High Blood Pressure

Do you feel busy or stressed out, or that there’s just not enough hours in the day to get everything done?

Modern life can be very hectic with work and family. When we get stressed, our blood pressure rises and we can develop hypertension, a health risk.

High blood pressure is a risk factor for stroke.

When things get too much for us, we sometimes forget to pay enough attention to looking a fter ourselves and we may eat and drink too much and not do enough exercise. If this goes on for too long it can have an impact on our health. In particular, it can lead to high blood pressure.

This can be a real problem, because high blood pressure, or hypertension, is a risk factor for stroke and other heart diseases that play a role in about 1 in 5 deaths worldwide.

Patients who had Chiropractic Care showed a significant drop in blood pressure

Research Study - Journal of Human Hypertension

A study that reported some quite startling results that was published in the Journal of Human Hypertension and gained quite a lot of exposure in the press when it was published.4 In this study, researchers did a randomised controlled trial with fifty patients with early stage high blood pressure. Half of them received specific chiropractic care that focused on the top of their neck for eight weeks, and the other half received sham care, or pretend chiropractic care. The researchers were interested in seeing whether the group that received real chiropractic care had a significant reduction in blood pressure compared to the control group. After eight weeks, the patients that received the real chiropractic care showed a significant drop in blood pressure compared to those that received pretend chiropractic care. The improvement in blood pressure was similar to what happens when two different blood pressure drugs are given together. So, this study got some remarkable results, but like all studies it has its limitations. For example, it studied an uncommon type of chiropractic technique that was provided by only a single chiropractor. So, research reviews point out that more good quality research is needed to be done to better understand the effects of different types of chiropractic techniques and whether they really have an impact on blood pressure or not. But, this single study does suggest that, for some people with hypertension, it appears that some types of chiropractic care may help them to better control their blood pressure. Remember that the chiropractor isn’t directly trying to treat their blood pressure. Instead, they’re trying to improve spinal function, with the aim of improving your brain’s ability to regulate what’s going on in your body. And for some people, this may influence their blood pressure. So, if you’re feeling stressed out, or over-busy, or aren’t looking after yourself as well as you could, then take some steps towards living a healthier lifestyle and get your spine checked by a chiropractor, so you can function at your best.

Disclaimer and References

This information is provided for educational purposes only. It is not intended to be professional advice of any kind. Haavik Research Ltd

encourages you to make your own health care decisions based on your own research and in partnership with a qualified health care professional.

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© Haavik Research 2021

1. Lackland & Weber. The Canadian Journal of Cardiology 2015;31(5):569-71.

2. Whelton et al. Jama 2002;288(15):1882-8.

3. Williams et al. J Hum Hypertens 2004;18(3):139-85.

4. Bakris et al. J Hum Hypertens 2007;21(5):347-52.

5. Clar et al. Chiropr Man Therap 2014;22(1):12.

6. Bronfort et al. Chiropr Osteopat 2010;18:3.

• Dr. Heidi Haavik

BSc(Physiol) BSc(Chiro) PhD

• Dr. Kelly Holt

BSc, BSc(Chiro), PGDipHSc, PhD

• Dr. Jenna Duehr

BChiro, BHSc(Nursing), MHSc