Blood pressure normalizing effect of Talahridaya marma therapy: A case report

Ancient Ayurvedic literature described 107 vital regions of the body and considered them as a seat of prana (life force) and collectively termed them as marma. The applied aspect of this concept, marma chikitsa or marma therapy, is gaining popularity as it is being practiced by many clinicians in which these marma are stimulated in different ways to treat different diseases. Hypertension is one of the major disorders affecting majority of the world population. Inspite of available antihypertensive therapies, the hypertensive population of not only the older age group, but also of that of young adults is increasing. Blood pressure normalising effect of marma therapy is observed by clinicians practicing marma therapy due to its holistic effect on the body. Clinical data regarding efficacy of this therapy is very sparse and hence, its application in different diseases remained unexplored till date. This case report is of a young hypertensive male whose blood pressure significantly improved with Talahridaya marma therapy. This patient was detected with raised blood pressure on repetitive examinations. The volunteer was subjected to Talahridayamarma therapy where his classical Talahridaya marma point on left upper limb was physically stimulated in controlled way for 10 days and the patient was also taught to perform the therapy on himself. The blood pressure was recorded, both before and after giving the therapy on each day. The volunteer showed significant improvement in his blood pressure recordings.