Clinical Trial

J Complement Integr Med. 2021 Aug 23;19(2):429-434.

doi: 10.1515/jcim-2021-0162. eCollection 2022 Jun 1.

"The immediate effect of neutral

spinal compress on heart rate
variability in hypertensive
individuals"
Poornima Bansal 1, Sujatha Kannarpady Janardan 1, Prashanth Shetty 2

 PMID: 34420268
 DOI: 10.1515/jcim-2021-0162

Abstract
Objectives: Hypertension (HTN) is considered as chronic medical condition. Because
of the increased complications associated with the conventional medicine, the effects
of naturopathic modalities were emphasized to prevent and minimize those adverse
effects. This study was done to assess the immediate effect of neutral spinal
compress on heart rate variability and blood pressure and thereby to substantiate
the clinical understanding of its effect in hypertensive individuals.

Methods: Hundred hypertensive individuals were recruited for the study. Subjects
were assessed for Blood Pressure (BP) and Heart Rate Variability (HRV) before and
immediately after the intervention of 20 min.

Results: Result shows significant reduction in mean Heart Rate (HR) (p<0.001), Low
Frequency (LF) (p<0.001), Low Frequency/High Frequency (LF/HF) (p<0.001), Systolic
blood pressure (SBP) (p<0.001) and Diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (p<0.001) and
significant increase in mean R-R interval (Mean RR) (p<0.001) and High frequency
(HF) (p<0.001) components of Heart Rate Variability after neutral spinal compress
intervention.

Conclusions: The results of the study reported that full neutral spinal compress
reduces the sympathetic tone and shifts the Sympatho-vagal balance in favor of
parasympathetic dominance and hence it can be concluded that neutral spinal
compress can be effectively used in the management of hypertension.

Trial registration: Clinical Trial Registry- India (CTRI); CTRI Reg. No-
CTRI/2020/01/022639.
Keywords: heart rate variability; hypertension; neutral spinal compress.

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