Have you ever wondered why it is that over the past several decades, more people are being diagnosed and treated for high blood pressure than ever before in history?  Keep in mind that this seemingly never ending increase in the instance of high blood pressure is occurring despite people taking more medications and following the standards of medical care.

Listen, high blood pressure is called the silent killer because people generally don’t know they have it. In fact, they might not go into the doctor for several months or even years, and the whole time they have had high blood pressure.  What makes matters worse is that this can be deadly.

One of the ways you can tell if you have high blood pressure is an inner feeling of being rushed all day long or a good portion of the day.

Did you know that your blood pressure can go up when there’s an acute injury to your muscles or skeleton? This is something that was proven at the New York Chiropractic College back in 2005.  Furthermore, some experts say that whenever you have a lot of pain, that’s when your blood pressure will go up.

The way this is explained is that pain increases the signals going into the brain, and this results in a resetting of the nervous system – blood pressure, heart rate and sometimes even breathing rate.

Although you may think of chiropractic care as it relates to helping people with aches and pains, chiropractic has also been proven to be an effective tool that stretches far beyond this remit.

Did you realize that chiropractic adjustments release beta-endorphins – and thus decrease pain? Endorphins are your body’s natural painkillers.  Because of the way adjustments work towards removing any interference to the nervous system, while also releasing beta-endorphins, chiropractic is truly considered drugless healing.

But let’s look more at whether or not studies on chiropractic showed a lowering of blood pressure.

5 Important Studies on Blood Pressure and Chiropractic

1. African American Patients with Blood Pressure Benefit

This first study was on 24 African American patients who received 23 chiropractic visits at a chiropractic teaching clinic in North Carolina.  Those in the high blood pressure group had a significant reduction in their blood pressure from the chiropractic treatment. Sadly, however, those who were obese did not have good results with their blood pressure.

Sometimes you just have to lose weight so the body doesn’t have to work so hard!

2. High Blood Pressure Patients Received Chiropractic Adjustments or Fake Adjustments

At Rush University in Chicago, one of the most respected hospitals in the area, doctors observed the effects of eight weeks of chiropractic adjustments to the atlas vertebrae as opposed to placebo treatments on 50 patients with high blood pressure.

The patients had an average drop of 17 mm Hg in their systolic blood pressure and 10 mm Hg in diastolic blood pressure. The doctors concluded that restoration of the atlas alignment was associated with marked and sustained reduction in blood pressure similar to the use of the standard two-drug combination therapy.

3. Case Study of a 38-Year-Old Man with High Blood Pressure

In San Jose, California at the Palmer College of Chiropractic, a man came in for treatment of his low back pain and high blood pressure medication side effects. He had been getting medical care for his blood pressure issue.

He received a series of treatments of chiropractic adjustments over two months. And over those two months, he was successfully able to lower his use of high blood pressure medications. The doctors thought it was important to report the case because the drop in blood pressure might occur in other patients.

4. Canadian Researchers Find Significant Blood Pressure Lowering with Adjustments

In another study, chiropractors at the Palmer College of Chiropractic West in Sunnyvale, California tested the effects of chiropractic adjustments on the lower cervical vertebrae that were “jammed” and stuck, with restricted motion for flexion. They found that the adjustments caused changes in the overall activity of the sympathetic (fight or flight) nervous system (changes in blood pressure).

5. Chiropractic Adjustments in the Upper Thoracics on Those with Anxiety and High Blood Pressure

At the chiropractic college in Toronto, 21 patients with high blood pressure and anxiety were assigned to a chiropractic adjustment group, placebo treatment, or no treatment at all.

Both the top and bottom numbers of blood pressure decreased significantly when the patients had the chiropractic treatment.  No changes occurred in the other groups. Anxiety levels decreased in the chiropractic and control groups.

If you have high blood pressure, perhaps it’s time to give chiropractic a try!

As you can see from the previously mentioned studies, chiropractic works.  The reason it works so well is because chiropractic focuses on finding and correcting the underlying cause, rather than simply focusing on and/or treating the effects in a way that just counterfeits healing.

Your body was created with an incredible potential to function, heal and be well.  Chiropractic helps optimize that function by keeping your nervous system free of any interference that could hinder the full expression of life from inside-out.

Sources:

• Grimm, D.R., Cunningham, B.M., and Burke, J.R. Autonomic nervous system function among individuals with acute musculoskeletal injury. J. Manipulative Physiol Ther 2005 Jan; 28(1):44-51.
• Vernon, H.T., Dhami, M.S., Howley, T.P. and Annett, R. Spinal manipulation and beta-endorphin: a controlled study of the effect of a spinal manipulation on plasma beta-endorphin levels in normal males. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 1986 Jun; 9(2):115-23.
• McMasters, K.L., Wang, J., York, J., Hart, J., Neely, C. and Delain, R.J. Blood pressure changes in African American patients receiving chiropractic care in a teaching clinic: a preliminary study. J Chiropractic Medicine 2013 Jun; 12(2):55-9.
• Bakris, G., et al. Atlas vertebra realignment and achievement of arterial pressure goal in hypertensive patients: a pilot study. J Hum Hypertens 2007 May; 21(5):347-52.
• Plaugher, G. and Bachman, T.R. Chiropractic management of a hypertensive patient. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 1993 Oct; 16(8):544-9.
• Nansel, D., Jansen, R., Cremata, E., Dhami, M.S., and Holley, D. Effects of cervical adjustments on lateral flexion passive end-range asymmetry and on blood pressure, heart rate and plasma catecholamine levels. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 1991 Oct; 14(8):450-6.
• Yates, R.Gl, Lamping, D.L., Abram, N.L., and Wright, C. Effects of chiropractic treatment on blood pressure and anxiety: a randomized, controlled trial. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 1988 Dec; 11(6); 484-8.