Possible Carrolltown 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 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. Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation describes new 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) parts of the autonomic nervous system, is garnering awareness 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 reported that spinal manipulation before exercise sparked a shift toward intensified parasympathetic system function resulting in impaired performance. (1) That’s not all bad in the clinical setting! Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation knows it’s all about when to apply what type of care to get the best results. 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 Carrolltown spinal manipulation and mobilization at Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation are known for their ability to treat, ease, and manage spinal pain related conditions. As an additional benefit, alterations to the cardiovascular system have been noted. With hypertension being the global health concern (and even reason for death) that it is, such changes are possibly quite important. Blood pressure control is complex, relying 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 do not respond to traditional medications. Therefore, alternatives are being considered like chiropractic spinal manipulation therapy. A review of the published literature found promising outcomes that inspire more study. (2) A recent study found that spinal manipulation and mobilization effected 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 certainly 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 welcome if more studies continue to record such effect.   Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation 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 Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation

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 Carrolltown chiropractic appointment with Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation now. Hypertension may well meet its match - or at least back down a bit - with chiropractic spinal manipulation! Let us find out together.