On March 25, 2009 Good Morning America aired this piece on chiropractic and blood pressure. A pilot study conducted in 2007 showed that chiropractic adjustments reduced blood pressure significantly offering hope to the millions of people plagued by high blood pressure in the U.S.

The study conducted out of the Rush University Hypertension Center in Chicago showed that hypertensive study subjects provided with specific chiropractic adjustments (and sans meds) lowered their blood pressure by an average of 17 mmHg systolic and 10 mmHg diastolic. The study was a double blind, placebo-controlled design, and the study cohort was 70% male with a mean age of 53. The subjects receiving placebo (sham adjustment) showed little change in blood pressure.

Well this is exciting news for people with hypertension. It shows that there are alternatives to medications for treating hypertension (high blood pressure). Hypertension affects one third of all Americans, so this is huge for the country as a whole. High blood pressure increases the risk of heart attack or stroke, and all medications have side-effects. Interestingly, the study showed no side-effects for the chiropractic adjustments.

Of course, organized medicine is embracing this study cautiously. That’s okay…truth is truth is truth is truth is truth. The chiropractic technique used in the study was Upper Cervical Specific or NUCCA. Check out the GMA video below to get the full story.