A cardinal sign is a major symptom that doctors use to finalize a diagnosis. When it comes to inflammation, there are 5 cardinal signs your Vacaville Chiropractor recommends looking out for which are heat, pain, redness, swelling, and loss of function.

The interesting thing about an inflammation is that it is actually your body's biological process to help protect you. It's important to also know that not all of the 5 cardinal signs appear when you have an inflammation. There are instances that the inflammatory process is silent and won't show noticeable symptoms.

What is an inflammation?

An inflammation is the body's way of protecting itself from infection and foreign substances like bacteria and viruses. Inflammation allows the body to produce more white blood cells and other substances for protection.

There are times that the immune system triggers an inflammatory response the wrong way. This is what happens in autoimmune diseases. The body makes up for it by attacking its own healthy tissues, pretending like they are abnormal or infected.

When the inflammation starts, the white blood cells release chemicals into the blood and other affected tissues to protect the body. These chemicals focus more blood flow into the injured or infected areas thus causing redness and warmth to occur in those locations.

These chemicals may even leak the fluids into the tissues which may cause swelling. This is a protective process that stimulates the nerves and tissues thus causing you to experience some pain.

What is an acute inflammation?

This type of inflammation is what causes heat of a fever or warmth in the affected area. It is considered as a healthy and necessary function that makes the body attack the bacteria and other foreign substances that has entered into the system. Once the body heals, the inflammation starts to go down.

These are the conditions that causes acute inflammation:

• A flu-related sore throat
• Acute bronchitis
• An infected ingrown toenail
• Scratches and skin cuts
• Sinusitis
• Dermatitis
• Physical trauma

What is a chronic inflammation?

Chronic inflammation may attack healthy areas if it doesn't turn off right away. It can happen at any part of the body and it could trigger several chronic diseases depending on which area was affected.

These are the conditions that can cause chronic inflammation:

• Asthma
• Periodontitis
• Inflammatory arthritis
• Inflammatory bowel disease

What are the 5 cardinal signs?

There are instances where doctors and researchers would address these 5 cardinal signs of inflammation by their Latin names:

1. Calor (Heat)
2. Dolor (Pain)
3. Functio Leasa (Loss of Function)
4. Rubor (Redness)
5. Tumor (Swelling)

Pain (Dolor) - An inflammation can inflict pain on the affected joints and muscles. When an inflammation becomes chronic, that person will experience extreme levels of pain sensitivity and stiffness. These inflamed areas are also sensitive even to a slight of touch.

Heat (Calor) - When inflamed areas of the body starts to feel warm, it is due to the increased blood flow in those areas. People who are suffering from arthritic conditions have inflamed joints that feels warm to the touch. The skin surrounding those joints, may not produce the same kind of warmth. A whole-body inflammation can cause fever which may be due to an inflammatory response when someone becomes ill or infected.

Redness (Rubor) - Inflamed areas of the body may have a reddish appearance. The reason for this is that the blood vessels of the inflamed areas have more blood than usual.

Swelling (Tumor) - Swelling is a normal thing to happen when an affected area of the body becomes inflamed. The reason for this occurrence is due to the accumulating fluid in the tissues either in a specific affected area or all-throughout the body. In most cases, swelling can happen even without inflammation especially when there's an injury.

Loss of Function (Functio Leasa) - Inflammation can cause loss of function which may be related to both an injury and an illness. For example, an inflamed joint may have trouble moving, or breathing can become difficult due to a respiratory infection.