Possible Richmond Chiropractic Benefits for Hypertension
Hypertension. Blood Pressure. It’s a subject among friends and family members and patient/physician interactions even in yoga classes and via meditation apps. Our uptight world has us all stressed out, back pain and neck pain makes us worry, chronic pain anywhere stresses our bodies, pushing blood pressure higher. Johnson Chiropractic describes recent studies that demonstrate some potential promise of chiropractic and spinal manipulation’s being able 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) functions of the autonomic nervous system, is garnering notice in the clinical setting with normal clients and in the sport setting with athletes. A study of using spinal manipulation versus a sham treatment with recreational athletes revealed that spinal manipulation before exercise prompted a shift toward heightened parasympathetic system function resulting in impaired performance. (1) That is not all bad in the clinical setting! Johnson Chiropractic knows it’s all about delivering the right type of treatment at the right time to get the best outcomes. Parasympathetic dominance to enhance pain reduction is good for athletes who may suffer with back pain after their exercise.
CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM, HYPERTENSION, AND MANIPULATION
Manual therapies like Richmond spinal manipulation and mobilization at Johnson Chiropractic are recognized for their ability to treat, reduce, and handle spinal pain related conditions. As an additional 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 possibly quite critical. Blood pressure control is complex, depending on the autonomic nervous system for its regulation while genetics and physiology may also play a role. Some 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. A review of the published literature discovered promising outcomes that inspire more study. (2) A newer study found that spinal manipulation and mobilization made a statistically significant reduction in systolic blood pressure as well as diastolic blood pressure and heart rate variability though these were statistically non-significant in this study. (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 most often focus on the top, systolic number, so spinal manipulation’s effect would be welcome if more studies continue to confirm such effect. Johnson Chiropractic offers gentle spinal manipulation treatment via the Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management. It’s research-documented and efficacious for reducing back and neck pain.
CONTACT Johnson 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 Richmond chiropractic appointment with Johnson Chiropractic now. Hypertension may well meet its match - or at least back down a bit - with chiropractic spinal manipulation! Let’s figure it out together.
