Chiropractor Injury: Stroke & Other Complications Associated With Spinal Manipulation
Americans make some 250 million visits to a chiropractor each year, and 105 million of those appointments include neck manipulations, according to the American Chiropractic Association.
Spinal manipulation or adjustment is a manual treatment where a vertebral joint is passively moved between the normal range of motion and the limits of its normal integrity, though a universally accepted definition does not seem to exist. It is occasionally used by osteopaths, physiotherapists and physicians, and it is the hallmark treatment of chiropractors. Practically all chiropractors use spinal manipulation regularly to treat low back and other musculoskeletal pain. It often involves a high velocity thrust, a technique in which the joints are adjusted rapidly, often accompanied by popping sounds. This results in transient stretching of joint capsules which, according to chiropractic belief, resets the position of the spinal cord and nerves, allowing the nervous system to function optimally and improving the body's biomechanical efficiency.
Many researchers have voiced doubt about the safety of spinal manipulation—especially manipulation of the cervical spine (above the shoulders). Of particular concern is stroke after upper spinal manipulation.
A 2003 study in the journal Neurology confirmed the connection between cervical manipulation and stroke. In the study, patients with strokes caused by torn arteries were nearly five times more likely to have had a recent neck adjustment than those with strokes caused by something else, indicating that recently seeing a chiropractor is an independent risk factor for stroke. This connection has been confirmed in follow up studies, such as a 2007 study in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, which identified adverse effects of spinal manipulation in published cases and found that the patients identified were mostly young healthy individuals treated for benign, self-limiting conditions such as neck pain or headache; dissection of the vertebral arteries was the most common problem; other complications included dural tear, oedema, nerve injury, disc herniation, haematoma and bone fracture. In the majority of cases, spinal manipulation was deemed to be the probable cause of the adverse effect.
If you would like to speak with an experienced attorney about a chiropractic injury or the legal rights of the injured, contact injury attorney Shawn Cantley toll-free at (866) 587-0002 or click this link: email_shawn.
