Geske Chiropractic E-Newsletter (April 2008)

Here are two great articles:

1) Chiropractors and Chiropractic patients have known for years... that Neck adjustments affect you whole body, the organs and even blood pressure! (Seen on "Good Morning America").

2) Golf Injuries

Could a Neck Adjustment Lower Your Blood Pressure?

Though doctors are unsure of what causes blood pressure to increase, a new study suggests that a specific type of neck adjustment may reduce hypertension for some of the 65 million Americans battling it.

Geske Chiropractic blood pressure

The University of Chicago study, published in the Journal of Human Hypertension this month, looked at the possibility of a connection between a spinal realignment and a decrease in blood pressure.

"We set up a double-blind study to really look and see if in fact this procedure was affecting high blood pressure," said University of Chicago Medical Center hypertension specialist George Bakris.

The results were intriguing. The patients who received the chiropractic adjustments saw their blood pressure drop an average of 17 points -- a dip that usually takes two blood pressure medications to achieve.

"My blood pressure dropped tremendously," said Denise Nieman, who had neck pain before participating in the study.

Why It May Work
The idea behind the realignment is that the C-1 vertebra, located at the top of the spine, operates like a fuse box in the body. When it's twisted, it can pinch arteries and nerves at the neck's base, which not only causes discomfort but also affects blood flow.

"When the spine is misaligned, it can affect all types of things, all types of disease, conditions," said chiropractor Marshall Dickholtz Jr.

So for patients like Nieman, whose X-rays showed her C-1 out of alignment, the special chiropractic adjustment lowered the pain and her blood pressure simultaneously.

The Limitations
While the study presents some interesting ideas, it has its limitations, according to "Good Morning America" medical editor Dr. Tim Johnson.

"[There are] a lot of unanswered questions. But I'm telling you, this catches our attention because of a significant drop in blood pressure. It absolutely deserves more study," Johnson said.

A larger study has been commissioned; in the original study only 50 patients were treated, of which only 25 got the real adjustment, while the others received a fake one. Afterward there was only an eight-week follow-up.

Besides determining which patients would require X-rays to determine whether the procedure could help them, the procedure requires very special chiropractor training, Johnson said. And no one knows for sure how long the neck adjustments or decreased blood pressure will last.

Geske Chiropractic blood pressure 2

The truth is we really don't know that vertebra at the top of the neck is in a critical area where the brain stem, the lower part of the brain, is involved with regulation of blood pressure. It's theoretically imaginable that changing the anatomy of that area may have effect on regulating blood pressure," Johnson said.

Johnson said people hypertension should visit their primary care physician also and not substitute the doctor's visit with a trip to the chiropractor.

Golf Injuries

In the United States, it is estimated that more than 27 million people play the game of golf and, as shocking as it seems, they incur a reported 13.5 million golf-related injuries each year.

Geske Chiropractic golfer

Unfortunately, the average person does not prepare or condition their body for golf. They just play. They will show up minutes before their tee time and "bash it around" for 18 holes of golf. If they can't play a round of golf, they will go to a driving range and hit a couple hundred golf balls. No warm-up, no stretching – just playing golf or just hitting balls. Ball after ball after ball.

The average person can swing their golf club 90 mph. The average tour pro swings their club about 115 mph. Paul Chek, in his book The Biomechanics of Golf, writes: "Amateur golfers achieve approximately 90 percent of their peak muscular activity when driving a golf ball. This is the same intensity as picking up a weight that can only be lifted 4 times before total fatigue."

And that's just one swing! Even though par on a regulation 18-hole golf course is 72 strokes, the average golfer needs more than 100 strokes. Assuming one-half of your strokes are of lesser intensity (chipping and putting), this means you are swinging with "all your might" at the ball about 50 times during a five-hour round of golf. To make matters worse, there is often considerable down time between swings. There is time spent looking for wayward golf shots and time spent waiting for the slow groups ahead to move out of the way. Plus, many people are probably using golf carts instead of walking. It's easy to understand why your body cools off and stiffens up between swings.

The average person has no warm-up or stretching protocols for golf. You are swinging the club with violent, intermittent effort. If ever there were a recipe for injury, this would be it. In addition to intermittent "grip it and rip it" golf swings, many have varied amounts of pre-existing postural dysfunction and poor flexibility. When you add it all up, it's no wonder so many amateur golfers become injured. People are suffering from repetitive strain injuries due to lack of flexibility, postural instability and poor swing mechanics.

Most common golf injuries are varieties of repetitive strain syndromes. In other words, people are swinging the club in such a way that they are putting undo and often-extreme strain on muscles, tendons, ligaments, joints and bones. They swing often and with a determined violence to control the flight path of the ball through the air.

In subsequent articles, I will discuss the following common golf injuries: 1) hip/knee pain; 2) wrist pain; and 3) elbow pain. The intent of this four-part series is to help you understand if you are at risk of injury – hopefully before you experience pain. If you are in pain, you will gain an understanding of the mechanism of their injury and go see your chiropractor.
--Dr. Jeffrey Blanchard