What Is Inflammation?

• By vishwa on Health

• May 30, 2012

Inflammation is the buzzword these days. Allow me to explain what is inflammation and the difference between acute and chronic inflammation.

Inflammation is a part of the body’s natural healing process causing redness, pain, heat, swelling, and pus in the infected area. So you see that inflammation by itself is not a terrible thing. On the other hand, it is an innate response to injury, stress, illness, and pain. It is not an accident. It is essential to our existence.

How can you say that inflammatory response is essential and important? Take for example, an injury caused by a cut.

When there is a cut increased blood flow warms the injured area and turns it red, and that can be irritating. But it also carries leukocytes and plasma required for healing. Leukocytes also wall of the infected area, preventing its spread to other parts of the body, for a cut can be easily infected by pathogens. Secondly, the injured area swells up. The swelling makes the injured part sensitive and nonfunctional. Lastly, the injured area has to pain because if it doesn’t pain you can continue to damage the injured area. So loss of function is paramount, for you don’t want to reinjure it.

Now, let us focus on the important question. What will happen if the inflammatory response turns from being (becomes) acute to chronic? You should know that an acute inflammation is only temporary. But what if this inflammatory response turns out to be constant feature of your physiology—chronic?

Part 2—chronic inflammation.

Watch the video for an animated discussion of inflammation and healing.
http://youtu.be/FraKUUetOpc