The source, process and effects of stress on health and disease and osteopathy – A literature review
Item
- Title
- The source, process and effects of stress on health and disease and osteopathy – A literature review
- Author(s)
- Berdux, JP
- Abstract
- The aim of this dissertation is to investigate what stress is, what causes it, what mediates it, how this might affect our physiology and can lead to pre-pathological and eventually pathological states, and how it might be buffered through manual therapy and lifestyle changes. The theoretical understanding of stress and its physiopathological implications seem to be either poorly understood or out-dated within osteopathic education and literature. The physiopathological changes involved in stress are indeed very broad and should be well understood by osteopathic students and practitioners alike. Also very little literature relating manual therapy to stress processes has been documented hence the importance of such an investigation. The most recent and relevant literature has been reviewed - with a focus on scientific journals - relevant to the topic. A critical appraisal of the literature reviewed has led to support the place of soft tissue massage and HVLATs within osteopathy as a buffer of both blood pressure and perceived anxiety as a biomarker of stress, and a sychological element of stress, respectively. Additionally, while the evidence supporting this is limited, HVLATs seem to be effective in causing a cortisol mediated short term reduction in inflammation and thus pain possibly leading to reduced stress. Conclusions on lifestyle changes suggest that encouraging moderate voluntary aerobic exercise, regular sleep adapted to ag.e, quitting smoking and social-integration all have positive stress buffering capacities. The major question that needs however to be askedand looked at in further studies is whether these modalities cause a reduction in the biomarkers of stress because they symptoms that cause pain or discomfort leading to a decrease in stress by itself. Future research might also want to consistently combine both physiological and psychological measurements of stress as the lack of either of these leads to less consistent analysis.
- presented at
- European School of Osteopathy
- Date Accepted
- 2011
- Date Submitted
- 22.1.2013 16:23:35
- Type
- osteo_thesis
- Language
- English
- Submitted by:
- 62
- Pub-Identifier
- 15254
- Inst-Identifier
- 1229
- Keywords
- Stress and diseases; Osteopathy
- Recommended
- 0
- Item sets
- Thesis
Berdux, JP, “The source, process and effects of stress on health and disease and osteopathy – A literature review”, Osteopathic Research Web, accessed May 2, 2024, https://www.osteopathicresearch.com/s/orw/item/811