Stage 1 Hypertension

Medical Massage and Control of Hypertension

A pilot study

Boris Prilutsky

The medical benefits of massage therapy in cases of musculoskeletal abnormalities gaining acceptance of health practitioners. However, another advance in case of various diseases of internal organs, for the moment, is not recognized. In an attempt to bridge the gap between the two developments, I, in collaboration with Victor Gura, MD (associate clinical professor at UCLA School of Medicine), conducted a pilot study using six subjects with a diagnosis of hypertension. Tourtchaninov Ross, MD (medical massage practitioner) advised on the project protocol.

Chain Reaction

Medical massage therapy is a method of soft tissue mobilization. Several factors explain its physiological effects. Medical massage creates a mechanical acceleration of venous and lymphatic circulation, mechanical breakdown of pathological accumulation (eg, calcification of soft tissue), and passive exercise on soft tissues. By mobilizing skin, connective tissue, muscle tissue and periosteum, receptors located in these areas are stimulated, generating electrical pulses thereto. These impulses reach the central nervous system, stimulating the body to react via beneficial reflex mechanisms. The end results are vasodilation (resulting from decreased blood pressure and heart rate), increased arterial blood supply to tissues, release muscle tension and other healthy reactions.

Explain EH

The control of arterial blood pressure in those with hypertension is an important medical and social challenge. Hypertension is considered a major cause of heart attacks and strokes. An interesting fact, however, is that in all cases, hypertension, only 10 percent of patients have an established cause explaining their condition. For example, a narrowing of the aorta, adrenal tumors or glomerulonephritis produces hypertension secondary. In 90 percent of patients, the cause of hypertension is unknown. In such cases, the patient has "essential hypertension" or EH.

Modern conventional medicine recognizes an imbalance between sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions of the autonomic nervous system as the initial trigger of EH. An increase in sympathetic tone produces arteriolar vasoconstriction with a subsequent increase in peripheral vascular resistance. Initially, these changes are transitory and the body uses the self-regulatory mechanisms to restore the proper relationship between sympathetic and parasympathetic tones. Therefore, in the early stages of episodes of arterial blood pressure increased, without symptoms of hypertension. With time and repeated episodes of hypertensive crises, the organization provides special receptors, called baroreceptors in the arterial circulation at the new level, and elevation of blood pressure is sustained. As we have seen, a correctly formulated protocol of medical massage therapy can play a crucial role in controlling blood pressure in some patients with EH.

Physiology

First, quickly review how medical massage therapy affects blood pressure in patients with EH. There are three main mechanisms of massage practitioners should use to help patients with hypertension: Balance the sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions of the autonomic nervous system, vasodilator effect of vertebral arteries and reduce peripheral vascular resistance. These three mechanisms are intimately correlated, hence the need to discuss together as parts of a single process.

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