THE NECK IS SO TIGHT, AND IT HURTS. IS IT OKAY? WILL THERE BE A STROKE?

When winter comes, many patients will say, “my neck is so tight; will I have a stroke?” -High blood pressure acupuncture can help.

A tight neck may be caused by poor posture, inflammation of the fascia, or cervical vertebra degeneration, which may cause neck muscles to tighten and cause pain. However, real high blood pressure or sclerosis of the neck arteries will not cause the feeling of a tight neck and a stiff shoulder. Therefore, it is not necessary to adjust the use of hypertension drugs.

Hypertension is a systemic disease characterized by primary arterial hypertension. Systolic blood pressure ≧ 140mmHg, diastolic blood pressure ≧ 90mmHg, one of the two can be diagnosed as hypertension. In the early stage, hypertension may have symptoms such as dizziness and headache, but usually, there is no manifestation of complications of the brain, heart, and kidney. In the later stage, there may be clinical manifestations such as left ventricular hypertrophy, fundus failure, renal failure, and fundus hemorrhage.

Hypertension is the most common in middle-aged and older people. Traditional Chinese medicine treats diseases by syndrome differentiation. The primary syndrome differentiation is as follows:

1. syndrome of ascendant hyperactivity of liver yang
2. liver-kidney yin deficiency pattern
3. syndrome of dual deficiency of yin and yang
4. phlegm turbidity obstructing 

Since Hypertention is a disease with “Deficiency In Origin And Excess In Superficiality,” in traditional Chinese medicine, according to the principle of “treating the symptoms in an emergency and slowly treating the root cause.”
Firstly treat the phlegm-dampness, blood stasis that causes blood circulation blockage, or those that cause headaches and dizziness. Liver wind and liver fire, then use the treatment methods of nourishing yin to subdue yang/supporting yang to suppress yin/supplementing yin and yang to deal with the imbalance of yin and yang. In addition to Chinese herbal medicine, Acupuncture (including body acupuncture, scalp acupuncture, ear acupuncture, cupping, and massage can also be combined.

Usually, blood pressure should be measured regularly, recorded, and referred to the doctor when visiting a doctor. Provides several daily life suggestions for everyone: First, the home environment should be clean and tidy, the indoor ventilation should be sufficient, the light should be as soft as possible, and proper maintenance should be made. Second, avoid constipation. Excessive force in defecation is terrible for blood pressure control. Third, weight control, obese people should control their diet, exercise correctly, and lose weight if necessary. Fourth, diet: low-salt, low-fat, and low-calorie diet, eat more dark green vegetables, moderate fruits, and less food with high cholesterol; you can often eat black sesame, walnut meat, and yam.

Did you know that acupuncture and herbal medicine can help regulate your blood pressure? Why not give it a try and see for yourself?

References and sources:

• Hong, Seungcheol et al. “Acupuncture for Regulating Blood Pressure of Stroke Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” Journal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York, N.Y.) vol. 26,12 (2020): 1105-1116. doi:10.1089/acm.2019.0454
• Li, Hui-Juan et al. Zhongguo zhen jiu = Chinese acupuncture & moxibustion vol. 39,7 (2019): 685-8. doi:10.13703/j.0255-2930.2019.07.001
• Vilaval, Termklinchan et al. “Effect of acupuncture on blood pressure control in hypertensive patients.” Journal of traditional Chinese medicine = Chung i tsa chih ying wen pan vol. 39,2 (2019): 246-250.
• Abdi, Hamid et al. “Abdominal and auricular acupuncture reduces blood pressure in hypertensive patients.” Complementary therapies in medicine vol. 31 (2017): 20-26. doi:10.1016/j.ctim.2017.01.003

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