Hypertension (high blood pressure)

Could a Neck Adjustment Lower Your Blood Pressure?

A New Study Shows a Link Between Hypertension and Spinal Alignment

We are still unsure of what causes hypertension (high blood pressure), but recent studies indicate that an upper cervical (neck) adjustment may reduce hypertension for some of the 65 million Americans battling it.

The study done at University of Chicago, published in the Journal of Human Hypertension, analized the possibility of a connection between a spinal realignment and a decrease in blood pressure.

"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 amazing. 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 reach.

"My blood pressure dropped tremendously!" said Denise Nieman, who had participated in the study.

Why It Works

The C-1 vertebra, located at the top of the spine, operates like a fuse box in the body. When it is “tweaked” out of place, it can pinch arteries and nerves at the neck's base, which not only causes discomfort but also affects blood flow and nerve function.

When the spine is misaligned (subluxated), it can affect all types of things, and it can even cause all types of diseases and conditions.

So, for patients like Nieman, whose X-rays showed her C-1 subluxated, the special chiropractic adjustment lowered the pain and her blood pressure simultaneously.

While it is still not as common as other treatments for hypertension, chiropractic is gaining credibility and popularity. I think that Thomas Edison said it best: “The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease.” ...Chiropractic.

In the beginning...

Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."

We all know this verse in the bible to be the beginning of all life; but what about the beginning of chiropractic? Where did it start? It only seems fitting for the first post on this blog to start at the beginning. September 18th, 1895...

D.D. Palmer was working in his office late at night, when a janitor by the name of Harvey Lillard, began working close by. A loud fire engine passed by outside, and Palmer was surprised to see that Lillard didn’t seem to notice. He went to the man and tried to strike up a conversation, but soon realized Lillard was deaf.

Patiently, Palmer was able to communicate with the man, and learned that he had his hearing for the majority of his life. However, he had bent over in a cramped, stooping position, and felt something "pop" in his back. When he stood up, he could no longer hear.

Palmer deduced that the two events (the "popping" in his back and the sudden deafness afterward) MUST have been connected.

He carefully ran his hand down Harvey’s spine and felt one of the vertebra was slightly out of its normal position. "I reasoned that if that vertebra was replaced, the man's hearing should be restored," he later wrote in his notes. "With this object in view, a half hour's talk persuaded Mr. Lillard to allow me to replace it. I racked it into position by using the spinous process as a lever, and soon the man could hear as before."

Over the next several months, other patients came to Palmer with every conceivable problem, including flu, sciatica, migraine headaches, stomach complaints, epilepsy and heart trouble.

Given the modern perception that chiropractic is an effective treatment only for back or neck pain, it is significant that the first adjustment did not address pain of any kind. Chiropractic was founded as a health care system that has an impact on the entire body, and that foundation has allowed chiropractic to grow into the second largest health care system in this country that has over 50,000 practicing chiropractors adjusting over 5 million different people each year.