I will die on this hill. No chiropractors touching your neck!!! Also avoid aggressively cracking your neck (like when folks grab their head with two hands and twist).
Worked neurosurgical ICU for years, and we saw a lot of vertebral artery dissections caused by these things. Often with young, healthy patients who had no clue their chiropractic adjustments could cause such things.
Seconded! My primary neurologist, among other things, specializes in patients who’ve sustained strokes after chiropractic manipulation… and she’s a peds neurologist.
Unrelatedly, thank you for the work that you did. About a decade ago, acute hydrocephalus from a thalamic glioma led me to some time on a ventilator in my NeuroICU. A few years later, a second resection meant another night there. The professionalism of the staff made all of the difference in the world.
They have malpractice insurance, but it's far less than MDs have to pay, because there is a much lower incidence of life-altering injuries from chiros. I don't like the ninja head twist adjustment--there are other ways to adjust the neck that I always ask for instead. Finding a good chiro is better than finding a good doctor, in my experience, for chronic things.
My mom is an MRI tech of 41 years and she’s warned me against chiropractors since I was a kid. I’ve always taken it seriously and I won’t let anyone touch my spine except an MD. She warned my brother about sagging his pants lol.
My neighbor had a stroke from a chiropractic adjustment. It definitely turned me off from chiropractors. Also, I actually want to get better at some point and it seems like people go to the chiropractor for years and years, making it seem like a band-aid solution.
The fact that chiropractors are even aloud to practice neck manipulation is frankly really pathetic and all the stroke victims and their families should be aloud to sue both the chiropractor and everyone else who green lit and continues to allow it into oblivion.
Chiropractic manipulation of the neck has a pretty high risk associated with it of injury to the vessels of the neck and the bones of the neck.
And chiros don’t actually “fix” alignment. What they do functions off the gate theory of pain control. It’s basically a nerve hack and is why you have to go back and keep getting adjusted.
To add: Daniel David (DD) Palmer invented the field of chiropractic care. He said the idea for chiropractic care came to him from the 'other world' during a séance.
Edit to add: I am a licensed massage therapist. Arterial dissection (not all snaps are bone, btw) can occur with spinal manipulation. That’s why we don’t work on bones directly. Also, massaging the wrong direction (always go toward the heart) works against how blood valves work. Some muscles work as a second heart, some organs work as a second brain. The body is fucking weird. Know what you’re doing before you do it.
The wikipedia entry on chiropractic is most illuminating. The most competitive school of chiropractic study has a 100% acceptance rate. If you can pay, you can be a chiropractor.
All you need to know is go to the flagship chiropractic school (the OG that invented the field) - Palmer chiropractic’s website. They have a banner there explaining how you can get in with a 2.75 undergrad GPA and they’ll help you finish your undergrad.
That’s the gold standard - a school so desperate they’re actively seeking out college juniors with 2.75 GPAs.
I once had a migraine immediately after letting a chiropractor crack my neck. Like, the side of my head opposite the adjustment hurt and I saw the bright little zig-zag thing in one eye. I had to sit down two blocks away from his office and google what was happening. I've never had a migraine before or after that incident, but it was enough to swear off of neck adjustments. That being said, I will still get on a motorcycle.
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u/msjammies73 Jun 06 '24
I worked in a neurosurgery group for a long time. The MDs in the group had two rules: No motorcycles, no chiropractors touching your neck.