Effects of Traditional Acupuncture Therapy on Patients with Hypertension / 全日本鍼灸学会雑誌

ABSTRACT

[Objective and Design] We have encountered various patients with hypertension who showed a tendency of declining blood pressure after the start of acupuncture therapy based on the traditional theory. This report presents one typical case of hypertension for which there are data on daily measurements of blood pressure for four years and data on lower stable blood pressure for more than one year since the beginning of traditional acupuncture.<BR>[Methods] Acupuncture therapy based on the traditional theory consists of selecting two groups of acupuncture points one group for general effects contains four points in the extremities according to the pulse examination of the classic “Nan Jing”, and Ren 12 (Zhongwan) and Ren 6 (Qihai) in the abdomen, the other group for symptoms contains eight back Shu points. For acupuncture therapy, silver needles of diameter 180 p m were inserted as far as the muscles.<BR>[Result] It was clearly observed that hypertensive blood pressure of this case was decreased to lower stable levels by traditional acupuncture therapy within three or four weeks after the start of the therapy.<BR>[Conclusion] Especially in the typical case above, as we could not find any factors influencing the change of his hypertensive state such as changes of administered drugs, climate or social environment, it was conceivable that this decrease of blood pressure was caused by the acupuncture.