Neck Pain and High Blood Pressure
This may be of interest to those who suffer from high blood pressure after a whiplash injury. A team from the University of Leeds, led by Professor Jim Deuchars has examined pathways between the neck and the brain to show how the neck muscles play a crucial role in controlling blood pressure.
Update: Also see some tips on how you can lower blood pressure.
Their study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, provides the first evidence for a role for these connections in influencing brain regions which control body functions that we don’t need to think about, such as breathing and blood pressure.
Chiropractors have long known that tackling neck pain by manipulating the neck can also lower blood pressure, but the reasons were never clear. These new findings clarify how manipulative treatments may work: “Reports from chiropractic journals say that manipulating the neck region helps to reduce blood pressure in some people,” Prof Deuchars explained. “By identifying the pathways we can see why these treatments might work and it could also explain why some people suffering whiplash injuries may experience a change in their blood pressure.”
The findings also contribute to understanding postural hypotension, fainting which can be caused by standing up too fast. The neck muscles could be a part of the system which normally prevents this from happening by sending signals to the brain upon neck movement that posture has changed.
More research is now needed to see which sensory nerve fibres and precisely which cells are involved in the process. The team would now like to know what other brain regions the neck muscle termination site connects to. They believe that there are many malfunctions associated with whiplash injuries to the neck that could be better understood by unravelling these connections. They hope that this knowledge could be used to design more effective treatments for such injuries.
For more information see the Journal of Neuroscience article: The Neurochemically Diverse Intermedius Nucleus of the Medulla as a Source of Excitatory and Inhibitory Synaptic Input to the Nucleus Tractus Solitarii.
I’m undergoing this neck / headache/ high blood pressure good information that I can use..
Thanks
[…] a short follow-up to the article on the relation between neck injury and high blood pressure, this article summarizes some treatment tips to lower blood pressure. A blood pressure level of […]
I was rear ended in a car accident and suffered whiplash.
I have always had excellent blood pressure. One day before the accident my blood pressure was taken in a DR.’s office and it was 107 over 93. At the scene of the accident my blood pressure was 150 over 105. When I was released from the hospital it was 148 over the 90’s. It has been two weeks and my blood pressure is still high. I have been to
two Dr’s and they are unfamiliar with this.
I suffer from chronic whiplash injury following 4 whiplash accidents, I can only work 30% because of the damage. My usual chiropractioner moved away - he just manipulated my neck and back very very gently and the effects were immediate. With my new doctor I feel slaughtered when I leave his surgery today he made my neck “crack” and I cried in pain, he seems to concentrate on mobilising my shoulders, arms everything except my neck except for today. I used to see my other doctor about 2x a month “on demand” now I’m seeing this doctor 1x week and there are very few results or if there are after 4 days I’m as I was before. Should I continue, is the “heavy method” correct? I would appreciate some advice.
Many thanks
Barbara
Two years ago I went to a Chiropractor. Before treatment my blood pressure was 120/70 and had always been good. The day after the treatment, which was adjusting the neck with a hard pull and turning the head, my blood pressure was 217/117. Have been in and out of the ER with blood pressure spiking 200’s/100’s. I take long hot showers which has helped. Also messages help but still have to take medicine.