heartrateHeart Rate Variability (HRV) doesn’t have much to do with your heart, it’s a test that examines your nervous system. HRV has been used in several professions for more than four decades before: it is now being used in chiropractic.

HRV History

Dating back to 1965, many books, articles and papers have been published on Heart Rate Variability. As a result, HRV has one of the largest research institutes behind it of all the modern diagnostic methods. Consequently, the name “Heart Rate Variability” stuck because all the published research uses it.

Heart Rate Variability was introduced to chiropractic during the late nineties when Eingorn et al was focusing on the probability of including Heart Rate Variability in chiropractic offices as a standard test. However, it wasn’t until around last decade that saw the publication of the first-ever studies on chiropractic care effects on Heart Rate Variability. Also, it was during this period that commercial testing equipment started being available to enable Heart Rate Variability to be utilized in a chiropractic office.

Uses of HRV Testing in Chiropractic Setting

HRV measures the nervous system activity, specifically ANS (autonomic nervous system). In both chiropractic and medical offices, HRV testing usually looks at the following:

  • The neuroendocrine connection autonomic nervous system to the adrenal system.
  • The balance between parasympathetic and sympathetic, which are the divisions of the autonomic nervous system.
  • Sympathetic and parasympathetic activity
  • Hypothalamus activity. Hypothalamus is a portion of the brain that controls and coordinates both sympathetic and parasympathetic branches.
  • Hypothalamus activity in its role of autonomic nervous system coordinator.
  • The overall activity of the autonomic nervous system, which is typically a direct measure of autonomic nervous system health and adaptability.

ANS Assessment

Assessment of the human body adaptive capacity requires ANS assessment because the tone of both the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems are vital determinant factors of the level that your body is able to marshal its regulatory reserves so that it can deal with stress. HRV asses this system’s tone and then the data is interpreted in several ways.

Benefits of using Heart Rate Variability in Chiropractic Practice

  • Reimbursable by insurance – Most of the insurance plans cover HRV costs when it’s billed in the proper way.
  • Modern HRV equipment provides reports that enable doctors to easily explain to their patient about the HRV results.
  • Legal defensibility – Heart Rate Variability provides a reliable measure of chiropractic care effects on conditions resulting from imbalance ANS. All chiropractors must have CPR certification.
  • Relatively inexpensive equipment
  • Ease of use – Heart Rate Variability can take only five minutes to be measured and doesn’t need the use of an Electrocardiography (EKG).
  • Non-invasiveness of the test – Heart Rate Variability testing does not require blood draws, needles and produces no radiation.

About Bathurst Chiropractic

Bathurst Chiropractic is your best Bathurst Chiropractor; we do everything to help you live a better life. Bathurst Chiropractic’s health philosophy is optimal wellness, not just pain relief. When you’re in pain, your body will send you a signal telling you that something is wrong in your life. Our focus is to identify and correct those problems using the latest technology.

We direct care towards our patient’s nervous system because it’s the control system within your body. Dysfunction here can cause wide-reaching plus dramatic effects. Call (02) 6331 1004 now to schedule an appointment.

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