I have always been a skeptic at heart. For better or worse this trait has had an influence on the way I think about chiropractic care – my profession of choice.
I remember back in school having read some chiropractic literature on the benefits of chiropractic care as it relates to high blood pressure. My immediate thought was “No Way”. I later did concede that perhaps getting adjusted does produce generalized relaxation of the body which could lower blood pressure. It seemed to be a stretch but definitely possible.

Fast forward 15 years to my San Diego based chiropractic clinic. A very dear patient of mine calls me for an appointment and asks if I can adjust her neck when she comes for her visit. This was odd because all of my work with this patient had been on her lower back.

When she came to my office she handed me a news letter from a very well known cardiologist. To my surprise, the content included an article that was titled “Vertebral Alignment Shown To Affect Blood Pressure”.

This article reviewed a study done at Chicago's Rush University that addressed the affects of chiropractic manipulations of the upper cervical vertebra on high blood pressure.

The results were outstanding! They indicated that after 8 weeks of chiropractic care, systolic readings dropped by 14 points and diastolic readings dropped by an average of 8 points. It was noted that this level of improvement was similar to what could be achieved by taking anti-hypertensive medication.

Apparently the researchers found that the nerves that exit the spine near the very first vertebra (the atlas) are easily aggravated. When aggravated, these nerves can cause high blood pressure among other things. They also found that re-alignment of this vertebra through chiropractic adjustments can substantially lower high blood pressure.

This articles goes on to say that if your high blood pressure is resistant to medication or if you want to test a drug free approach to controlling high blood pressure, a chiropractic evaluation is in order.

As it turns out, my patient wants to try controlling her high blood pressure with chiropractic care. I suggested an eight week program during which time we will monitor her blood pressure. I will keep you informed of our progress.

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