Dallas Chiropractor Best Practices
Research Commentary;
Chiropractic Care for Hypertension
A review of
Sullivan, S. G., Paolacci, S., Kiani, A. K., & Bertelli, M. (2020, November 9). Chiropractic care for hypertension: Review of the literature and study of biological and genetic bases. Acta bio-medica : Atenei Parmensis. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8023135/
Research Reviewed by Dr. Antonio Flaquer
Summarized Review of Conclusion:
In this study they concluded that chiropractic care was in fact beneficial with decreasing overall blood pressure for patients with type I hypertension, and also those who were reducing their weight had a significant decrease in blood pressure.
Below I have referenced key quotes from this research to help summarize the results.
Quotes from the Article:
“The research examining manual therapy to the cervical spine were the most supportive of chiropractic care as an intervention to lower blood pressure.”
Introduction to the Research
The purpose of the research was to determine if chiropractic care is beneficial and can help reduce blood pressure for patients with different stages of hypertension.
Research Methodology
The variation in results and methodologies employed in the research of spinal manipulative therapy for blood pressure limit any conclusions that could be made relative to chiropractic or other manual therapy techniques and the effect on blood pressure. This suggests that more research is needed. The research utilizing adjustments to the cervical spine more consistently demonstrate decreases in BP following manipulative therapy. The anatomic, HRV and electrodermal literature seem to support the cervical spine as an intervention point to influence the autonomic nervous system, although the electrodermal research seems counter to the HRV literature relative to which autonomic system is activated. One cervical manipulation and HRV study by Budgell et al. does show an increase in low frequency response, which is often attributed to sympathetic activation; however, increased sympathetic activation would suggest a blood pressure increase. This further illustrates the complexity of the intervention-response research and may indicate the need for improved understanding of the underlying neurophysiology related to BP control, location dependent nervous system responses to manipulative therapy, and participant characteristics prior to study onset.
Research Findings
The biggest takeaway from this research was seeing the benefits of chiropractic care and how it helps to reduce overall blood pressure. One of the biggest things we as chiropractors focus on is the nervous system and the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The system that allows us to regulate our blood pressure is the parasympathetic nervous system. the sympathetic nervous system is our “fight or flight” system which constricts are blood vessels for the heart to pump more blood out to certain parts of our bodies. We need the sympathetic system, but we also need the parasympathetic to regulate our hormones and blood volume. Stress is one of the biggest causes for early and chronic diseases and chiropractic care allows us to take stress off of the nervous system to allow everything to flow better. This is why blood pressure reduces when we get adjusted.
Research References
As always with these reviews, these are my takeaways from the article and I encourage you to read the article in its entirety. The references used in this article by the authors of this article are listed here.
Our Message
When you are looking for a Chiropractor near you that you can trust, choose one who will not only get rid of your back pain, neck pain, or headaches but who will also guide you to living a healthier lifestyle to keep you out of pain. Our East Dallas Chiropractors located in Lakewood, near the corner of Mockingbird Ln. and Abrams Rd., will teach you what the research says about how and why we should eat a better diet, move more and have more positive thoughts.