Where do you carry
your stress? Neck? Upper back? Head? Low back? Would you like
some help relaxing? Chiropractic spinal manipulation may
well produce relaxing effects especially when applied
to the cervical and thoracic spine areas. Executive Chiropractic of Iowa sees
stress daily. Executive Chiropractic of Iowa hears our West Des Moines
chiropractic patients ask for more spine treatment once they experience
how good it is! Astute chiropractic patients!
MEASURING RESPONSES TO SPINAL MANIPULATION: STRESS
First, how do we respond to
stress? Sweaty palms. Rapid pulse and heart rate. We can feel these responses.
Researchers strive to quantify these responses. Measuring
blood pressure, heart rate variability,
heart rate, and numeric pain scale after treating upper and lower cervical
spine segments of healthy and neck pain patients, researchers discovered
that upper cervical manipulation boosted
parasympathetic (calming) system and lower cervical manipulation boosted
sympathetic (fight or flight) activity. Interestingly, neck
pain patients’ parasympathetic activity was enhanced by
both upper and lower cervical manipulation. (1) Executive Chiropractic of Iowa notes
that just the effect of touch is influential.
EFFECTS OF MANIPULATION ON STRESS RESPONSES
The body responds to all sorts of stimuli.
Researchers strive to document how. One
group did a meta-analysis of multiple studies about
the effect of spinal manipulation and mobilization on cardiovascular responses.
Changes in systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure
and heart rate were charted. They determined
that spinal manipulation and mobilization may result in a
significant decrease of systolic together with diastolic blood
pressure. (2) An analysis of articles about the effect of spinal manipulation
on heart rate variability stated that a greater
parasympathetic response was noted when cervical and lumbar spine
areas were treated while a larger sympathetic response was seen
when the thoracic spine was treated. (3) Another study tied
pain response to resting blood pressure pre- and post-cervical spine non-thrust
manipulation. Non-chronic neck pain patients who underwent such manipulation experienced
reduced short-term pain and reduced systolic blood
pressure. (4) There’s
something to manipulation beyond pain relief, and Executive Chiropractic of Iowa is pleased
to share the research as it is made available.
SPINAL MANIPULATION TREATMENT
Executive Chiropractic of Iowa utilizes gentle spinal manipulation
applied to the cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine areas to decrease
pain. Spinal manipulation of the thoracic spine effectively influences
painful mechanical thoracic spine pain better than placebo treatment. (5) Effects
of thoracic manipulation go beyond the thoracic spine. Advantages
of manipulation of the thoracic spine extend to the cervical spine
for patients with bilateral chronic mechanical neck pain. Thoracic thrust manipulation
and non-thrust mobilization deliver similar changes in patients’
pressure pain thresholds and reduce neck pain intensity. (6) These
are benefits of West Des Moines chiropractic care Executive Chiropractic of Iowa is well-experienced
to deliver.
CONTACT Executive Chiropractic of Iowa
Listen to this PODCAST
with Dr. James Cox on The
Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he
describes how chiropractic and The Cox® Technic
System of Spinal Pain Management may well attune parasympathetic
and sympathetic and pain responses in the body.
Schedule your next West Des Moines
chiropractic appointment today. Your neck and shoulders and upper
back will be grateful for the attention as will your reduced
pain and heart rate and blood pressure after a gentle West Des Moines spinal
manipulation session.