4 Surprising Conditions That Benefit From Chiropractic Treatment

Chiropractic treatment involves using manual pressure techniques to manipulate the spine and nervous system in order to relieve a wide variety of conditions. It's a non-invasive therapy most well known for treating back pain and other spinal problems, such as herniated discs.

However, back pain and other spinal issues aren't the only conditions that benefit from chiropractic treatment. You may be surprised to learn that a number of other conditions respond well to chiropractic care. You may benefit from chiropractic techniques if you have any of the following conditions.

The most common type of headache that Americans experience is referred to as a tension headache. It's most often described as a feeling of tightness around the head. Depending on the severity, tension headaches have the capacity to significantly impact your quality of life in a negative way. Even mild headaches can disrupt your concentration and impair your ability to complete daily activities.

A number of research studies support the use of chiropractic techniques to manage tension headaches. In one such study published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, participants experienced a clinically significant reduction in severity and frequency of tension headaches.

Even though tension headaches are the most common type, the cause is largely unknown. Chiropractors hypothesize that misalignment of the spine and muscle tension cause or contribute to tension headaches. By correcting the misalignment of your spine and relieving the tension in your muscles, chiropractic treatment may help relieve your tension headaches.

When your heart beats it pumps oxygenated, nutrient-rich blood throughout your body to all of your organs. When your heart pumps your blood, it also places force against the walls of your blood vessels. And for some people, the force against the blood vessels is too high. If it remains high, it's referred to as hypertension, a condition that increases your risk of heart attack or stroke.

Lifestyle changes such as increasing your level of physical activity and reducing your salt intake help control high blood pressure. Additionally, chiropractic treatment can help. Research data indicate that chiropractic adjustment may significantly lower blood pressure in people with hypertension.

In fact, a University of Chicago study found that participants with a misaligned Atlas vertebra and high blood pressure experienced a reduction in blood pressure on par with a combination of two blood pressure-lowering medications.

The volunteers received treatment to re-align their Atlas vertebra - also known as the C1. The Atlas vertebra is the first vertebra of the spine.

Chiropractic adjustment may help manage the symptoms of attention deficit disorder - a condition marked by problems concentrating and difficulty completing tasks that require sustained attention. While commonly diagnosed in childhood, research suggests ADHD persists into adulthood in many cases.

Researchers reviewed the effects of chiropractic treatment in children who ranged in age from 9 to 13 years old. They found that chiropractic treatment improved hyperactivity, impulsivity, and ability to concentrate. It also improved overall behavior and social issues. The study, published in the Journal of Science and Healing, concluded that chiropractic spinal adjustments benefit ADHD.

Other conditions that may benefit from chiropractic treatment include those that affect your stomach and bowels, such as inflammatory bowel disease, chronic constipation, and irritable bowel syndrome. These conditions cause symptoms such as gas, bloating, and diarrhea.

Chiropractic adjustment may also help relieve the symptoms of gastro-esophageal reflux disease, or GERD, which occurs when stomach acid flows backward up the esophagus causing a burning sensation in the chest. The Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association reviewed existing studies and found supporting evidence for the use of chiropractic techniques to improve gastrointestinal disorders.

Chiropractic adjustment benefits a multitude of conditions. To find out how chiropractic care can help you, contact Progressive Chiropractic.