Possible Baton Rouge 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 creates worry, chronic pain anywhere stresses our bodies, nudging blood pressure higher. Medical Spine and Sports Injury and Rehab Centers presents new studies that demonstrate some potential promise of chiropractic and spinal manipulation’s ability to beneficially alter 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 utilizing spinal manipulation versus a sham treatment with recreational athletes reported that spinal manipulation before exercise sparked a shift toward heightened parasympathetic system function giving rise to impaired performance. (1) That’s not all bad in the clinical setting! Medical Spine and Sports Injury and Rehab Centers knows it’s all about when to apply what type of care to get the optimal results. 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 Baton Rouge spinal manipulation and mobilization at Medical Spine and Sports Injury and Rehab Centers are recognized for their ability to treat, reduce, and manage spinal pain related conditions. As a side 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 possibly 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. Some patients - 20-30% of them - with blood pressure issues don’t respond to usual medications. Therefore, alternatives are being studied like chiropractic spinal manipulation therapy. A review of the published literature found promising results that inspire more study. (2) A newer 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 reveals the pressure in the arteries when the heart rests between beats (bottom number). Doctors usually pay more attention to the top, systolic number, so spinal manipulation’s effect would be welcome if more studies continue to show such effect. Medical Spine and Sports Injury and Rehab Centers offers gentle spinal manipulation treatment via the Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management. It’s research-documented and effective for reducing back and neck pain.
CONTACT Medical Spine and Sports Injury and Rehab Centers
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.
Make your next Baton Rouge chiropractic appointment with Medical Spine and Sports Injury and Rehab Centers now. Hypertension may well meet its match - or at least back down a bit - with chiropractic spinal manipulation! Let us find out together.
