Get To Know Your Numbers
Because there arent any symptoms, its important to have your blood pressure checked regularly. Get to know the numbers and when to get help from your doctor.
Your blood pressure will have two numbers:
- Systolic is the upper number, measuring when your heart is forcing blood through your vessels.
- Diastolic is the lower number, measuring pressure between heart beats.
For example, 120/80 indicates a systolic blood pressure of 120 and a diastolic blood pressure of 80 mm/Hg.
Can High Blood Pressure Cause Pain In Back Of Neck
Just like back pain, the cause and effect might be the other way around: your neck pain could be contributing to your high blood pressure. Researchers believe that nervous signals come from the neck and play a part in the transfer of blood. If the neck signaling system is in trouble, it can affect blood transfer and contribute to high blood pressure.
The Squeeze / Pressure In The Carotid Sheath
The carotid sheath is in the front and on both sides of our neck. It lays close to your styloid process which connects to your hyoid bone and also to the anterior lateral part of your C1 or the first bone in your neck. If there is compression in this area, then the blood pressure is going to be off, and in some cases roller coaster.
We are going to refer to our article Cervical spine compression causes internal jugular vein stenosis for a summary understanding of compression to the carotid sheath, artery, and jugular vein.
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How Can You Prevent It
It is better to prevent a hypertensive emergency than to treat an episode after you have already had one. One of the most common causes of a hypertensive emergency is not taking your blood pressure medicines properly. Sometimes this happens unintentionally. For example, your prescription may run out or you may forget to take a dose. But try to stay on your medicine schedule as best as you can. Another cause is illegal drug use, such as stimulants like cocaine.
Why The Upper Neck
Why does the alignment of the C-1 vertebrae have an effect on blood pressure? Because of its location at the brain stem, the C-1 only has to move about half a millimeter to start pinching the base of the brain. While this is not enough to cause pain in the area of the misalignment, it can certainly cause many other problems throughout the body. In fact, a misalignment of the C-1 can cause the spine to be twisted, one hip to be higher than the other, one leg to be shorter, and many other health challenges including hypertension.
How may such a misalignment have occurred? For some, an upper neck injury may have occurred at birth. Others experience an accident such as a car accident or a sports injury. Regardless of the cause of the upper neck injury, upper cervical chiropractic care is the best way to realign the vertebrae. It may thus reverse some of the symptoms related to the injury.
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Gallstones Or Enlarged Gallbladder
Pain in your right shoulder can be a sign of a gallstone blocking a duct in your gallbladder. You may also feel pain in your back between your shoulder blades. The pain may be sudden and sharp.
You may or may not feel the more common symptoms of gallstones or gallbladder inflammation. These are:
- sudden pain in your upper right abdomen
- pain in the center of your abdomen, below your breast bone
- nausea or vomiting
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Taking Control Of Womens Heart Health
The American Heart Association recommends that women check their blood pressure and cholesterol regularly and make healthy lifestyle choices like stopping smoking, eating healthy and exercising.
If you have a family history of heart disease or high blood pressure, you need to take it seriously, says Latricia. Its important to make changes and take control of your health.
Chest pain is still the most common sign of a heart attack for most women. Below are some common warning signs of a heart attack in both men and women.
- Uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain the center of the chest.
- Pain radiating to the neck, shoulder, back, jaw or arms.
- Shortness of breath.
- Cold, clammy sweats.
- Nausea, heartburn, vomiting or abdominal pain.
The scary thing about a womens heart attack is that it often doesnât come with chest pain. Studies have shown that women are more likely than men to have symptoms other than chest discomfort when experiencing a heart attack. In fact, according to the National Institutes of Health, between 30-37 percent of women did not have chest pain at all.
Some of the subtler signs of a heart attack could start weeks ahead of time for women. They are more likely than men to report pain in the middle or upper back, neck, or jaw shortness of breath indigestion, nausea, vomiting or loss of appetite and sudden onset of weakness. Other warning signs more common for women include:
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Is Neck Pain A Sign Of High Blood Pressure
High blood pressure can be recognized by various signs and symptoms such as stiffness of the neck. You might experience pounding neck pain along with pain in the shoulders and chest. If there is no apparent reason for your neck pain and stiffness then its time to go to your doctor and seek a diagnosis because yes, neck pain could be a sign of high blood pressure.
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Can High Blood Pressure Cause Upper Arm Pain
When enough plaque builds up, or a clump of it comes loose, to completely block an artery to your heart, it can cause a heart attack. The blockage starves the heart muscle of oxygen and nutrients. That can hurt or destroy it. You usually feel pressure or pain in your chest, but sometimes in your arm, neck, or jaw too.
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A Lot Of Diagnoses A Lot Of Misunderstanding Cardiovascular
One of the main concerns we hear from people when they contact our center is that they have a lot of diagnoses, a lot of re-diagnosis, and revised diagnosis. They have a mysterious heart condition that no one can figure out. This inability to figure out what is the main culprit in the patients health challenges is seen in the medical research.
A June 2020 paper in the Journal of Atrial Fibrillation , describes the difficulty in understanding lesser-known diagnoses of a racing heart and the problem of heart rate messaging miscommunication in the autonomic nervous system.
The cardiovascular branch of the autonomic nervous system is responsible for the regulation of heart rate, blood pressure, and maintaining homeostasis during physiological stress such as exercise and standing upright. The autonomic nervous system constantly controls the rate and force of heart contractions and the vascular tone with the aim to maintain the sufficient tissue perfusion with oxygenated blood and secure venous return to the heart. .
Now the authors discuss Dysautonomia problems of or dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system.
Moreover, heart diseases may evoke autonomic imbalance by themselves cardiac pump failure is usually associated with sympathetic hyperactivity , neuroendocrine vasopressor activation , higher heart rate, reduced heart rate variability and baroreflex hyposensitivity , all of which are predictors of adverse outcomes.
What Is Hypertension
Hypertension or high blood pressure is a condition when the blood flows too fast, exerting unnecessary pressure on the walls of blood vessels. High blood pressure can cause various long-term health problems. So its best not to ignore high blood pressure and take steps to lower it.
High blood pressure can be caused due to stress, obesity, diabetes, and lack of essential nutrients in the body. You should go for a thorough check-up to know the exact cause of high blood pressure. This allows you to make changes in your lifestyle and take steps to normalize your blood pressure.
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How Is It Treated
To treat a hypertensive emergency, doctors and nurses will carefully monitor your blood pressure and give you medicine intravenously . The immediate goal is to lower your blood pressure enough so that your organs are no longer in immediate danger. But it must be lowered slowly so that your body has enough time to adjust to the change in blood pressure. If blood pressure is lowered too quickly, your body may have a hard time getting blood to your brain.
The other goal of treatment is to treat organ complications. For example, your doctor may give you a diuretic if you have fluid buildup in your lungs. Or your doctor may give a beta-blocker and nitrates if you have myocardial ischemia . After your doctor has lowered your blood pressure to a safe level and treated your complications, he or she will try to identify the cause of the acute episode. Your doctor will then work with you to create a treatment regimen that can help prevent future attacks.
Research On Cervical Instability And Prolotherapy Treatments A Possible Solution To The Problems And Challenges Created By Cervical Spine Instability And Pressure On The Vagus Nerve On Heart Rate
Caring Medical has published dozens of papers on Prolotherapy injections as a treatment in difficult-to-treat musculoskeletal disorders. We are going to refer to one of these studies as they relate to cervical instability and a myriad of related symptoms including the problem of a racing heartbeat, heart rate variability, and high blood pressure.
In our 2014 study we published a comprehensive review of the problems related to weakened damaged cervical neck ligaments.
This is what we wrote:
There are a number of treatment modalities for the management of chronic neck pain and cervical instability, including injection therapy, nerve blocks, mobilization, manipulation, alternative medicine, behavioral therapy, fusion, and pharmacologic agents such as NSAIDs and opiates. However, these treatments do not address stabilizing the cervical spine or healing ligament injuries, and thus, do not offer long-term curative options.
What we demonstrated in this study is that the cervical neck ligaments are the main stabilizing structures of the cervical facet joints in the cervical spine and have been implicated as a major source of chronic neck pain and in the case of racing heartbeat, heart rate variability, and high blood pressure, cervical instability.
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What To Do Next
If you are struggling with high blood pressure, why not make an appointment to see if upper cervical chiropractic care can help you? X-rays will be taken to determine if your upper neck vertebrae have become misaligned somehow. Then the appropriate course of action will be taken to accomplish your health goals. Upper cervical chiropractic is safe and effective, making it an excellent natural and drug-free alternative.
To find an upper cervical specialist in your area go to www.nucca.org or www.upcspine.com. If you are in the Glendale, California area and want to schedule your NUCCA evaluation, .
Want to hear from real people like you? Check out our patient success stories.
Dr. Armen Manoucherian of Health Edge Family Spinal Care in Glendale, California is a Glendale Chiropractor and Upper Cervical Specialist trained by the National Upper Cervical Chiropractic Association . He has helped many children and adults find natural relief in Glendale, California and reach their full health potential. His upper cervical clinic also serves the communities of Pasadena, Los Angeles, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Burbank. He is uniquely trained to correct problems in the upper cervical spine . This vital area is intimately connected to the central nervous system and problems in this area have been shown to be an underlying cause of a variety of different health problems. More information can be found on his website at
Pounding In Your Ears
If you have a sensation of pulsing or pounding in your ears when you havent been exercising vigorously, this could indicate an elevated blood pressure. It could also be related to drinking too much caffeine, so try cutting back on the coffee and soda. Anxiety can have the same effect, so try meditation or a relaxing activity to see if the pounding sensation resolves.
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Shoulder Tendinitis Or Bursitis
Tendons are strong fibers that attach muscles to your bone. Bursa are fluid-filled sacs that prevent friction at joints.
Inflammation of the tendons and the bursa are common causes of shoulder pain, but pain can occur anywhere that inflammation occurs.
The tendons and bursa around your rotator cuff are especially prone to inflammation that causes pain and stiffness around your shoulder.
How Neck Pain Could Be Bad For Your Blood Pressure
The blood pressure is one of the major brain functions controlled by the brain along with many other functions, and neck musculature helps in controlling the blood pressure by sending neural signals to the brain. The blood pressure changes as we change positions from lying to sitting or standing position and vice versa.
In neck pain patients, there is a high likelihood of high blood pressure as the neck muscles send signals to brain for normal blood pressure functioning. Any alteration in these neural signals due to neck pain or neck stiffness, can eventually lead to a high blood pressure. A new research shows that neck muscles functioning via the neural connection between the neck and brain, could be playing a major role in blood pressure changes and altered neural signaling from the neck which can lead to blood pressure alteration.
Alleviating neck pain using various therapies can potentially result in reduced blood pressure, and hence quality of life would improve as the regular exercises can also be performed without any neck pain symptoms. The slight increase in the blood pressure can reduce the life expectancy, therefore any measure to reduce it should be taken.
Precautions and Management
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Who Is At Risk For High Blood Pressure
Your family history, lifestyle and medications can increase the chances youll develop high blood pressure. Risk factors for high blood pressure include:
- Drinking too much
- Some medications, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories, also known as NSAIDS, some decongestants, weight loss medicines and stimulants)
- Some underlying health conditions, such as obstructive sleep apnea, kidney conditions, adrenal gland tumors and thyroid diseases
- Tobacco and illicit drug use
Unfortunately, family history is a large contributing factor. Even if you eat well, are physically active and avoid risk factors, you may still experience high blood pressure.
What Are We Seeing In This Image
This is a chart that reveals autonomic testing results in a patient we saw in our office.
When hooked up and being monitored we can see that:
- When the person had a stressful memory, just one stressful memory, the sympathetic system went way up . This person with one stressful memory became super sympathetic dominant and then eventually when we got the person to laugh the sympathetic system and the parasympathetic system became balanced again.
A heart rate variability test can give us a picture to show us how the person is doing as a relates to thoughts, memory, relationships. We can also test based on neck motions.
The motion of the neck and heart rate variability
In the above image, we can see that the second most stressful event for this person, besides the stressful memory, was a certain neck motion. In certain people, when they move their neck to a certain position, they can feel their overall body becoming more stressful and this is a real physiologic event that happens to them and the way that we document is with HRV testing.
The testing put patients in different stressor situations. This could include the stress of having to perform mathematical equations and the response to loud noise.
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The Dangers Of A Herniated Cervical Disc
A herniated cervical disc can cause many problems, including pain and numbness in the arm and neck. It can also cause problems with balance and coordination. In some cases, a herniated disc can cause problems with the way the nerves in the neck send signals to the brain, which can lead to problems with vision, hearing, and even memory. In rare cases, a herniated disc can cause paralysis.
A herniation of a disc, as well as the anxiety that comes with potential surgery, can certainly cause elevated blood pressure. If you want to keep your blood pressure under control, you have a few tricks to help you.
I Have High Blood Pressurewhat Other Options Do I Have Besides Medication
Do you struggle with high blood pressure? Hypertension is a common ailment, and it is usually treated with prescription drugs that can have many side effects. Are you searching for a natural, drug-free solution to your blood pressure problem? Then you will be happy to know what upper cervical chiropractic care can do for you.
Upper cervical chiropractic focuses on the C-1 and C-2 vertebrae . Studies have shown that the C-1 vertebrae in particular can have a significant effect on blood pressure when it is misaligned. In one study performed at the University of Chicago Hypertension Center, half of the participants received an upper cervical correction, while the other half received a fake adjustment as a placebo. Both groups stayed off of their hypertension medication while participating in the study. The results showed that those who received an actual adjustment saw significant benefits. The results showed that the procedure has the effect of not one, but two blood pressure medications given in combination. More research continues to determine the full extent of the benefits of upper cervical chiropractic on high blood pressure as well as many other ailments.
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