On March 25, 2008 the ABC morning show, “Good Morning America” aired a segment with Robin Roberts showing how chiropractic helps high blood pressure. The video later appeared on the popular publishing site YouTube at the following address: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TTzKwvNbP0
The parallel story also appeared on the ABC News website and starts with a profound statement, “Though doctors are unsure of what causes blood pressure to increase, a new study suggests that a specific type of neck adjustment may reduce hypertension for some of the 65 million Americans battling it.”
The article referenced the University of Chicago study, published in the Journal of Human Hypertension, that showed that the patients in that study who received chiropractic adjustments saw their blood pressure drop an average of 17 points.
The article quotes study author George Bakris MD, University of Chicago Medical centre hypertension specialist , “We set up a double-blind study to really look and see if in fact this procedure was affecting high blood pressure.” The article and video notes that that, “The C-1 vertebra, located at the top of the spine, operates like a fuse box in the body.”
Medical doctor and ABC medical consultant Tim Johnson was reserved in his reporting of the findings but was still impressed. He stated, “[There are] a lot of unanswered questions. But I’m telling you, this catches our attention because of a significant drop in blood pressure. It absolutely deserves more study.” He continued, “The truth is we really don’t know that vertebra at the top of the neck is in a critical area where the brain stem, the lower part of the brain, is involved with regulation of blood pressure. It’s theoretically imaginable that changing the anatomy of that area may have effect on regulating blood pressure.”
