Where does your stress go? Neck? Upper back? Head? Low back? Would you like
some assistance in relaxing? Chiropractic spinal manipulation may
well produce relaxing effects especially when applied
to the cervical and thoracic spine regions. Pensacola Spinal Rehab Center sees
stress every day. Pensacola Spinal Rehab Center hears our Pensacola
chiropractic patients request more spine treatment once they experience
it! Astute chiropractic patients!
MEASURING RESPONSES TO SPINAL MANIPULATION: STRESS
First, 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 discovered
that upper cervical manipulation boosted
parasympathetic (calming) system and lower cervical manipulation improved
sympathetic (fight or flight) activity. Interestingly, neck
pain patients’ parasympathetic activity was enhanced by
both upper and lower cervical manipulation. (1) Pensacola Spinal Rehab Center notices
that just the effect of touch is powerful.
EFFECTS OF MANIPULATION ON STRESS RESPONSES
The body responds to all sorts of stimuli.
Researchers do their best to see how. One
group did a meta-analysis of multiple studies about
the effect of spinal manipulation and mobilization on cardiovascular responses.
Variations 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 stated that a greater
parasympathetic response was noted when cervical and lumbar spine
areas were treated while a greater sympathetic response was seen
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’s
something to manipulation beyond pain relief, and Pensacola Spinal Rehab Center is pleased
to share the research as it comes available.
SPINAL MANIPULATION TREATMENT
Pensacola Spinal Rehab Center uses 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. Benefits
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 produce similar changes in patients’
pressure pain thresholds and reduce neck pain intensity. (6) These
are benefits of Pensacola chiropractic care Pensacola Spinal Rehab Center is well-trained
to deliver.
CONTACT Pensacola Spinal Rehab Center
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 and pain responses in the body.
Schedule your next Pensacola
chiropractic appointment soon. 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 Pensacola spinal
manipulation session.