Possible Richmond 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 uptight world has us all stressed out, back pain and neck pain creates worry, chronic pain anywhere stresses our bodies, pushing blood pressure higher. Johnson Chiropractic shares new studies that show 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, particularly its sympathetic (“fight or flight” reactionary part) and parasympathetic (“rest and digest” calm part) functions 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 revealed that spinal manipulation before exercise sparked a shift toward heightened parasympathetic system function resulting in impaired performance. (1) That is not all bad in the clinical setting! Johnson Chiropractic knows it’s all about delivering the right type of treatment at the right time to get the best outcomes. Parasympathetic dominance to enhance pain reduction is good for athletes who experience back pain after their events.  

CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM, HYPERTENSION, AND MANIPULATION

Manual therapies like Richmond spinal manipulation and mobilization at Johnson Chiropractic are known for their ability to treat, ease, and manage spinal pain related conditions. As an additional benefit, changes to the cardiovascular system have been documented. With hypertension being the global health concern (and even reason for 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. Quite a few patients - 20-30% of them - with blood pressure issues do not respond to common medications. Therefore, alternatives are being considered like chiropractic spinal manipulation therapy. An evaluation of the published literature discovered 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 needed. Systolic blood pressure reflects 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 usually focus on the top, systolic number, so spinal manipulation’s effect would be appreciated if more studies continue to show such effect.   Johnson 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 Johnson Chiropractic

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 Richmond chiropractic appointment with Johnson Chiropractic now. Hypertension may well meet its match - or at least back down a bit - with chiropractic spinal manipulation! Let’s find out together.