Possible McHenry Chiropractic Benefits for Hypertension

Hypertension. Blood Pressure. It’s a topic 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. OrthoIllinois Chiropractic shares new studies that demonstrate some potential promise of chiropractic and spinal manipulation’s ability to positively 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) parts 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 delivering spinal manipulation versus a sham treatment with recreational athletes reported that spinal manipulation before exercise triggered a shift toward heightened parasympathetic system function giving rise to impaired performance. (1) That is not all bad in the clinical setting! OrthoIllinois Chiropractic knows it is 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 may suffer with back pain after their exercise.  

CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM, HYPERTENSION, AND MANIPULATION

Manual therapies like McHenry spinal manipulation and mobilization at OrthoIllinois Chiropractic are recognized for their ability to treat, ease, and manage 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 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 traditional medications. Consequently, alternatives are being considered like chiropractic spinal manipulation therapy. A review of the published literature found promising outcomes that encourage 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 study. (3) More research is most definitely called for. 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 commonly pay more attention to the top, systolic number, so spinal manipulation’s effect would be welcome if more studies continue to confirm such effect.   OrthoIllinois 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 OrthoIllinois 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 McHenry chiropractic appointment with OrthoIllinois Chiropractic today. Hypertension may well meet its match - or at least back down a bit - with chiropractic spinal manipulation! Let us find out together.