Possible New Roads 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 makes us worry, chronic pain anywhere stresses our bodies, pushing blood pressure higher. New Roads Chiropractic Center shares recent studies that demonstrate some potential promise of chiropractic and spinal manipulation’s ability to beneficially 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) parts of the autonomic nervous system, is gaining 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 prompted a shift toward enhanced parasympathetic system function giving rise to impaired performance. (1) That’s not all bad in the clinical setting! New Roads Chiropractic Center knows it’s all about delivering the right type of treatment at the right time to get the best outcomes. Parasympathetic dominance to help reduce pain is good for athletes who may suffer with back pain after their events.  

CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM, HYPERTENSION, AND MANIPULATION

Manual therapies like New Roads spinal manipulation and mobilization at New Roads Chiropractic Center are known for their ability to treat, ease, and handle 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 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. Quite a few patients - 20-30% of them - with blood pressure issues don’t respond to usual medications. Consequently, alternatives are being studied like chiropractic spinal manipulation therapy. An evaluation 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 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 usually focus on the top, systolic number, so spinal manipulation’s effect would be appreciated if more studies continue to show such effect.   New Roads Chiropractic Center 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 New Roads Chiropractic Center

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 New Roads chiropractic appointment with New Roads Chiropractic Center soon. Hypertension may well meet its match - or at least back down a bit - with chiropractic spinal manipulation! Let’s figure it out together.