ELECTROACUPUNCTURE & TREATMENT OF HYPERYTENSION

An American study published in 2015 has found that electroacupuncture has a significant and long-lasting effect in chronic hypertensive patients. Sixty-five patients with mild to moderate high blood pressure and who were not receiving medication were assigned randomly into two groups. They were then treated once a week for eight weeks with electroacupuncture.

One group received treatment at a set of acupuncture points (P5 Jian Shi; P6 Nei Guan; ST36 Zu San Li; and ST37 Shang Ju Xu) and the other at a set of random non-acupuncture points.

At the end of the eight weeks, seventy per cent of patients in the first group were found to have achieved a significant decrease in peak and average systolic and diastolic blood pressure measurements. These improvements persisted for a month-and-a-half. Plasma levels of noradrenalin (a hormone that constricts blood vessels and increases blood pressure and glucose levels in the blood) were shown to have decreased by 41%. Plasma levels of renin (a kidney enzyme that affects blood pressure) also fell by 67%). Plasma levels of aldosterone (a hormone that regulates electrolytes) declined by 22%.

Long-Lasting Reduction of Blood Pressure by Electroacupuncture in Patients with Hypertension: Randomized Controlled Trial. Medical Acupuncture, 2015 Aug 18: 27 (4): 253

online.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/acu.2015.1106