Used with permission from www.medisave.co.uk.

According to the American Heart Association heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. High blood pressure is the cause or contributes to nearly 350,000 lives lost every year and it may be preventable or controlled. The US Dept of Health and Human Services reported that up to half of the population with high blood pressure do nothing or very little to control it.

Those who do try to control it have several options. The first line of defense is usually diet or exercise, which have been shown to have positive effect. Those not controlled by these methods will then usually be prescribed medications to control it. The medications can be effective but also have downsides. Side effects can include inflammation of the pancreas, jaundice, hepatitis, heart palpitations, diarrhea, constipation, dizziness, headache, joint pain fatigue and impotence just to name a few. The medications also carry a heavy financial toll. It is estimated that the economic burden is nearly $73 billion a year and can cost the average person over $730 dollars per year. What if there is another natural treatment that could complement a healthy diet and exercise and make positive changes to blood pressure.

Well that is exactly what these two studies I’m reviewing looked at. Could Chiropractic adjustments play a role in regulating blood pressure? What is really interesting in these two papers is that they didn’t just look at high blood pressure. One of the studies also included patients with low blood pressure to see the effect of Chiropractic adjustments on them.

In both of these studies the researchers found that the patients with high blood pressure had a reduction in both measures taken (systolic and diastolic pressures) after an adjustment. This decrease happened within the first measurement, which was taken 2 minutes after the adjustment and persisted for up to 4 weeks after the adjustment. Those with low blood pressure had an increase in their measurements towards normal that also lasted at the 4 week post adjustment measurement.

The reason Chiropractic adjustments helped regulate blood pressures that were high and low is the same reason Chiropractic adjustments have helped other conditions I’ve reviewed in other articles. That is that Chiropractic adjustments allow the spine to function and move properly which allows the nervous system, the master control of our bodies, to function properly. In these studies the patients were adjusted only in the upper most bones, or vertebra, of their neck. The nerves that are located in this area of the neck communicate with nerve centers deep in the spinal cord which monitor and control blood pressure. It is believed that irritation to these spinal joints, called subluxations by Chiropractors, cause signals from the nerves to interfere with those control centers in the spinal cord regulating blood pressure. The Chiropractic adjustment normalizes the function and misalignment of the spinal bones, thereby normalizing the flow of nervous system energy allowing the body to properly regulate blood pressure.

The important point from these studies is that Chiropractic adjustments do not lower blood pressure. In fact Chiropractic adjustments do not do anything directly to affect any disease condition. What the adjustment does is reduce nerve irritation and allow the body to heal and function properly like it is designed to do. Take this example. If you cut your finger your body sends signals through the nervous system to activate cells that fight off any infection and heal the cut. The skin is then repaired by making a scab and then new skin. If the finger is completely cut off it loses its nerve supply and the body will heal the wound at the end of the finger, but the piece cut off won’t heal unless it is reattached to the nerve supply. It isn’t the blood supply that is the deciding factor if the finger will survive. The blood is just the vehicle that carries what the tissues need to heal all controlled and orchestrated by a properly functioning nervous system.

In this study looking at blood pressure the irritation to the nervous system was reduced by adjusting subluxated vertebra in the neck which allowed the nervous system to properly regulate blood pressure.

It’s as simple as that!

By Dr Scott Szela

Ref: J Upper Cervical Chiropractic Research-August 11, 2014 and April 24, 2012