Acupuncture and Cardiovascular Disease

By Bill Reddy, LAc, Dipl. Ac

Pinecrest Wellness Center

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Acupuncture and Cardiovascular Disease

According to the American Heart Association, the total cardiovascular disease prevalence (including coronary heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, heart failure, etc.) in the American population is 80 million people, roughly 36% of the population. Studies have shown that cardiovascular disease is most prevalent in African Americans; while of the groups studied, Mexican Americans have the lowest occurrence. Additionally, more men than women suffer from cardiovascular disease.

There are a number of risk factors listed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They include smoking, diet, sedentary lifestyle, obesity and excessive alcohol consumption. Heredity also plays a part in high blood pressure, heart disease and other vascular conditions.

While minimizing the aforementioned risk factors is encouraged universally as a means of prevention, in China, acupuncture is well known for its use in heart disease prevention and treatment. In the United States, however, acupuncture is not a widely used means for prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease.

In a recent study performed at the Panxian Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine in China, 75 patients diagnosed with cardiac arrhythmia were split into two groups one group was treated with acupuncture and moxibustion (burning an herb called mugwort or moxa to warm specific acupoints on the body) while the other group (the control group) was treated with metoprolol, porpafenone and aspirin. The two groups were monitored and compared over a period of one year.

The total effective rate was 97.4% in the acupuncture/moxibustion group compared to 81.1% in the medicated group. The other key finding was there were less complications and recurrence in the group treated with acupuncture/moxibustion compared to the control group.

If you have chronic health issues, such as heart failure, arrhythmia, acid reflux, chronic pain, or insomnia, you may want to consider acupuncture and Oriental medicine as an option.

Go to www.nccaom.org and click on “find a practitioner” to choose a board certified licensed acupuncturist near you. For most patients, the needles are painless and most herbal medicine comes in a convenient pill form and as granular teas.