Some people swear by acupuncture as a cure for pains such as migraine and back pain. Other remains sceptical, dismissing the ancient practice as a fluke. Now, scientists investigating actions of acupuncture have substantiated its age long usefulness in reducing blood pressure significantly in hypertensive patients.
In a new study, the scientists suggested that with regular use, electroacupuncture could help people manage their blood pressure and reduce their risk of heart disease and stroke in the longer term.
Electroacupuncture is a form of acupuncture that applies low-intensity electrical pulses through needles inserted at specific points on the body.
High blood pressure, or hypertension, is an indicator that a person has a high risk for heart disease, stroke, kidney disease or heart attacks. If this pressure stays high or rises over time, it can cause damage to organs. But the drugs used to treat it must be taken daily, usually for a lifetime. And they may have side effects, such as fatigue, depression and dizziness, which often make many patients discontinue their treatment.
Lifestyle interventions, such as exercise, weight loss, and salt intake restriction, can also lower blood pressure(BP), but these practices can be difficult to achieve and maintain. Therefore, there has been a growing interest in acupuncture as a treatment for hypertension.
Acupuncture is an ancient treatment technique anchored in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) that has been used to treat symptoms related to hypertension for centuries. Physicians and patients in China, South Korea, and Japan have considered it as an effective adjunctive treatment, while, in the west, its use has been increasing.
The efficacy of acupuncture for lowering BP was suggested by many published case reports and uncontrolled trials that have shown significant associated reductions. However, other reports have not shown significant effects in comparison to control subjects.
An acupuncturist, Dr Bade Adewale of the Subol Hospital, Egbeda-Ikotun, Road, Idimu, Lagos, remarking that although many people link acupuncture with curing pain, described acupuncture as a credible form of treatment for hypertension.
Adewale, saying that acupuncture, an ancient mode of Chinese’s treatment, has a way of regulating body processes back to normalcy, said “with 20 minutes of treatment, the blood pressure can be regulated back to normal.”
The alternative medicine expert, stating that the treatment course is usually determined by the cause of hypertension, the person’s body constitution and lifestyle, assured that acupuncture can be used solely or in combination with other forms of therapy and lifestyle modifications to ensure the treatment of hypertension.
One of the ways that acupuncture can help, he added, was that it can help relax a patient or correct inability to sleep, thus relieving the stress that might be the root of high blood pressure in some individuals.
This single-blind trial was conducted at the University of California-Irvine (UCI). It was also the first to “scientifically confirm” that the ancient Chinese practice was beneficial in treating mild to moderate hypertension. It recruited 65 patients with hypertension who were not taking any drugs to treat their condition. Each patient was randomly assigned to one of two groups.
Both groups were treated with electroacupuncture, except that one group (the treatment group) had it applied to both sides of the inner wrists and slightly below each knee (acupoints thought to reduce blood pressure). The other group had it applied to other acupoints along the forearm and lower leg (the control group).
The results published in the journal Medical Acupuncture showed that 70 per cent of the 33 patients in the treatment group experienced a noticeable drop in blood pressure.
On average, the reduction was between six and eight mm/Hg for systolic blood pressure and 4 mm/Hg for diastolic blood pressure. These improvements persisted for six weeks after treatment.
They also experienced several other improvements including reductions in dizziness, pain of the knees and waist, and palpitations. This can mean less intense and less frequent headaches, clearer vision, less irritability, and more consistent energy throughout the day.
There was also an average drop in blood concentration of norepinephrine (also called noradrenaline), a hormone that constricts blood vessels and increases blood pressure and blood sugar in the treatment group by 41 per cent.
The treatment group also showed a 67 per cent drop in renin – an enzyme released in the kidneys that helps control blood pressure – and a 22 per cent drop in a hormone that regulates electrolytes (aldosterone).
However, there were no significant blood pressure changes in the 32 patients in the control group.
Although the blood pressure reductions were relatively small – mostly with four and 13mmHg range – the researchers said they were clinically meaningful and claimed the technique could be especially useful in treating hypertension, especially in people in their 60s and older with high systolic blood pressure.
Given that electroacupuncture decreases both peak and average systolic blood pressure over 24 hours, they indicated it might also help to decrease their risk for stroke, peripheral artery disease, heart failure and myocardial infarction.
Several randomised controlled trials of acupuncture to treat hypertension had been conducted. In 2013, a multicentre randomised controlled trial conducted in 11 hospitals in China published in the journal, Trials, indicated a significant decrease in blood pressure.
For this study, 428 men or women aged between 40 and 75 years with mild hypertensive were, recruited from 11 hospitals in China. They were not taking any antihypertensive drugs.
Also, the 2013 edition of Acupuncture Electrotherapy Research on the effect of acupuncture on high blood pressure of patients using antihypertensive drugs reported that acupuncture facilitated a significant reduction in blood pressure and reduced the patients’ complaints. Due to this, they strongly suggest that acupuncture should be in the hypertension treatment guidelines and widely used for blood pressure regulation.
Why does acupuncture lower blood pressure? In acupuncture, invisible pathways connecting one body part to another are called meridians. They are located over major [nerve] pathways that are accessed when you put a needle in. Stimulating the pathway “sends impulses to the brain, activating different areas.” Some affect pain, which explains why acupuncture can control pain and others regulate the cardiovascular system.