Possible Plainville 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, pushing blood pressure higher. Layden Chiropractic shares new studies that demonstrate 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) functions of the autonomic nervous system, is garnering attention in the clinical setting with normal clients and in the sport setting with athletes. A study of utilizing spinal manipulation versus a sham treatment with recreational athletes found that spinal manipulation before exercise elicited a shift toward intensified parasympathetic system function giving rise to impaired performance. (1) That’s not all bad in the clinical setting! Layden Chiropractic knows it’s all about when to apply what type of care to get the optimal outcomes. Parasympathetic dominance to help reduce pain is good for athletes who experience back pain after their events.  

CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM, HYPERTENSION, AND MANIPULATION

Manual therapies like Plainville spinal manipulation and mobilization at Layden Chiropractic are recognized for their ability to treat, reduce, and handle spinal pain related conditions. As an additional benefit, alterations 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 critical. Blood pressure control is complex, depending on the autonomic nervous system for its regulation while genetics and physiology may also influence it. Some patients - 20-30% of them - with blood pressure issues don’t respond to traditional medications. Consequently, alternatives are being studied like chiropractic spinal manipulation therapy. A review 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 needed. 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 commonly pay more attention to the top, systolic number, so spinal manipulation’s effect would be appreciated if more studies continue to record such effect.   Layden 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 Layden Chiropractic

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 Plainville chiropractic appointment with Layden Chiropractic today. Hypertension may well meet its match - or at least back down a bit - with chiropractic spinal manipulation! Let us find out together.