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 The
above headline comes from a March 16, 2007, article on WebMD. The article is
based on a study done at the Hypertension Center at the University of Chicago
Medical Center and published in the March 2, 2007, issue of the Journal of Human
Hypertension.
In this study, 50 patients with hypertension were divided into two groups of 25
each. One group of 25 received a specific light force chiropractic adjustment
(administered by a chiropractor) to the Atlas vertebrae (uppermost bone in the
neck). The other group of 25 received a similar procedure but with no adjustment
being given. Researchers called this procedure the "sham adjustment". Since the
type of adjustment given was very light force, the patients involved in this
study did not know if they were receiving the real or sham adjustments.
The results were surprising to even the medical researchers conducting the
study. After 8 weeks of care the 25 people in the group receiving the real
chiropractic adjustments all showed a significant reduction in blood pressure
compared to the group that received the sham adjustment. Those patients who
got the real adjustment showed an average of 14 mm Hg greater drop in systolic
blood pressure (the top number in a blood pressure count), and an average of 8
mm Hg greater drop in diastolic blood pressure (the bottom blood pressure
number) over those who got the fake or sham adjustment.
In his interview with WebMD, study leader George Bakris, MD commented, "This
procedure has the effect of not one, but two blood-pressure medications given in
combination. And it seems to be adverse-event free. We saw no side effects and
no problems."
When they first analyzed the data, Dr. Bakris and his statistician had trouble
believing the data. He noted, "When the statistician brought me the data, I
actually didn't believe it. It was way too good to be true. The statistician
said, `I don't even believe it.` But we checked for everything, and there it
was."
X-rays were used to confirm that the chiropractic adjustments actually changed
the position of the Atlas vertebrae. Dr. Marshall Dickholtz was the chiropractor
who performed the specific adjustments and commented in WebMD, "At the base of
the brain are two centers that control all the muscles of the body. If you pinch
the base of the brain -- if the Atlas gets locked in a position as little as a
half a millimeter out of line -- it doesn't cause any pain but it upsets these
centers."
Even with the overwhelming results, the authors of the study were cautious in
their conclusions and posed several questions. They commented, "The mechanism as
to why this improvement in blood pressure occurs is unknown and cannot be
determined by this study”. They continued, “The data presented, however, raise a
number of important questions including: a) How does misalignment of C1 affect
hypertension?; and b) If there is a cause and effect relationship between C1
misalignment and hypertension, is malposition of C1 an additional risk factor
for the development of hypertension?"
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