Inflammation was initially defined as a response of the innate immune system to infection and/or injury. However, recent scientific developments demonstrate that inflammation also is triggered when variations in certain commonly regulated variables, including glucose, electrolytes, pH, osmolarity, temperature, oxygen and stiffness of the extracellular matrix, cannot be reversed by homeostatic mechanisms alone. These scientific discoveries expand the list of potential triggers of inflammation to include numerous local and systemic signals of tissue damage or danger and broaden the definition of inflammation to consider it as an extension of the stress response.

Moreover, it is now known that inflammation does not subside passively but is actively resolved by specific anti-inflammatory and pro-resolution molecules which act as stop signals and checkpoints for pro-inflammatory mediators. The most modern view of acute inflammation includes three distinct phases along a continuum 1) proinflammatory, 2) resolution and 3) post-resolution or adaptive homeostasis. All three phases play important roles in tissue repair, long term healing and return to homeostasis following the initiation of an inflammatory response.

This lecture will provide evidence supporting the most recent view of inflammation as an extension of the stress response, including several examples from current scientific literature and their clinical implications. The development of a more current, in-depth understanding of inflammation provides Naturopathic doctors, and other health care professionals, with additional insights into potential root cause(s) of disease as well as provides clues for medications and therapies that could be included to improve the care of their patients with acute or chronic inflammatory disease.