Possible St Peters Chiropractic Benefits for Hypertension
Blood pressure. Hypertension. It’s a subject among friends and family members and patient/physician interactions even in yoga classes and via meditation apps. Our tense world has us all wound up, back pain and neck pain makes us worry, chronic pain anywhere stresses our bodies, nudging blood pressure higher. Old Mill Chiropractic describes new studies that show some potential promise of chiropractic and spinal manipulation’s ability to positively affect blood pressure.
SPINAL MANIPULATION AND THE NERVOUS SYSTEM
Spinal manipulation’s effect on the nervous system, specifically 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 utilizing spinal manipulation versus a sham treatment with recreational athletes revealed that spinal manipulation before exercise elicited a shift toward heightened parasympathetic system function resulting in impaired performance. (1) That is not all bad in the clinical setting! Old Mill Chiropractic knows it is all about when to apply what type of care to get the optimal outcomes. Parasympathetic dominance to help reduce pain is good for athletes suffering with back pain after their events.
CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM, HYPERTENSION, AND MANIPULATION
Manual therapies like St Peters spinal manipulation and mobilization at Old Mill Chiropractic are recognized for their ability to treat, ease, and handle 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 cause of death) that it is, such changes are potentially quite important. Blood pressure control is complex, relying 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 do not respond to usual medications. Therefore, alternatives are being studied like chiropractic spinal manipulation therapy. An evaluation of the published literature discovered promising results that encourage more study. (2) A recent study found that spinal manipulation and mobilization made 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 reveals 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 appreciated if more studies continue to show such effect. Old Mill Chiropractic offers gentle spinal manipulation treatment via the Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management. Its is research-documented and effective for reducing back and neck pain.
CONTACT Old Mill Chiropractic
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. James Cox on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he describes how the Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management may assist the autonomic system.
Schedule your next St Peters chiropractic appointment with Old Mill Chiropractic today. Hypertension may well meet its match - or at least back down a bit - with chiropractic spinal manipulation! Let’s figure it out together.
