Alternative Treatment for Hypertension

According to the Journal of the New Medical Association, middle-aged Americans face a 90% chance of developing hypertension, also known as high blood pressure.  This condition can lead to heart attacks, strokes, brain and kidney damage and even blindness.

Hypertension is typically treated with medications.  However, high blood pressure medications must be taken daily and can cause a number of different side effects.  Princeton Monroe Acupuncture patients often ask what they can do to manage high blood pressure without utilizing these sometimes harmful drugs.  In addition to making healthy life choices, regular acupuncture treatments can help treat hypertension.

Acupuncture increases circulation thereby reducing the lack of oxygen to the heart caused by blocked blood vessels.  The acute signals sent by acupuncture can also decrease blood vessel activity, increase nitric oxide levels and prevent blockages.  Finally, high blood pressure is often the result of an underlying cause, often one that acupuncture can be used to treat.  Acupuncture can reduce stress and curb unhealthy addictions, both of which increase the risk of developing hypertension.

Hypertension was among the conditions listed as effectively treated by acupuncture in the World Health Organization’s 2003 report “Acupuncture: Review and Analysis of Reports on Controlled Clinical Trials”.  While there is no definitive cure for high blood pressure, acupuncture can help maintain a healthy blood pressure level.