Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka Offers Treatment with Relaxing Effects
Where do you carry your stress? Neck? Upper back? Head? Low back? Do you want some help relaxing? Chiropractic spinal manipulation may well produce relaxing effects particularly when applied to the cervical and thoracic spine regions. Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka observes stress daily. Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka hears our Sitka chiropractic patients ask for more spine treatment once they experience it! Astute chiropractic patients!
MEASURING RESPONSES TO SPINAL MANIPULATION: STRESS
Initially, how do we react to stress? Sweaty palms. Rapid pulse and heart rate. We can feel these responses. Researchers want 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 found that upper cervical manipulation enhanced parasympathetic (calming) system and lower cervical manipulation enhanced sympathetic (fight or flight) activity. Curiously, neck pain patients’ parasympathetic activity was enhanced by both upper and lower cervical manipulation. (1) Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka notices that the effect of touch alone is influential.
EFFECTS OF MANIPULATION ON STRESS RESPONSES
The body responds to all sorts of stimuli. Researchers strive to see how. One group performed 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 documented. They concluded 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 reported that a greater parasympathetic response was seen when cervical and lumbar spine areas were treated while a greater sympathetic response was noticed when the thoracic spine was treated. (3) Another study correlated pain response to resting blood pressure pre- and post-cervical spine non-thrust manipulation. Non-chronic neck pain patients who underwent such manipulation had reduced short-term pain and decreased systolic blood pressure. (4) There is something to manipulation beyond pain relief, and Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka is happy to present the research as it is made available.
SPINAL MANIPULATION TREATMENT
Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka utilizes gentle spinal manipulation applied to the cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine areas to decrease pain. Spinal manipulation of the thoracic spine efficiently influences painful mechanical thoracic spine pain better than placebo treatment. (5) Effects of thoracic manipulation transcend the thoracic spine. Benefits of manipulation of the thoracic spine reach 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 Sitka chiropractic care Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka is well-experienced to deliver.
CONTACT Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka
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 address parasympathetic and sympathetic as well as pain responses in the body.
Schedule your next Sitka chiropractic appointment today. Your neck and shoulders and upper back will appreciate the attention as will your reduced pain and heart rate and blood pressure after a gentle Sitka spinal manipulation session.
