Acupuncture for Blood Pressure

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 and 102 women) between 50 and 66 years of age (average age 58) with uncomplicated arterial high blood pressure were randomized in a single-blind fashion to a six-week course of active acupuncture or sham acupuncture. The patients participated in a total of 22 sessions that each lasted 30 minutes.

Researchers noted that 78 percent of participants were receiving blood pressure-lowering medications, which remained unchanged. One hundred forty patients finished the treatment course (72 with active treatment, 68 with sham treatment).

The researchers 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 it 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 about 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.

Other integrative therapies with strong or good scientific evidence for the treatment of high blood pressure include omega-3 fatty acids, alpha-linolenic acid, calcium, coenzyme Q10, hibiscus, Qi gong, stevia and yoga.

For more information about the therapies mentioned in this story, please visit Natural Standard's Foods, Herbs & Supplements and Health & Wellness databases.

Comments

[Paul]

A lot of alternative health studies have problems with control populations, but this seems well done. After seeing acupuncture performed, I always wondered a little if it was just the relaxing atmosphere that led to a lot of health benefits, but this says otherwise. It is especially encouraging for those looking for a little extra blood pressure lowering without taking another drug. All of the blood pressure drugs have side effects, especially hypotension (too low blood pressure), or sexual problems. After the ALLHAT trial showed that, essentially all of the blood pressure-lowering drugs are the same, this adds another option for people to consider in the fight against heart disease.

[Pierce]

In addition to blood pressure, I've heard acupuncture helps with pain. I'm terrified of needles, but I suffer from back pain (no one taught me the proper lifting technique when I was younger). Does acupuncture hurt? Is it a mind-over-matter kind of thing? If it does hurt, what other “non-medication taking” techniques are there?

[Emily P.]

While I think this study was well conducted and think it's great that patients have alternative options to drug therapy, the idea of using acupuncture as a treatment for blood pressure is completely impractical. This study showed that the patient's BP went up after the treatment ceased. If patients were to actually use this therapy to treat BP, it would be extremely expensive and time consuming, and wouldn’t produce long-term benefits. Aren't money and stress linked to high BP to begin with!?

[W Thomas]

As someone who has been treated with acupuncture for arthritis, it comes as no surprise to me that it works for lowering blood pressure. Whether you interpret acupuncture according to the Eastern criteria of yin and yang, and meridians or according to Western criteria of nerve impulses being altered, the end result seems hard to argue. When the needles are appropriately placed in me, the pain of my arthritis disappears like magic. But the huge downside is that my pain relief, like the blood pressure reduction in the study, is not sustained when the treatments are stopped. Too bad, because, as Emily P noted, receiving regular acupuncture treatments for BP or a chronic pain condition over a prolonged period is simply too impractical and costly. At least in some cases of high blood pressure, methods like meditation, deep relaxation and eliminating lifestyle issues (e.g., excess weight, too much salt, etc) may offer a cost-efficient, practical non-drug solution to the problem. As for chronic pain, there are certainly some lifestyle methods that can help, but I have yet to find any that fully manage the problem. Since I am not a fan of pain medications, I use the old "grin and bear it" technique to the best of my ability. Since acupuncture provides, at most, a day or two of relief, I have more or less given up on it. A good massage does the same thing and it's more relaxing.

[Karen]

It does seem impractical to receive regular acupuncture treatments for the rest of your life in order to see benefits. How difficult and time consuming is the training procedure to become an acupuncture practitioner? Could patients practice a simplified form of acupuncture on themselves at home?

[marcia b]

I agree with Emily P., and it is unfortunate that acupuncture seems to have worked so well, but only during treatment. It would be good for patients to have alternatives for treating blood pressure other than taking medications, but I know patients would not find acupuncture to be the practical option if it had to be done this frequently and costs were high.

[Caren]

Although I prefer to stray far away from needles, I can see acupuncture as being one therapy I would give a try. This study, as well as word-of-mouth, shows how it does have a beneficial impact on the person receiving treatment. I was disappointed though to see that the benefits do wear off after the treatment stops, but it is still amazing that a therapy created thousands of years ago is still making a positive impact throughout the world today.

[K. T.]

If the patients who received the Chinese medicinal acupuncture saw a return to their pretreatment blood pressure levels, does that mean that in the long run they may as well have just gotten the sham acupuncture?? I guess there was no placebo effect here.

[Jefferey Buckley]

It does seem that the benefits are too fleeting and expensive (in both time and money) to be of any real value. I wonder if anyone has done a study on the effects of massage as an alternative to blood pressure relief. It would be interesting to compare cost and results between acupuncture and massage.

[Fern]

I have learned in some of my experiences with acupuncture that this form of treatment is better before a condition affects a person's health to be given a diagnosis in Western medicine. In Western medicine, a person either has a condition (e.g. heart disease), the precursor to a disease (e.g. high blood pressure), or is free of the disease state (e.g. normal blood pressure.) However,no person in Chinese medicine has an ideal state of health, and there are always aspects of a person's wellbeing that can be improved upon. I think acupuncture works best as an intervention when small imbalances of body systems exist, rather than when a condition is full blown and life threatening. Sadly, there just aren't equivalents in Western medicine for the pre-clinical signs and symptoms that TCM would pick up on.

[Sally]

I think that in certain cases, maybe the blood pressure wouldn't go back up if acupuncture treated the cause, and not just the symptom. I think that, as has been noted above, a lot of times high blood pressure is linked to high levels of stress. Perhaps the person wouldn't have to do acupuncture for the rest of his/her life if he/she had a simpler lifestyle that allowed time to take care of oneself by having acupuncture done or getting a massage or taking a workout class at a gym. It's sort of like how antidepressants are over-prescribed. Maybe we could reduce the number of people on hypotensive medications if we prescribed stress-reducing integrative therapies/solutions rather than just trying to fix everything with a pill.

[GBuckley]

I agree with Fern's comments... I am receiving regular acupuncture treatments, which are helping me relieve stress, get rid of painful muscle spasms and tension headaches. Overtime, these issues could lead to some chronic conditions, but with regular acupuncture sessions, I hope to prevent this. Of course, I am one of the few lucky ones who has an insurance plan that covers the treatments. Otherwise, I could not afford the weekly sessions. But since I am reimbursed, I am expecting that these treatments will help me stay in better health over the long run. I can say this: I am more relaxed and have fewer, less intense headaches and backaches since starting acupuncture treatments.

[dalz]

I'm excited about the outcome of this study. I have had acupuncture done before (and no, there is no pain involved) and can personally contest to its work on sinus pain and pressure. As to the previous concerns of having to maintain treatment in order to maintain benefit, I think this is a small exchange for a relaxing and efficacious treatment. High blood pressure requires lifelong treatment through proper diet, exercise and possible medication. So, if the addition of acupuncture can aid in postponing the addition of antihypertensives, it is worth considering.

[Gerald]

G. Buckley and Dalz:

I've never gotten acupuncture done, and I'm pretty unfamiliar with the logistics of the therapy. How long does it take? How much is each session? How often do you go?

[D. Scully]

I heard a really interesting Science Friday program on NPR a few weeks ago about the placebo effect in the brain. I think that the placebo effect has an unnecessarily bad reputation. After all, a few sham acupuncture treatments might be cheaper than one visit to a Western medical specialist.

[Brit]

In response to D. Scully, I understand your view that the placebo effect has a bad reputation. I would just have to disagree with the comment on getting sham acupuncture over going to a physician. As this study showed, the sham acupuncture didn’t have a placebo effect, and there was a significant difference in blood pressure between the Chinese acupuncture and sham acupuncture. High blood pressure is a serious condition and is associated with a lot of negative health effects, and it is also a risk factor for many diseases. It would be better health-wise to take one medication that will definitely work over sham acupuncture.

[Lily]

I’ve seen ads on TV for Caduet. It has two ingredients. One is Amlodipine and the other is Atorvastatin. With my RxDrugCard I can get 30 tablets of Amlodipine for $9 and 30 tablets of Simvastatin for $9. I’ll bet they are charging more than $18 for this new drug! Don’t pressure your doctor into giving you something just because it’s new. Do your homework. Find a drug card like I did at www.rxdrugcard.com. I think that RxDrugCard.com is the best drug card available for prescription discounts.

[Karen]

Apart from acupuncture there are some other home remedies that can be used to control and cure the blood pressure to certain extinct. For instance, drinking beetroot juice twice a day helps to reduce blood pressure. Besides beetroot, proper intake of salty foods and a half teaspoon salt in water daily helps control low blood pressure.