Neuroendocrine Response Following a Thoracic Spinal Manipulation in Healthy Men
Thoracic Spinal Manipulation has an effect on Hypothalamus Pituitary Axis activity, cortisol levels dropped immediately after Spinal Manipulation and in the Testicular/Cortisol ratio many hours following Spinal Manipulation.
In order to successfully deal with stress, an adaptive and efficient response of the organism is essential. The hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and its end product cortisol play a crucial role in the response to stress.
Stress can be defined as the experience of an anticipated or actual threat to an organism’s homeostasis. Adequate coping with stressful situations requires adaptive physiological changes aimed at attaining stability through change, a process called allostasis.
A dynamic cortisol response, marked by a rapid rise and decline in cortisol levels following stress, is thought to be adaptive and to facilitate adequate coping with perceived threats in the environment. Cortisol mobilizes glucose storages to provide the organism with energy, refrains the immune system and the sympathetic nervous system (which is the first system to respond to stress), and exerts large effects on the brain.
Repetitive exposure to physical or emotional stress, may cause increase blood pressure, decrease your immune response, promote visceral obesity, promote muscular atrophy, and may cause disorders such as mental health disorders and infertility.
Manipulative Manual therapy has been shown to influence the HPA axis and cortisol levels, however more research is needed to understand the exact mechanism of action to capture the true holistic effects of osteopathy.
To view more results from this research, visit: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1746068918301354