Hypertension and Chiropractic

A study found that an “Atlas Adjustment” decreases blood pressure. Hypertension and Chiropractic

By Daniel J. DeNoon WebMD Medical News Comment Dr. Louise Chang

March 16, 2007 – A specific chiropractic adjustment can significantly lower high blood pressure, according to a placebo-controlled study. <<This treatment produces the effect not of one but of all blood pressure medications administered in combination, >> Dr. George Bakris, the study’s director, told WebMD. << And it seems to produce no adverse effects. We did not detect side effects or any type of problems, >> added Bakris, director of the hypertension center at the University of Chicago.

After this type of treatment for eight weeks, 25 patients with early-stage hypertension showed a significantly lower level than the 25 patients with identical profiles who underwent a sham chiropractic adjustment. Because patients feel nothing during the administration of the practice, they could not tell which group they were in.

X-rays showed that the treatment had realigned the atlas vertebra (or first cervical vertebra – the donut-shaped bone at the top of the spine) in the treated patients, but not in the patients who received a sham treatment.

When comparing those who received the treatment with those who did not, it was revealed that those who received it had an average drop of 14 mm Hg greater in systolic blood pressure (the top number in blood pressure readings) and an average drop of 8 mm Hg greater in diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number in blood pressure readings).

None of the patients had taken any blood pressure medication during the study conducted over those eight weeks.

<> Bakris states. The statistician said: << I can’t believe it either. >> <>

Bakris and his colleagues reported their findings in an advance online publication of the Journal of Human Hypertension.

Specific Cervical Atlas Adjustment and Hypertension.

The treatment is called specific adjustment of the C-1 vertebra. It is called the atlas vertebra because it holds the head, just as the legendary titan Atlas held the world in Greek mythology.

Marshall Dickholtz Sr., DC, of Chiropractic Health Center in Chicago, is the 84-year-old chiropractor who performed the entire process in the study. This doctor refers to the atlas vertebra as << the fuse box of the body. >>

<< At the base of the brain, there are two centers that control all the muscles of the body. If the base of the brain is pinched – if the atlas is held in a position as minimal as half a millimeter misaligned – it does not cause damage but disrupts these centers, >> Dr. Dickholtz told WebMD.

The referred slight adjustment is performed by a very small subgroup of licensed chiropractors trained in techniques from the National Upper Cervical Chiropractic (NUCCA). The treatment uses precise calculations to determine the alignment of the patient’s atlas vertebra. If a readjustment is deemed necessary, the chiropractor uses their hands to carefully manipulate the vertebra.

<> Dickholtz states.

What does all this have to do with blood pressure?

Bakris states that some researchers point out that a damaged atlas vertebra may affect blood flow in the arteries at the base of the skull. Dickholtz believes that an atlas misalignment manifests by sending signals that cause the arteries to constrict. Bakris says that the treatment does not indicate whether the injuries are healed.

Bakris began his study when a colleague doctor revealed that something unusual was happening in his practice as a general practitioner. This doctor had been sending some of his patients to the chiropractor, and some suffered from high blood pressure.

And so, after seeing the chiropractor, the hypertension of his patients had normalized, and some of them were even able to stop taking their blood pressure medications.

Thus, Bakris, then at Rush University, designed a pilot study with fifty patients. He is currently organizing a much larger clinical trial.

Hypertension and Chiropractic << Is this intended for anyone with high blood pressure? >> << No, Bakris states. We need to determine without a doubt who can benefit. It is undoubtedly clear that at the beginning of life there is some type of neck or head trama related to this (birth trauma). It is a work in progress and is in the early stages of research. >>

Dickholtz has been teaching, practicing as a doctor, and studying the knee-chest technique for 50 years. He states that high blood pressure is not the only injury caused by an atlas misalignment.

<< Moreover, if people have hypertension and Chiropractic, there is a huge possibility that it will be reduced thanks to an atlas adjustment. >> he states.

References: Bakris, G Journal of Human Hypertension, advance online publication, March 2, 2007. Grassi, G Journal of Human Hypertension, advance online publication, January 25, 2007. George Bakris, MD, director, hypertension center, University of Chicago. Marshall Dickholtz Sr., DC, Chiropractic Health Center, Chicago.