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Acupuncture may lower blood pressure in patients with hypertension (high blood pressure), a new study suggests.
Researchers from Germany investigated whether traditional Chinese medicine acupuncture is able to lower blood pressure.
In the study, 160 outpatients (78 men, 102 women) between 50 and 66 years of age (average age 58) with uncomplicated arterial hypertension were randomized in a single-blind fashion to a six-week course of active acupuncture or sham acupuncture. The patients participated in 22 sessions total that each lasted 30 minutes.
Researchers noted that 78 percent were receiving blood pressure-lowering medication, which remained unchanged. One hundred forty patients finished the treatment course (72 with active treatment, 68 with sham treatment).
The study found that there was a significant difference in post-treatment blood pressures adjusted for baseline values between the active and sham acupuncture groups at the end of treatment. In the active acupuncture group, average 24-hour ambulatory systolic and diastolic blood pressures decreased significantly after treatment. At three and six months, mean systolic and diastolic blood pressures returned to pretreatment levels in the active treatment group.
The study authors concluded that acupuncture according to traditional Chinese medicine, but not sham acupuncture, after six weeks of treatment significantly lowered mean 24-hour ambulatory blood pressures; the effect disappeared after cessation of acupuncture treatment.
The practice of acupuncture originated in China 5,000 years ago. Today, acupuncture is widely used throughout the world and is one of the main pillars of traditional Chinese medicine. Acupuncture has become integrated with Western medicine as well, and it is often referred to as medical acupuncture in that context.
There is reasonable scientific evidence supporting acupuncture for several indications, including peri-operative dental pain, and several types of nausea and vomiting.
Chinese healers believe there are approximately 360 specific points along 14 different lines, or meridians, that course throughout the body. After making a differential diagnosis based on signs and symptoms and other observable phenomena in situ, acupuncturists choose combinations of acupoints and needle techniques that are thought to restore normal function of the meridians. The body is thereby enabled to relieve what is congested, and supply what is deficient, thus achieving a balance between yin and yang. Acupuncture is thought to exert an inhibitory effect to a hyperfunctioning organ and exert enhancing or stimulating effect to a hypofunctioning organ.
Other integrative therapies with strong or good scientific evidence in the treatment of high blood pressure include omega-3 fatty acids, fish oil, alpha-linolenic acid, calcium, Coenzyme Q10, hibiscus, Qi gong, stevia and yoga.
- Flachskampf FA, Gallasch J, Gefeller O, et al. Randomized trial of acupuncture to lower blood pressure. Circulation. 2007 Jun 19;115(24):3121-9. Epub 2007 Jun 4. Comment in: Circulation. 2007 Jun 19;115(24):3048-9. .
- Natural Standard Research Collaboration: The Authority on Integrative Medicine. www.naturalstandard.com. Copyright © 2007.
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