Managing High Blood Pressure With Chiropractic Care

As you've read in many of my blogs, chiropractic care is the key to helping with many common and dangerous ailments. Did you know that blood pressure is one of the many conditions that chiropractic care can help manage naturally? 

Hey everybody! Dr. Bob here with Lowcountry Chiropractic. I hope you're staying healthy and well out there. In this week's blog, I am going to be talking about blood pressure. We are going to cover what high blood pressure is, how it's measured, and what you can do to help control it. Since I am a chiropractor, I am of course going to talk about the natural ways of going about doing that. I am also going to mention some of the medications that are available out there to help control blood pressure as well. We don't personally recommend these prescriptions, but we are going to mention them today. 

Your blood pressure is the pressure on the walls of your blood vessels. There are two numbers you'll get when you get your blood pressure taken. The systolic number is the top number and the diastolic number is the bottom number. Say your top number is 120 and your bottom number is 80, that's normal! What that systolic number measures is the pressure that is placed on your artery walls when the heart is contracting and pushing blood through the blood vessels. When the heart is at rest and not contracting that is the diastolic or lower number. If your systolic number is 120-129 you are considered pre-hypertensive; most medical doctors won't do much more than give suggestions to change your lifestyle, exercise more, and eat better. Stage one hypertension is when you're 130-139 systolic and 80-89 diastolic. Doctors will typically start to give you medication in this phase. If you're 140/90 or higher that is considered Stage 2 hypertension. You will usually be put on multiple medications at that point.  Anything over 180/120 is considered a medical emergency.

Medications that are available for high blood pressure do one of three things: 

• They can remove sodium and water from the body which will in turn lower your blood pressure. 
• They can slow down your heart rate.
• They can relax or dilate blood vessels. 

These medications can come with many different side effects, so I wanted to mention some of the common ones here. The ones listed aren't even some of the more serious ones, which can be much scarier. These common side effects can include: 

• Dizziness
• Diarrhea
• Headaches
• Vomiting
• Nausea

We as chiropractors are not big proponents, as you know, of medication. We think that things can be done naturally, with fewer side effects, and we work with the body and not against it. I did some research on some foods that can naturally help your blood pressure that I wanted to share with you today. These delicious foods include: 

• Leafy greens! This will include romaine and kale. These greens are rich in potassium, which when digested in the body can get rid of sodium, which can lower blood pressure naturally.
• ​Berries, especially blueberries. Berries are huge antioxidants and antiinflammatories. Inflammation can raise your blood pressure. 
• Red beets. They are high in nitrous oxide which can relax blood vessels. 
• ​Skim milk and yogurt. 
• Oatmeal. 
• ​Bananas, which are also very high in potassium. 
• Salmon and tuna, which are high in omega 3 fatty acids which can reduce inflammation in the body and reduce blood pressure. 
• Seeds, which are high in potassium. 
• Dark Chocolate. It is known to lower blood pressure if you eat 100 grams a day. 
• Pistachios. They can help relax your blood vessels. 
• Olive oil
• ​Pomegranates. 

You might be asking yourself how chiropractic care fits into helping take care of high blood pressure. We all should know that the brain, spinal cord, and nerves control every function in your body. So, if there is pressure on the nerves in your body, your body is not going to work as it should. Nerve impulses help control the size of your blood vessels.  When you have a subluxation (a bone that is out of place irritating a nerve) the blood vessel connected to that nerve can either dilate or constrict. If it constricts, there is less space for the blood to flow, which puts extra pressure on the vessel walls, thus increasing blood pressure. If the blood vessel dilates, the extra volume can create inflammation that can also increase blood pressure.  Chiropractic care corrects the subluxation, allowing the nerves to communicate with the blood vessels, thus normalizing the diameter of the vessels and therefore regulating blood pressure.

These are just some thoughts that I wanted to share with you on how you can realistically manage high blood pressure.  Chiropractic care, good nutrition and exercise are excellent ways to naturally manage your blood pressure over your lifetime. Hopefully, this helps! Remember, I'm Dr. Bob and I've got your back covered! 

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