Possible Easley Chiropractic Benefits for Hypertension
Hypertension. Blood Pressure. It is a topic among friends and family members and patient/physician interactions even in yoga classes and via meditation apps. Our tense world has us all stressed out, back pain and neck pain creates worry, chronic pain anywhere stresses our bodies, nudging blood pressure higher. Young Chiropractic describes new studies that show some potential promise of chiropractic and spinal manipulation’s ability to beneficially change blood pressure.
SPINAL MANIPULATION AND THE NERVOUS SYSTEM
Spinal manipulation’s effect on the nervous system, particularly its sympathetic (“fight or flight” reactionary part) and parasympathetic (“rest and digest” calm part) parts of the autonomic nervous system, is gaining awareness in the clinical setting with normal clients as well as in the sport setting with athletes. A study of using spinal manipulation versus a sham treatment with recreational athletes reported that spinal manipulation before exercise prompted a shift toward heightened parasympathetic system function giving rise to diminished performance. (1) That is not all bad in the clinical setting! Young Chiropractic knows it is all about delivering the right type of treatment at the right time to get the best results. Parasympathetic dominance to enhance pain reduction is good for athletes suffering with back pain after their events.
CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM, HYPERTENSION, AND MANIPULATION
Manual therapies like Easley spinal manipulation and mobilization at Young Chiropractic are recognized for their ability to treat, reduce, and manage spinal pain related conditions. As a bonus benefit, changes to the cardiovascular system have been documented. With hypertension being the global health concern (and even reason for death) that it is, such changes are potentially quite important. Blood pressure control is complex, counting on the autonomic nervous system for its regulation while genetics and physiology may also play a role. Quite a few patients - 20-30% of them - with blood pressure issues don’t respond to traditional medications. Therefore, alternatives are being considered like chiropractic spinal manipulation therapy. An evaluation of the published literature found promising outcomes that inspire more study. (2) A recent study found that spinal manipulation and mobilization had a statistically significant decrease in systolic blood pressure as well as diastolic blood pressure and heart rate variability though these were statistically non-significant in this setting. (3) More research is most definitely called for. Systolic blood pressure reflects the force on the blood vessels when the heart beats (top number) while diastolic reflects the pressure in the arteries when the heart rests between beats (bottom number). Doctors usually focus on the top, systolic number, so spinal manipulation’s effect would be welcome if more studies continue to show such effect. Young Chiropractic offers gentle spinal manipulation treatment via the Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management. Its is research-documented and efficacious for reducing back and neck pain.
CONTACT Young Chiropractic
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. James Cox on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he explains how the Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management may assist the autonomic system.
Schedule your next Easley chiropractic appointment with Young Chiropractic soon. Hypertension may well meet its match - or at least back down a bit - with chiropractic spinal manipulation! Let us find out together.
