Chiropractic Can Reduce Blood Pressure
So…chiropractic can reduce blood pressure? No joke, no surgery, no medication. Okay, quick re-cap on what chiropractors actually do. Chiropractors access and check your nerve system for possible subluxations (nerve dysfunction/stress) and provide specific adjustments to make sure your nerve system stays connected and free of dysfunction. High blood pressure is an issue in our society, most likely brought on by our poor lifestyle choices (fast food, improper medication, etc). There are some who live a healthy life and are still plagued with high blood pressure. Finding ways to reduce blood pressure can be over-burdensome and we have been raised to think that we have to TAKE something externally to influence our body! Yes, taking medication has many alterations on our body. Even when we take something “natural,” we don’t know if our body requires it. A healthy foundation begins with regular exercise, a normal diet, and of course making sure your nerve system is connected to process all incoming and outgoing information. (“Normal” diet in context is what you think healthy is for you.)
A 2007 study in the Journal of Human Hypertension looked at a group of patients with high blood pressure. Half received an adjustment of their atlas, and the other half received a sham adjustment. The decrease in blood pressure was so drastic in the patients who received real adjustments that the researchers wrote that it “is similar to that seen by giving two different anti-hypertensive agents simultaneously.” If your master control system (nerve system) is connected and free of dysfunction, then your body will adapt and heal itself, thus to reduce blood pressure. Nothing is taken externally for this. The only variable that is needed is time. It takes time for your body to develop signs and symptoms and become aware of them, and it takes time to heal.
For some who live a healthy life, stress is the variable that increases the blood pressure. Japanese researchers in 2011 gave chiropractic adjustments to 12 men and examined PET scan images and blood chemistry to examine the effect that chiropractic has on the autonomic nervous system. After receiving a chiropractic neck adjustment, patients had altered brain activity in the parts of the brain responsible for pain processing and stress reactions. They also had significantly reduced cortisol levels, indicating decreased stress. Reduce your blood pressure and allow your overall body to heal the way it is intended.
- Bakris G, Dickholtz M Sr, Meyer PM, Kravitz G, Avery E, Miller M, Brown J, Woodfield C, Bell B. Atlas vertebra realignment and achievement of arterial pressure goal in hypertensive patients: a pilot study. Journal of Human Hypertension 2007;21(5):347-52.
- Ogura, Takeshi and Manabu Tashiro, Mehedi,Shoichi Watanuki, Katsuhiko Shibuya, Keiichiro Yamaguchi, Masatoshi Itoh, Hiroshi Fukuda, Kazuhiko Yanai. Cerebral metabolic changes in men after chiropractic spinal manipulation for neck pain. Alternative Therapies. 2011;17(6):12-17.Strunk RG, Hawk C. Effects of chiropractic care on dizziness, neck pain, and balance: a single-group, pre-experimental, feasibility study. Journal of Chiropractic Medicine 2009;8(4):156–164.
