous system has been dealing with for the past six months.
And all of those things can influence how you feel and how well your body functions while living with a health condition.
To care for you our practitioners believe in bringing together the best of conventional Western medicine with alternative, functional and integrative healthcare.
Depending on the individual, that might mean working with nutrition and metabolic health, naturopathy, holistic or women’s-health physiotherapy, Pilates, acupuncture, Qi Gong, manual therapies, breathwork, stress management or nervous-system regulation and while continuing to work alongside the doctors and specialists responsible for their medical care.
There is no single “anti-inflammatory” programme that is right for everyone.
There is no one food, supplement, exercise or treatment that addresses every inflammatory condition.
And there shouldn’t be.
Because we aren’t treating inflammation in isolation. We are supporting the person experiencing it.
So if your doctor has told you that you have inflammation, you’ve been diagnosed with a condition where inflammation forms part of the picture, or you simply know that something in your body doesn’t feel quite right, perhaps the next question isn’t:
“How do I get rid of the inflammation?”
Perhaps it is:
“Why is my body responding this way, and what does it need from me now?”
That is where we believe a much more useful conversation about your health can begin.
Do not hesitate to contact us if you would like to discuss a holistic health plan to care for your body.
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Understanding the hidden signs of inflammation and how integrative health can support your body.
Has your doctor recently told you that your blood test results say that you have inflammation?
And the question is: Do you know what that actually means?
Sometimes inflammation is easy to understand because you can see it or feel it.
When you sprain your ankle it becomes swollen, warm and painful. You cut your finger and the skin around it turns red. You develop an infection and experience swelling or fever. A joint becomes inflamed and suddenly movement is painful and restricted.
In these situations, inflammation is obvious, however you can see that your body is responding to an injury, infection or irritation.
When your immune system detects an injury, infection or potential threat, it sends out chemical signals that increase blood flow and activate immune cells in the affected area.
But what happens when you can’t see the inflammation?
At Studio Australia Barcelona, many of the people who come to us are experiencing health problems where inflammation may be occurring much more quietly within the body.
They may have been diagnosed with PCOS, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, rheumatoid arthritis, endometriosis, an autoimmune condition, inflammatory bowel disease or another chronic health condition in which inflammatory processes can form part of a much more complex picture.
Others come to us because they simply don’t feel well.
And because there isn’t necessarily anything visibly “inflamed”, it can be difficult to understand how the unrelated symptoms that we explore below in this post might connect.
This is where we believe it is important to look at the bigger picture.
Inflammation isn’t a diagnosis in itself, and it isn’t something we should simply try to suppress without understanding why it is there.
This is why we work from a holistic, functional and integrative health perspective, alongside conventional Western medicine, to explore the many factors that may be influencing a person’s health.
That may mean looking at:
Because when inflammation is part of a chronic or complex health problem, the more useful question isn’t simply:
“How do I get rid of inflammation?”
It is:
“Why is inflammation occurring, what else is happening in my body, and what can I do to support my health as a whole?”
In this article, we’d like to share some of the less obvious ways inflammation can show up in the body, the health conditions in which inflammation may play a role, and how we work integratively with our clients to help them better understand and support their bodies.
Before we start talking about how to reduce inflammation, there is something very important to understand:
Inflammation isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, we need it.
This response helps your body to:
Think again about that sprained ankle we mentioned earlier.
The swelling, heat and discomfort aren’t simply things that have “gone wrong.” They are part of your body’s response to the injury. Blood flow increases, immune cells move into the area and the repair process begins.
This is what we call acute inflammation.
Acute inflammation usually happens relatively quickly and is designed to be temporary.
You might experience it following:
Once the immediate threat has been dealt with and healing is underway, the inflammatory response should gradually settle.
In other words, your body knows how to switch inflammation on when it needs it, and importantly, switch it off again when the job is done.
The problem can arise when that inflammatory response doesn’t fully resolve, or when something within the body continues to stimulate it.
Chronic inflammation is different.
Rather than being a short-term response to an obvious injury or infection, inflammatory activity can persist over weeks, months or even years.
And unlike the swollen ankle, you may have absolutely no idea that it is happening.
Chronic inflammation can occur for many different reasons and can be associated with:
It is also important to understand that these relationships are not so simple.
Inflammation may contribute to a health condition, be a consequence of that condition, or become part of a cycle where several factors continually influence one another.
This becomes particularly important when inflammation is part of a more complex hormonal, autoimmune, metabolic or chronic health condition.
No, and this distinction is important.
We don’t want a body that is incapable of producing inflammation. We need an appropriate inflammatory response to protect us, repair tissue and fight infection.
What we want is a body that can respond when necessary, regulate that response appropriately and return towards balance once the threat has passed.
This is why at practitioners we want to understand when working with our clients:
Because once we begin asking those questions, inflammation stops being something we simply want to get rid of and becomes something that may help us understand what the body is trying to respond to.
This is where the conversation about inflammation becomes much more important.
At Studio Australia Barcelona, many of the people who come to us have already received a diagnosis from their doctor or specialist and are looking for additional ways to understand what may be influencing their symptoms and how they can better support their health alongside their existing medical care.
Our role isn’t to replace their doctor, medication or medical treatment. Instead, our holistic, functional and integrative approach works alongside conventional Western medicine and asks another important question:
What else may be influencing this person’s symptoms, inflammatory burden and capacity to recover?
Here are some of the health conditions and inflammatory issues we commonly help people to better manage and support:
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is commonly thought of as a reproductive or hormonal condition, but the picture is considerably more complex. PCOS is also closely connected with metabolic health, and research has identified associations with insulin resistance and chronic low-grade inflammation.
For someone with PCOS, we may therefore need to look beyond periods, fertility or weight.
Blood-sugar regulation, insulin sensitivity, androgen excess, body composition, nutrition, movement, sleep and chronic stress can all form part of the wider picture.
From an integrative perspective, this means supporting the individual’s metabolic health as well as their hormonal health, while continuing appropriate medical and gynaecological care.
At Studio Australia Barcelona, this may involve looking more closely at diet and blood-sugar regulation, body composition, appropriate exercise and strength training, sleep, stress and nervous-system regulation.
Depending on the individual, our practitioners may also incorporate nutritional support, naturopathy, acupuncture, holistic or women’s-health physiotherapy, Pilates and lifestyle coaching as part of a coordinated approach.
The aim isn’t to treat PCOS with one single intervention, but to identify the areas where we can support the individual’s overall health, reduce modifiable metabolic risk factors and help them manage their symptoms more effectively alongside their medical care.
Not every thyroid problem is caused by inflammation or autoimmunity, and this distinction is important.
Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, however, is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks thyroid tissue. People may experience fatigue, brain fog, constipation, temperature sensitivity, muscle or joint discomfort and changes in weight, mood and energy.
Medical diagnosis, thyroid testing and appropriate medication remain fundamental. Alongside this, we can look at areas such as nutrition, nutrient status, digestive health, metabolic health, sleep and stress that may influence how the person feels and functions.
Arthritis is another area where we need to avoid putting every condition into the same category.
Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune inflammatory disease, whereas osteoarthritis is a different disease process, although inflammation can also contribute to its progression and symptoms.
Pain, swelling, morning stiffness, muscle weakness and reduced mobility can sometimes lead people to become afraid of movement.
But avoiding movement completely isn’t necessarily the answer.
Depending on the condition and its severity, appropriately prescribed physiotherapy, clinical Pilates, strength work, mobility and restorative movement may help maintain function, muscle strength and confidence while respecting pain, inflammation and recovery.
In autoimmune disease, the immune system mistakenly reacts against the body’s own cells, tissues or organs. Inflammation can therefore become a central part of the disease process.
Autoimmune diseases include conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, lupus, psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, coeliac disease and multiple sclerosis. Inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are also immune-mediated inflammatory conditions.
These conditions require appropriate medical diagnosis, monitoring and, where indicated, medication.
Integrative care is not an alternative to that treatment. Instead, nutrition, appropriate movement, sleep, stress management, digestive health and other supportive practices may sit alongside medical care to support the person living with the condition.
Endometriosis is another condition where inflammation is part of a much bigger picture.
It is associated with a chronic inflammatory environment and can cause pelvic pain, painful periods, pain during intercourse, bowel or bladder symptoms, fatigue and fertility difficulties.
For many women, the most effective support comes from looking beyond the condition itself and understanding how it is affecting them holistically.
This may mean continuing to work with a gynaecologist while at the same time caring for themselves with physiotherapy, nutrition, appropriate movement, pain management and nervous-system support, depending on what that their body needs.
Because when endometriosis begins to affect energy, sleep, movement, work, relationships and everyday life, we believe the support should be just as individual and multifaceted as the condition itself.
The gut and immune system are closely connected, but this is also another area where misinformation is common.
Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are forms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Coeliac disease is an autoimmune condition triggered by gluten in genetically susceptible people.
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), however, is not the same as inflammatory bowel disease, and experiencing bloating doesn’t automatically mean your gut is “inflamed.”
Persistent digestive problems deserve proper investigation.
Once we understand what is happening medically, we can look more closely at nutrition, the microbiome, nutrient status, food tolerance and the gut-brain relationship rather than simply eliminating more and more foods without understanding why.
Inflammatory processes can also be involved in conditions affecting the skin, including psoriasis, eczema, acne and rosacea, although the mechanisms behind each are very different.
Immune activity, hormones, genetics, skin-barrier function, environmental triggers, stress and metabolic health may all be relevant depending on the condition.
We are cautious of claims that every skin problem “starts in the gut.”
Sometimes digestive health may be relevant; sometimes it isn’t.
Again, we need to look at the individual, assess their needs and tailor a treatment plan.
Some of the most important inflammatory changes may be completely invisible.
Chronic low-grade inflammation is closely interconnected with visceral adiposity, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
This helps us understand why blood sugar, body composition, muscle mass, movement, nutrition, sleep and stress shouldn’t be considered separate health issues.
They continually influence one another.
Improving metabolic health therefore isn’t simply about losing weight. It is about creating a healthier internal environment by supporting more stable blood sugar, improving insulin sensitivity, maintaining healthy muscle mass, reducing excess visceral fat and helping the body regulate energy and inflammatory processes more effectively
Finally, we need to distinguish pain from inflammation.
Not all chronic pain means that tissue remains inflamed.
Persistent pain can involve an extraordinarily complex interaction between previous injury, tissue health, movement patterns, the brain and nervous system, stress, fear, sleep and recovery.
A nervous system that has become increasingly sensitised can continue producing very real pain even when tissue damage or inflammation doesn’t fully explain its intensity.
This is why we take a holistic approach to chronic pain, looking beyond the area that hurts to understand what else may be influencing the way the body is responding. Depending on the individual, this may bring together physiotherapy, Pilates and appropriate movement, manual therapies, breathwork, stress management and nervous-system regulation to support not only pain, but movement, confidence, recovery and overall wellbeing.
As we discussed in our article Why Your Nervous System Is Keeping You Tired, the body doesn’t operate as a collection of independent systems.
Pain, inflammation, hormones, metabolism, digestion, sleep and the nervous system continually interact, but they are not the same thing.
And this is exactly why we believe chronic and complex health conditions often need us to look beyond the medical diagnosis to support the recovery of our clients.
If you do not have any of these diagnoses, and if chronic inflammation isn’t always something you can see, how might you know that something is going on?
Unlike the swollen ankle or infected cut we discussed earlier, chronic inflammatory processes may show up through changes that seem completely unrelated.
Here are 15 less obvious signs that can sometimes be associated with inflammatory processes in the body.
This isn’t simply feeling tired after a busy day.
You may sleep for seven or eight hours and still wake exhausted, experience significant afternoon fatigue or feel as though your body never completely recharges.
Persistent fatigue has many possible causes, but it can also occur alongside chronic inflammatory and autoimmune conditions.
If your joints feel particularly stiff when you first get out of bed and take time to loosen up, inflammation may be one possible contributor.
Morning stiffness can be particularly relevant in inflammatory forms of arthritis, although there are many other potential causes.
Recurring pain, tenderness or discomfort in your hands, knees, hips, shoulders or other joints shouldn’t necessarily be dismissed as simply “getting older.”
Inflammation is central to some forms of arthritis and autoimmune disease.
You haven’t done a particularly difficult workout, but your body feels sore.
Persistent muscle aching can have numerous causes, but when it occurs alongside fatigue, joint symptoms or other health changes, it may warrant further investigation.
You struggle to concentrate, forget what you were about to say, lose your train of thought or find tasks requiring mental focus much more difficult than they once were.
“Brain fog” isn’t a diagnosis, but it is commonly reported by people experiencing a wide variety of hormonal, metabolic, autoimmune and inflammatory health conditions.
Perhaps you’re experiencing more:
Not every digestive symptom means inflammation is present. However, gastrointestinal symptoms can be important in conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease, coeliac disease and other digestive disorders.
Persistent changes deserve investigation rather than simply removing more and more foods from your diet.
Your skin can sometimes provide clues that something else is happening.
You may notice:
Inflammatory skin conditions are complex and can involve immune function, genetics, hormones, environmental factors and the skin barrier itself.
Headaches have many potential causes, including dehydration, muscle tension, hormonal changes, migraines, medication, sleep disturbance and stress.
Inflammatory pathways can also play a role in certain headache disorders.
Recurring, severe or changing headaches should always be appropriately assessed rather than automatically attributed to inflammation.
You may struggle to fall asleep, wake repeatedly during the night or sleep for long enough but still wake feeling exhausted.
Interestingly, the relationship between inflammation and sleep can work both ways.
Inflammatory activity may interfere with sleep, while persistent sleep deprivation can also promote inflammatory signalling within the body.
A workout that once took a day to recover from now leaves you depleted for several days.
You take longer to recover from illness, injury, travel or stressful periods.
When the body’s overall physiological load is already high, its ability to recover can sometimes become compromised.
Changes in your menstrual cycle, increased pelvic pain, worsening period symptoms or other hormonal changes can sometimes occur alongside conditions in which inflammation plays a role.
This is particularly relevant when we begin looking at PCOS and endometriosis.
Hormonal symptoms have many potential causes, so appropriate assessment is essential.
Perhaps you’ve been told that your fasting glucose or insulin is increasing, you’re experiencing significant energy crashes after eating, or your doctor has raised concerns about insulin resistance.
Chronic low-grade inflammation and metabolic dysfunction can influence one another, particularly in conditions such as:
Weight gain itself doesn’t mean someone has inflammation.
However, visceral fat, the fat stored deeper within the abdominal cavity around the organs, is metabolically active and can produce inflammatory signalling molecules.
This is one reason why body composition and metabolic health can be more informative than simply looking at the number on the scales.
This is one of the descriptions we hear surprisingly often.
You don’t necessarily feel acutely ill.
You’re still working, exercising, socialising and managing your responsibilities.
But everything seems to require more effort.
Your resilience has changed. You don’t bounce back as quickly. You simply don’t feel like yourself anymore.
That feeling shouldn’t automatically be labelled as inflammation, but neither should it always be ignored.
Perhaps this is the most important sign of all.
You don’t just have fatigue.
You have fatigue and bloating.
Or aching joints and poor sleep.
Or brain fog, menstrual changes, difficulty regulating your blood sugar and increasing exhaustion.
When we look at each symptom individually, they may appear unrelated.
When we look at the whole person, sometimes a pattern begins to emerge.
Do These Signs Mean You Have Chronic Inflammation?
No.
And this is an important distinction.
Fatigue, brain fog, digestive problems, headaches, poor sleep, hormonal changes and joint pain can have many possible causes.
Iron deficiency can cause fatigue.
Thyroid dysfunction can affect energy, weight, digestion and cognition.
Hormonal changes can affect sleep, mood and metabolism.
Medication can produce side effects.
Stress can influence digestion, pain, sleep and energy.
And many medical conditions can produce similar symptoms.
This is why we don’t believe in simply labelling every unexplained symptom as “inflammation.”
Persistent, unexplained or worsening symptoms deserve appropriate medical investigation.
If there is one thing we would like you to take away from this article, it is that inflammation isn’t necessarily the problem itself. Sometimes, it is part of the body’s response to a much bigger problem.
And that distinction matters.
If you sprain your ankle, the reason for the inflammation is obvious. But when inflammation is associated with PCOS, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, arthritis, endometriosis, autoimmune disease, metabolic dysfunction or another chronic health condition, the answer is rarely as simple as taking something to “reduce inflammation.”
Just as, if you’re experiencing fatigue, brain fog, digestive problems, poor sleep, joint discomfort, hormonal changes or a body that simply doesn’t seem to recover as it once did, we don’t believe those symptoms should automatically be labelled as inflammation.
We need to understand what is actually happening.
Sometimes that starts with your doctor or specialist.
Blood tests, imaging, specialist investigations, diagnosis and medication can all be essential parts of understanding and treating a health condition.
But we also believe there can be enormous value in looking beyond the diagnosis.
Because your diagnosis doesn’t tell us how you’re sleeping. It doesn’t necessarily tell us what you’re eating, how well you’re regulating your blood sugar, whether you’re moving enough – or if you are pushing your body too hard.
It doesn’t tell us about your digestive health, nutritional status, stress levels, muscle strength, recovery, relationships, work demands or what your nervous system has been dealing with for the past six months.
And all of those things can influence how you feel and how well your body functions while living with a health condition.
To care for you our practitioners believe in bringing together the best of conventional Western medicine with alternative, functional and integrative healthcare.
Depending on the individual, that might mean working with nutrition and metabolic health, naturopathy, holistic or women’s-health physiotherapy, Pilates, acupuncture, Qi Gong, manual therapies, breathwork, stress management or nervous-system regulation and while continuing to work alongside the doctors and specialists responsible for their medical care.
There is no single “anti-inflammatory” programme that is right for everyone.
There is no one food, supplement, exercise or treatment that addresses every inflammatory condition.
And there shouldn’t be.
Because we aren’t treating inflammation in isolation. We are supporting the person experiencing it.
So if your doctor has told you that you have inflammation, you’ve been diagnosed with a condition where inflammation forms part of the picture, or you simply know that something in your body doesn’t feel quite right, perhaps the next question isn’t:
“How do I get rid of the inflammation?”
Perhaps it is:
“Why is my body responding this way, and what does it need from me now?”
That is where we believe a much more useful conversation about your health can begin.
Do not hesitate to contact us if you would like to discuss a holistic health plan to care for your body.
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