Acupuncture Can Lower Blood Pressure

Acupuncture can lower blood pressure, according to a new study released by the Susan Samueli Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of California, Irvine. Findings indicate that acupuncture can help normalize blood pressure –lower pressure when it is elevated or raise pressure when it is too low—and complements treatments for cardiovascular patients. The study found that acupuncture combined with low levels of electrical stimulation can lower elevations in blood pressure by as much as 40 percent.
The Center also found once-weekly 30-minute acupuncture sessions will give substantial pressure reductions in three or four weeks. Though drug therapy and healthy lifestyle changes related to diet, exercise and weight loss are typically used to treat high blood pressure, some patients are looking for alternative solutions, such as acupuncture. The Center’s research also found that acupuncture has a slow onset and prolonged effect. If treatments were stopped, the pressure would stay down for another month before rising again over a period of weeks.
Acupuncture can become part of a therapeutic long-term health-care regimen for hypertension and other cardiovascular conditions. Acupuncture can be an excellent complement to other medical treatments, especially those for treating the cardiac system. Acupuncture applied to specific wrist, inner forearm and leg acupoints triggers release of brain opioid chemicals that reduce excitatory cardiovascular system responses. Acupuncture to these specific sites results in heart activity/oxygen intake decrease and lowered blood pressure. Acupuncture can be beneficial for various cardiac ailments.
Anti-hypertensive effects of acupuncture are best for treatment of mild or first stage hypertension. Acupuncture works through regulation of the nervous and endocrine systems. Therapy activates central endorphin pathways that elicit decreases in sympathetic nerve activity and blood pressure. Acupuncture is especially suitable for hypertensive individuals with existing liver or kidney complications that have low tolerance levels for anti-hypertensive medications.