Being a chiropractor for the past 8 years the following information doesn’t surprise me. I have been telling many of my patients that if their High Blood Pressure is due to a spinal alignment at the upper cervical level then the proper cervical adjustment will decrease that High Blood Pressure. Read on, it’s from ABC News.
“Though doctors are unsure of what causes blood pressure to increase, a new study suggests that a specific type of neck adjustment may reduce hypertension for some of the 65 million Americans battling it.
“We set up a double-blind study to really look and see if in fact this procedure was affecting high blood pressure,” said University of Chicago Medical Center hypertension specialist George Bakris.
The results were intriguing. The patients who received the chiropractic adjustments saw their blood pressure drop an average of 17 points — a dip that usually takes two blood pressure medications to achieve.
“My blood pressure dropped tremendously,” said Denise Nieman, who had neck pain before participating in the study.
Why It May Work
The idea behind the realignment is that the C-1 vertebra, located at the top of the spine, operates like a fuse box in the body. When it’s twisted, it can pinch arteries and nerves at the neck’s base, which not only causes discomfort but also affects blood flow.
“When the spine is misaligned, it can affect all types of things, all types of disease, conditions,” said chiropractor Marshall Dickholtz Jr.
So for patients like Nieman, whose X-rays showed her C-1 out of alignment, the special chiropractic adjustment lowered the pain and her blood pressure simultaneously. ”
Copyright © 2009 ABC News Internet Ventures -March 25, 2008