Possible Severna Park 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 uptight world has us all stressed out, back pain and neck pain makes us worry, chronic pain anywhere stresses our bodies, nudging blood pressure higher. Back And Neck Care Center shares new studies that demonstrate some potential promise of chiropractic and spinal manipulation’s being able to positively alter 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 attention 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 triggered a shift toward enhanced parasympathetic system function resulting in impaired performance. (1) That’s not all bad in the clinical setting! Back And Neck Care Center knows it is all about delivering the right type of treatment at the right time to get the optimal outcomes. Parasympathetic dominance to help reduce pain is good for athletes who experience back pain after their exercise.  

CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM, HYPERTENSION, AND MANIPULATION

Manual therapies like Severna Park spinal manipulation and mobilization at Back And Neck Care Center are recognized for their ability to treat, reduce, and handle spinal pain related conditions. As a bonus benefit, alterations to the cardiovascular system have been noted. With hypertension being the global health concern (and even cause of death) that it is, such changes are possibly quite important. Blood pressure control is complex, depending 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. Consequently, alternatives are being studied like chiropractic spinal manipulation therapy. An evaluation of the published literature found promising results 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 certainly called for. Systolic blood pressure reveals 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 appreciated if more studies continue to show such effect.   Back And Neck Care Center 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 Back And Neck Care Center

Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. James Cox on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he illustrates how the Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management may assist the autonomic system.

Schedule your next Severna Park chiropractic appointment with Back And Neck Care Center today. Hypertension may well meet its match - or at least back down a bit - with chiropractic spinal manipulation! Let us find out together.