Dr. John C. Longhurst, director of the <<>> at lower blood pressure ,and researchers, have found that acupuncture using low levels of electrical stimulation can lower elevations in blood pressure by as much as 50 percent.
Acupuncture, an ancient form of Chinese medicine, involves inserting needles at specific points on the body to help cure disease or relieve pain.
The study, which appears in the March issue of the Acupuncture, found that electroacupuncture treatments on rats provided temporary relief from the conditions that raise blood pressure during hypertensive states and they believe the treatment has the potential to become part of a therapeutic regimen for long-term care of hypertension and other cardiovascular ailments in people.
Longhurst says the study suggests that acupuncture can be an excellent complement to other medical treatments, especially for those treating the cardiac system and the Western World is waiting for a clear scientific basis for using acupuncture. He hopes the research will lead to the integration of ancient healing practices into modern medical treatment.
Longhurst and his UCI colleagues had already identified in previous studies, at the cellular and molecular level, how acupuncture excites brain cells to release neurotransmitters that either inhibit or heighten cardiovascular activity.
In this later study they found that when an acupuncture needle was inserted at specific sites on the wrist, inside of the forearm or leg, it triggered the release of opioid chemicals in the brain that reduce excitatory responses in the cardiovascular system. This decreases the heart's activity and its need for oxygen, which in turn can lower blood pressure, and promotes healing for a number of cardiac ailments, such as myocardial ischemia ( insufficient blood flow to the heart ) and hypertension.