[Note: This post is part of a larger series about the The Best Cures and Remedies for Heart Palpitations]
When my heart palpitations were at their worst and my spirits were at their lowest, I started telling people about my situation in hopes of finding someone with a solution (you can read my story HERE). An acquaintance of mine suggested that he may be able to help since he was a chiropractor. He laid out a compelling argument that heart palpitations could be caused by nerves being pinched in my spine. I had back and arm pain, especially when I was anxious, that mimicked a heart attack (or so I thought), so this sounded reasonable to me.
I visited his office and his staff was incredibly kind. However, his practice honestly felt like a sham. It was very expensive and once my name was called I would go lay down on a bed that rolled/massaged my back. The doctor would then come in and give me “electronic” acupuncture, which was painless and felt like he just put a tiny flashlight to different parts of my body. I was then told I would need to do this three times a week. Yikes!
So I blew it off and swore I would never go back to a chiropractor and their voodoo medicine again. I related my skepticism of Chiropractic medicine to a church home group I was in and a guy there happened to be a chiropractor. He said that there are different types of Chiropractors (good and bad ones just like other doctors), but that his practice placed more emphasis on sports and physical therapy. He didn’t promise to cure my heart palpitations but did reiterate that they could be the result of a compression of nerves in my back.
So I went to his office and the difference was amazing. He adjusted my back and neck and I felt incredibly better. I can’t say that it instantly cured my heart palpitations, but it certainly helped my back pain and did help lessen the severity of the palpitations. According to some of the articles I read, if your spine is out of proper alignment you can get altered blood flow to the brain and increased sympathetic stimulation in the nervous system that can drive up blood pressure and put your nervous system into overdrive, thus resulting in heart palpitations. I’m not sure how much of this is medically verified (which concerns me), but I have come across a number of articles online since that have claimed that going to a chiropractor has cured their heart palpitations, so I thought I would add it to my list of potential cures.
If you have gone down all the traditional routes of trying to stop your heart palpitations and nothing has worked, this may be a good route to try (with the consent of your doctor/cardiologist of course). Just be sure you talk to your friends and family and find a Chiropractor that knows what he/she is doing and is someone you can trust. It can be expensive but if it can cure your heart palpitations, or at least alleviate some pain or lower your blood pressure, it may be worth it.
What do you think? Have you found chiropractic medicine to help alleviate your heart palpitations?
I will concur. Chiropractic adjustments have dramatically improved my palpitations as well.
I’ve seen a chiropractor for another issue. He was aware of my medical history including my palps. He never mentioned that any adjustment could help them.
As with your experience, it depends on the chiropractor. After a couple of false starts, I found one who helped immensely. I had some relief after one visit and got much better after a few more adjustments that ‘stuck’.
Hi Tom
This is a fascinating topic. I will try to summarize my own experience. I was having around 3000 supraventricular ectopics/24 hour. Started taking betablockers: side-effects were nasty so decided to stop taking them.
I was living in Hong Kong back then and one friend took me to chinese doctor. He said that that problem was “in my neck” and suggested bonesetting to fix my heart beat. I was skeptical (I am a mechanical enginner) but I decided to give it a go. Same as you, it was a long process of 3 times a week for six months.
The holter reading in the end was…21,000 palpitations/24 hours. One month after…27,000 !!!.. Yep, 27k palpitations per day….
Some months later I had to travel to my home country Argentina and I visited more cardiologists at Favaloro Foundation (disappointing experience) AND one more “chiropractor”. Two sessions later (with neck manipulations and atlas bone adjustment), I managed to go to bed and feel NO PALPITATIONS.
In my case there’s a definite connection between neck and heart beat.
I think the Chinese doctor got the diagnostic right, but his bonesetting got me worse. It is critical to put out necks/spines in the right hands. My experience suggests that, with chiropractics, It can go either way!!
Hope we can meet some day to exchange views and ideas
Keep well
Hernan H.
I have to agree. Cardiologists and other MDs just shrugged and threw an ever-increasing number of pills at the symptoms and side effects I’ve experienced for over a year after a lone a-fib episode. After deciding that the meds were doing more harm than good, I stopped all of them (on my own, it must be said, since none of the MDs would help despite repeated requests for advice on how to safely stop them, especially the beta blocker that was triggering disabling asthma).
Fast forward to a chance meeting that led to a chiropractor in a nearby city. He admitted that he wasn’t sure chiropractic would solve the issues, but he did have a plausible hypothesis about what might be happening with compressed/stressed spinal nerves. His treatments seem to be working so far to address the root problem. So yes, I have to say that I believe chiropractic can benefit arrhythmia patients.
Yes!! I struggled with SVTs for almost 30 years. So many hospital visits and advise to control it, did not work for me. Even Adeosine the drug they gave at the hospital stopped working even with maximum dosage. I was at work one day when a massive episode hit. I asked my colleague to call an ambulance. She said no, I’ll get the chiropractor next door. Best thing she ever did for me and my career as a chiropractor myself. My chiropractic colleague adjusted my upper neck and within an instant the palpitations stopped! It was like someone just flipped a switch. I have not been back to the hospital for these since and the beauty is I hardly get them anymore. This opened my eyes further to the power of keeping the nerve pathways clear as symptoms are not always present during issues. I was luck my body gave these symptoms and nothing worse so I could do something about it. My asthma also cleared up after adapting the chiropractic lifestyle of being adjusted every fortnight to maintain a healthy spine as my job is very stressful to my spine. Everyone should get adjusted, is my personal opinion. Had I not felt the results each time an episode happened and I got adjusted, I would not fully understand that even as a chiropractor how instant the changes were in the nervous system after an adjustment. I have the best job in the world and happy to be able to use my experiences to help others find relief and the path back to true and natural health.
Hello, do you allow guest posting on lifeoffbeat.com ? 🙂 Let me know on my email
Good to know, will give it a try 😊