Works for Me: Chiropractic Adjustment Lowered My Blood Pressure

I just wanted to advise you that the adjustment that your chiropractor gave me resulted in my blood pressure dropping from a high of 160/90 to 108/68. This is the lowest reading I have had since I was in the Air Force over 50 years ago. The overall treatment at the clinic has increased my energy level from a 4 to a 9 on a scale of 1–10. — J.B., Osprey, FL

Thanks for your feedback, J.B. Roughly 75 million Americans have hypertension, and many of them take drugs such as diuretics, beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, and the like. But medication should not be the frontline defense, especially when safer, equally effective therapies exist. One of them is chiropractic.

As I wrote back in a 2006 issue of Health & Healing, the idea that chiropractic manipulation can lower blood pressure had been floating around for more than 20 years when a groundbreaking clinical trial confirmed it.

In the study, presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hypertension, 50 patients with blood pressure greater than 140/90 were divided into two groups and treated with either a realignment procedure of the atlas (the top cervical vertebra) or a placebo adjustment.

Improvements were seen in the treatment group in just three weeks. After eight weeks, the systolic pressure averaged less than 130, while the placebo group’s blood pressure remained unchanged.

Since I wrote about this study, I’ve had a handful of letters similar to J.B.’s. If you have hypertension, it’s certainly worth talking to a chiropractor about this adjustment. Let me know if it works for you. — JW

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