Traditional Chinese Medicine for Hypertension: Best Practices From a TCM View

Hypertension or High Blood Pressure is a huge concern for many people worldwide. Luckily, Traditional Chinese Medicine has very valuable things to bring to the table with remarkable results. So in this post, you’ll learn how to use Traditional Chinese Medicine for Hypertension.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine for Hypertension, Acupuncture has been shown effective at lowering Blood Pressure levels, even in people with multiple-drug therapy. Points like Gallbladder 20, Xueyadian, and Liver 3 are highly effective. Ear acupuncture is highly useful, especially in acute cases

What is Hypertension? A Quick Overview

According to the World Health Organization, Hypertension or High Blood Pressure is the permanent elevation of the Blood Pressure above 140/90mmHg. It is one of the main public health problems, especially in industrialized and developed countries but it is a worldwide pandemic, often called the 21st century pandemic.

What’s the deal with it though?

The problem with Hypertension is that you can have it, experience no symptoms, and then later on find out you have organ damage due to High Blood Pressure. So much so that it is called the silent killer. The most affected organs are the Brain, the Heart, and the Kidneys.

You can live your life like nothing ever happened and then suffer from a hypertensive stroke.

Therein lies the need to check your blood pressure now and then, keeping an eye on it.

But what about TCM and Hypertension? What do the ancient Chinese say?

How Chinese Medicine Sees Hypertension

Hypertension is not a disease per se in the traditional Chinese medical literature, this does not mean the ancient Chinese didn’t know about Hypertension though. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, High Blood Pressure is a clinical feature of several syndromes (at least 6 different ones) and not a sole entity by itself. The sustained rise in blood pressure is even recognized in the Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor (Huang Di Nei Jing).

Hypertension was called the ‘Hard pulse disease’.

Blood pressure is related to three main Organ Networks especially, the Liver, the Heart, and the Spleen which are deeply related to the flow of Blood through the body.

For more on the TCM views of Blood, read this article: (Link)

According to this study, Hypertension has often been put into three main syndromes with their respective sub-syndromes such as:

• Fire Syndrome contains Liver Fire, Heart Fire, Stomach Fire, and Intestinal Fire.
• Dampness and Phlegm Syndrome which contains Fluid retention in the Upper, Middle, and Lower Burner (The Upper, Middle, and Lower Jiao from the San Jiao/Triple burner)
• Deficiency Syndrome which contains Spleen deficiency and Kidney deficiency.

This therefore means that when using Traditional Chinese Medicine for Hypertension you are not treating Hypertension by itself but rather the syndromes in which High Blood pressure is present.

Chinese Medicine’s approach to Hypertension has shown positive results and is a great asset in everyone’s toolbox when dealing with Hypertension. Several studies have shown that Acupuncture can lower the Systolic Blood Pressure by 6 to 8 mmHg when used as a sole therapy and when used in combination with anti-hypertensive drugs the results were amazingly higher.

The study of Hypertension using TCM is a broad and big field that goes beyond the scope and aim of this article which is to arm you with tools you can use once to treat High Blood Pressure using Chinese Medicine.

Let’s see then, how Chinese Medicine treats Hypertension

Traditional Chinese Medicine for Hypertension: Acupuncture

As said before, acupuncture is an amazing approach to lowering Blood Pressure. Being such an easy and low-risk method, you will learn now how to use the acupuncture points for hypertension. It does not matter if you won’t use needles, I have used only acupressure with my fingers and have been able to take several people from 160/90mmHg to 135-140/80mmHg.

Don’t forget to check out this Guide to Measures in TCM if you have doubts locating points.

Acupuncture Points for Hypertension

• Large Intestine 4: Located on the back of your hand, in the area between your thumb and index finger, in the middle of the metacarpal bone of your index finger on its radial side.
• Gallbladder 20: Located in the nape, below the occipital bone, in a depression between the occipital and the mastoid process. It is a wonderful point for treating hypertension, and headaches as well as many other entities.
• Liver 3: Located on the dorsum of the foot, between the big toe and the second toe of the foot, towards the back, where you can find a depression between the two metatarsal bones and feel them joining.
• Kidney 3: Located on the midpoint between the tip of your inner ankle and your Achilles heel tendon.
• Spleen 9: Following the inside of your tibia to the knee, when the bone begins to do a C-shaped curve, in the middle of the curve
• Stomach 40: Located on your leg, 8 cun above the tip of your outer ankle and 2 cun outside of the tip of the tibia.
• Stomach 36: Located in your leg, three cun below the kneecap and one cun lateral to the tip of the tibia. You can find it by placing your hand over your knee so that your wrist lays on the upper edge of the kneecap, placing your ring finger on the tip of the tibia, and relaxing your fingers, Stomach 36 is located where your ring finger lies.
• Xueyadian: It is located between the sixth and seventh cervical vertebra, 2 cun lateral to the midline. This point shows amazing results when stimulated.

Stimulate these points for three minutes and you will see the Blood pressure numbers decrease.

Some of those points are included in my Free Guide to 8 Highly Effective Points which you can get below.

Don’t try to lower the Blood pressure too much or too fast, this is as dangerous as hypertension itself. The aim is for a steady and controlled lowering of those numbers.

Auricular Acupuncture Points for Hypertension

Using the Ear microsystem we can also tackle several diseases, and Hypertension is no exception. There are many methods and protocols for treating High Blood pressure with Ear acupuncture. Here are some of the most common:

• Bleeding the tip of the earlobe.
• Bleeding the apex of the ear that forms when the ear is folded in itself.
• Placing seeds or needling the points Shenmen, Heart, and stimulating the Hypotensor groove.

You can stimulate these points three times a day by doing circles clockwise and counter-clockwise, around 8 times on each side.

Traditional Chinese Medicine for Hypertension: Herbal Medicine

Along with Acupuncture, Chinese Medicine also uses herbs to treat Hypertension with remarkable results. You can take the herbs as food, as tea, as a supplement, or as a herbal formula (like a natural pill). Here are some herbs you can add to your food to lower your blood pressure as well as one widely known formula to treat High Blood Pressure:

Herbs

1. Garlic (Allium sativum): May help lower blood pressure by relaxing blood vessels and improving circulation. Can be consumed raw, cooked, or in supplement form.
2. Hibiscus (Hibiscus sabdariffa): Known for its ability to lower blood pressure, particularly in people with mild hypertension. Often consumed as a tea.
3. Olive Leaf (Olea europaea): Contains compounds that may help lower blood pressure and improve heart health. Available as a tea, extract, or supplement.
4. Hawthorn (Crataegus spp.): Supports cardiovascular health and may help lower blood pressure. Often used in tinctures, teas, or capsules.
5. Ginger (Zingiber officinale): May improve circulation and has anti-inflammatory properties that can benefit heart health. Can be used fresh, dried, or in tea.
6. Turmeric (Curcuma longa): Contains curcumin, which has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties that may support heart health. Can be added to food, taken as a supplement, or consumed in tea.
7. Cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum): May help improve insulin sensitivity and lower blood pressure. Can be added to foods or taken as a supplement.

Qi Ju Di Huang Wan (Lycium Fruit, Chrysanthemum, and Rehmannia Pill)

Key Ingredients:

• Shu Di Huang (Rehmannia): Tonifies Kidney Yin and essence.
• Gou Qi Zi (Lycium Fruit): Nourishes the Liver and improves vision.
• Ju Hua (Chrysanthemum Flower): Clears heat and benefits the eyes.
• Shan Zhu Yu (Cornus): Nourishes the Liver and Kidney, astringes essence.
• Shan Yao (Dioscorea): Tonifies the Spleen and Kidney.
• Ze Xie (Alisma): Promotes urination and drains dampness.
• Mu Dan Pi (Cortex Moutan): Clears deficiency fire of the Liver.

There is another Traditional Chinese Medicine formula that is effective at treating mild Hypertension: Songling Xuemaikang. This specific formula has been shown to be as effective as Losartan at treating mild Hypertension.

Traditional Chinese Medicine for Hypertension: Lifestyle Modification

One little discussed fact about Chinese Medicine and Hypertension is Lifestyle modification. While many people advise you to go on walks and reduce your stress levels, I want to go a bit further and give you some actionable steps and tips you can implement that will greatly impact your health.

Watch your diet and habits: This can be an obvious one but still, common knowledge is hardly common practice. Make sure you are eating whole foods rich in vegetables, fruits, meat, and healthy fats. Stay away from cigarettes, tobacco, and alcohol, and take long walks in nature. It is said that seating is the new smoking so, leave your phone in the drawer and take a 1-hour walk around the neighborhood.

Get a hobby that absorbs you: Doing an activity you find amusing and letting it absorb you entirely so you lose track of time is by far one of the best pieces of advice you can get. Not only it will reduce your Blood pressure numbers but will also improve your mood dramatically. Make it something you enjoy doing just for the sake of it, something that makes you happy.

Some examples are origami, knitting, drawing (even if you think you are bad at it), playing an instrument, and reading. Make it something that makes you forget about the world. This is something that resembles the ancient Chinese concept of Wu-Wei.

Invest in Qi Gong classes: Qi Gong has a record of turning people wide-mouthed when seeing the effects it has on longevity and wellness. The consistent practice of Qi Gong is almost guaranteed to improve your quality of life along with other amazing features like flexibility, muscle and tendon strength, better breathing, and focus, all of which contribute to treating hypertension.

Meditate: ‘Mens sana in corpore sano’ says the quote. A healthy mind in a healthy body, that’s the goal. Developing a meditation habit will increase your attention span, help you focus better and learn faster, and lower your stress levels thus increasing the effect of your hypertension treatment.

Follow the advice in this post and you should have no problem dealing when using Traditional Chinese Medicine for Hypertension.

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See ya!