Which one, acupuncture or massage, can increase blood pressure?

There is no absolute saying "which one will inevitably lead to an increase in blood pressure". If the two operations are standardized and symptomatic, they will not induce abnormal increases in blood pressure, and even have a certain auxiliary regulatory effect on essential hypertension. Only when the operation is improper and the patient is not selected correctly, a transient increase in blood pressure may occur. Judging from clinical cases, the probability of an increase in blood pressure caused by improper massage by non-professionals is relatively higher.

Last month, I treated a 58-year-old patient. He usually takes medicine for high blood pressure and his blood pressure is stable at around 130/85. He had a stiff neck and was in a lot of pain. I wanted to go to the massage parlor downstairs in the community for massage. The doctor probably didn’t have any medical background, so he grabbed him when he came up. He rubbed the back of his neck vigorously and twisted it twice. Within five minutes, the old man said he was dizzy and flustered, and his temples were pounding. When the blood pressure was measured in the store, it soared to 165/98. He was so frightened that he hurriedly sent it over. He rested for half an hour and took half a tablet of antihypertensive medicine before he recovered.

That’s not to say that acupuncture has nothing to do with raising blood pressure. There are many colleagues who hold different views. I met a young man who got acupuncture for the first time two years ago. He was originally here to treat insomnia. His basic blood pressure was completely normal. As soon as Hegu and Neiguan were applied, he broke out in cold sweats and said his heart was tight. When his blood pressure was measured, it was 150/90. It was obviously a stress reaction caused by being too nervous. I quickly pulled out the acupuncture and gave him a glass of warm sugar water. After sitting there for 20 minutes, he returned to normal.

If we really want to break down the difference between the two, the core issue is actually the operating threshold. Nowadays, many non-professional practitioners of massage do not even understand the distribution of blood vessels in the neck, let alone know that strong pressure on the carotid sinus can cause blood pressure fluctuations. When encountering patients with basic hypertension or even carotid plaques, brute force massage on the back of the neck or pulling of the cervical vertebrae can easily trigger the body's stress response, causing the blood pressure to spike instantly. Our department encounters two or three cases of this every month. Acupuncture has a higher operating threshold, and most practitioners have a foundation in TCM syndrome differentiation. As long as the amount of stimulation is not too large, or the patient is overly nervous and faints from the needle, it is rare for blood pressure to rise. On the contrary, acupuncture points such as Taichong and Quchi are often used clinically to assist in lowering blood pressure, and the effect is quite stable.

Of course, there are exceptions. For example, some novice moxa-moxibustion practitioners do not understand syndrome differentiation, and giving large amounts of moxibustion to warm and tonic acupuncture points such as Baihui and Guanyuan for hypertensive patients with liver-yang hyperactivity may also cause the patient's head to swell and blood pressure to rise. This is essentially a human problem, not a therapy problem.

If you have high blood pressure, whether you are going for acupuncture or massage, you should clearly explain your underlying disease to the operator in advance. If you feel dizzy, bloated, or chest tight during the process, stop immediately and don't force yourself. You want to relax, so you can't take the risk, right?