Reduction in Blood Pressure Following Chiropractic

On March 14, 2022, the Annals of Vertebral Subluxation Research published a study documenting a case where chiropractic care resulted in the reduction of blood pressure of a patient who had been diagnosed with hypertension.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explain hypertension on their website by stating, "Blood pressure is the pressure of blood pushing against the walls of your arteries. Arteries carry blood from your heart to other parts of your body. Blood pressure normally rises and falls throughout the day, but it can damage your heart and cause health problems if it stays high for a long time. Hypertension, also called high blood pressure, is blood pressure that is higher than normal."

This study begins by noting that hypertension is a major health issue in the U.S. and is closely related to cardiovascular disease and stroke. The study authors mention that pre-hypertension affects 41.9 million men and 27.8 million women.

Commonly, pre-hypertension is defined as a systolic pressure from 120–139 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) or a diastolic pressure from 80–89 mm Hg. The American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association consider hypertension to be a blood pressure above 130-139 mmHg systolic or a diastolic of 80-89 mmHg or higher.

In this case, a 52-year-old woman went to a chiropractor specifically for her issue of high blood pressure. She was employed as a personal trainer and was active in yoga and spin classes. Her MD said that her blood pressure was 185/90 and recommended that she take medication. She was apprehensive about taking medications and decided to try chiropractic first.

A history and chiropractic examination were performed. The examination included spinal range of motion, leg length tests, surface electromyography (sEMG), thermography (spinal heat readings), and some orthopedic testing. Motion and static palpation was used to help determine the presence of vertebral subluxations in the woman’s spine. From these tests, it was determined that multiple subluxations were present. With these findings, a specific course of spinal adjustments was started to address the subluxations.

The woman’s blood pressure was initially measures at the start of chiropractic care to be 185/90 mmHg. On the second visit, her blood pressure was taken again and had dropped to 165/88 mmHg. By the woman’s 7 ^th  chiropractic visit, her blood pressure had dropped to 130/86 mmHg, and was reduced even further by the 9 ^th  visit to 128/76 mmHg. Her blood pressure continued to improve and was eventually measures at 106/62 mmHg.

In the study conclusion the authors wrote, "The woman reported on in this case experienced an improvement in her blood pressure following chiropractic care." They also noted that it is the autonomic nervous system that affects blood pressure. "While it is impossible to extrapolate this case data on to the general population, other randomized controlled trials and cohort studies have shown similar objective data in relation to the chiropractic adjustments relationship to autonomic nervous system function."