Chiropractic Care and Your Heart
February brings us Valentine’s Day and American Heart Month. It is the time when we think about our hearts and how they work for us including the importance of maintaining heart health by following a healthy lifestyle. Often times though a healthy lifestyle is not enough to prevent heart disease. Heart disease kills nearly 650,000 people in America every year according to the Center for Disease control and a person dies of heart disease every 37 seconds in the US.
This “silent killer” can be prevented though with heart health maintenance and chiropractic care. When you receive regular chiropractic care, you decrease your chances of developing heart disease. Studies show that chiropractic adjustments support the cardiovascular system improving heart health and potentially relieving chest pain, reducing your heart rate, lowering your blood pressure and preventing future heart attacks. Chiropractic patients also report lower levels of anxiety and stress.
This is due to the fact that chiropractic care helps the sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves in the spine. These nerves in the thoracic and cervical spine can cause a deregulation in your heart rate when they are misaligned or under pressure. If this problem remains untreated, it can lead to major issues as the spine and brain are unable to communicate with the heart, known as subluxation. This can lead to other health issues as well including migraines, hypothyroidism, diabetes and kidney disease.
Chiropractic adjustments treat subluxations lowering systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels which reduce the burden pumping blood creates on you heart. Lowering your blood pressure reduces the risk of ventricular hypertrophy, or a enlarged heart and ultimately cardiac arrest.
While family history and genetics contribute to heart disease, proper care can lower your blood pressure and help treat heart issues before a problem arises. Schedule an appointment today to begin taking care of your heart health in addition to following a healthy lifestyle.