If you would like to support our efforts to educate the public about the serious problems that face the chiropractic industry today, ChiroWatch is now available for your donations. Whether you have been injured by a chiropractic manipulation, scammed by one of their bizarre methods or gizmos, or told that your child should never get their shots, you now have the chance to help us continue this valuable free service.
Spin Doctors
The Chiropractic
Industry Under
Examination
Paul Benedetti
Wayne MacPhail
Canadians visit chiropractors about thirty million times a year, and surveys show that patients are generally satisfied with them. But Paul Benedetti and Wayne MacPhail have another opinion. Their hard-hitting CANOE.CA web site called Spin Doctors I & II were instrumental in educating the public about the excesses of some chiropractors. This book took years to write, and it is a must read for anyone who plans to go for chiropractic treatment, or who pays for insurance that covers it.
A practical guide that explores the facts and falsehoods of chiropractic. Homola is a retired chiropractor and author of a dozen books. He shows that, despite claims to the contrary, chiropractors do not qualify as primary-care physicians. He analyzes patient-education materials, gives self-examination tips to help consumers with back pain to decide if and when to see a chiropractor, and analyzes questionable techniques used to attract and treat patients.
This is Sam Homola's latest book. What a relief to find a book that is an honest appraisal of how to treat the aches and pains of everyday living. If you are high on chiropractic, then this book should be on your shelf. Dr. Homola practiced for years as a chiropractor and his knowledge is based on those years of practice. Order it today
Dr. Preston H. Long is THE expert. Consumers trust Andrew Weil for reliable information about alternative medicine, Dr. Bernie Siegel for inspiring words about mind-body connection, and Dr. Dean Ornish, for practical ways to keep their hearts healthy, but who the recognized authority on back care and the limits of chiropractic medicine?
Vascular accidents after chiropractic spinal manipulation: Myth or reality?
The association between chiropractic neck manipulation and vascular accidents is well established. A recent case controll study, however, casts doubt on the notion that the association is caused by nature. A detailed critique of that study reveals several weaknesses. Therefore the balance of probabilities seems to indicate that the association, in face, is causal.
Connecticut Board of Chiropractic Hearings on Neck Manipulations
Dissecting Connecticut chiropractic association’s arguments against informed consent - A debate that for years has raged behind the closed doors of chiropractic associations was brought to the attention of the broader public recently when citizens who suffered debilitating strokes after being treated with spinal manipulation by chiropractors pushed regulators in Hartford to require that practitioners inform their patients of the risk.
Following a lengthy review of the exhibit list and attorney arguments on several motions to recuse a board member and exclude evidence, testimony begins with William Lauretti, Doctor of Chiropractic
After legal arguments on a motion to exclude proposed testimony on subluxation, intervenor Jann Bellamy of the Florida-based Campaign for Science-Based Health Care testifies for the remainder of the session
Gerald Clum, DC testifies for the CT Chiropractic Assoc. followed by intervenor Sharon Mathiason, a Canadian woman who testifies about the death of her 20-year-old daughter. Concludes with Gina Carucci, DC & President of the CT Chiropractic Assoc.
Features the testimony of Dr. Douglas Fellows, representing the CT Medical Examining Board on its position on providing informed consent for patients and George Curry, Doctor of Chiropractic , representing the CT Chiropractic Council. Dr. Curry is a true believer in the vertebral-subluxation complex. One of his videos can be viewed here. He could not answer a simple question from Norman A Pattis, the lawyer for the Chiropractic Stroke Awareness Group as to whether he actually "touched" a patient to do a cervical neck manipulation.
Includes the testimony of intervenor State Sen. Len Fasano and of stroke victims Janet Levy, Britt Harwe and Christa Heck. Susan Hoffman and Michael McCormick testify about their spouses' deaths following strokes. Michael McCormick's story about his wife 32 year-old wife Kim on this MyFOX - NY television link.
Professor David Cassidy from Toronto states again that chiropractors still don't know that chiropractic neck manipulations cause VBA stroke. There's an "association" but there is no excess "risk" when going to a chiropractor. He said that case reports are not reliable.
Dr. Murray Katz from Montreal was grilled for over three hours by the Chiropractic Board's lawyer and by their board. They brought up all sorts of discredited stories about Murray that have been used by chiropractors over the years whenever Murray makes presentations or appears in court.
Summary: Plaintiff suffered permanent hearing loss and impaired balance
function on his right side following a cervical manipulation by the
Defendant chiropractor. Plaintiff claims that he was not properly informed
of the risks from the procedure and if properly informed, would not have
consented to treatment. Defendant claims the Plaintiff’s symptoms more
likely arose from viral rather than vascular origins and, in any event, the
Plaintiff consented to treatment having been fully informed of the potential
risks.
The Court has found:
(i) that the Defendant breached her duty of disclosure to the
Plaintiff;
(ii) that the Plaintiff, properly informed, would not have consented
to treatment; and
(iii) that the cervical manipulation performed on the Plaintiff by the
Defendant caused his injuries.
[136] The Defendant is therefore liable to the Plaintiff in negligence with
damages to be assessed.
Chiropractic Stroke Awareness Group
About CSAG
The Chiropractic Stroke Awareness Group was formed to raise public awareness about the risk of stroke and death with chiropractic cervical spinal adjustments, to find others who were injured this way and to prevent future needless suffering.
Young Mom Dies After a Chiropractic Adjustment
Is "chiropractic stroke" to blame?
Published : Monday, 23 Nov 2009, 9:25 PM EST
A Connecticut mother of three suddenly dies after a spinal manipulation, and now her husband wants the public to be aware of her story. Michael McCormick sometimes fights back tears when he remembers his wife Kim McCormick. Kim was only 32 years old and the mother of three young children when she passed away.
Family speaks out about controversial medical procedure
Man unresponsive after "manipulation under anesthesia"
He's 33, a father to three, a bit heavy, with diabetes and sore legs. And now he lies unresponsive in a hospital, his brain damaged in a controversial outpatient procedure that critics say is often done needlessly and billed excessively.
"It's absolutely unconscionable. They are doing it on almost anyone. It has really just become a method of billing for income," said Charles A. Bender, former president of the New Jersey chiropractic board and a critic of MUA.
Bender said unscrupulous practitioners look for patients with insurance that covers MUA — often PPOs — and steer patients to have it. Also, the procedure has been adopted by some organized rings that stage car crashes to bilk insurance, said James Quiggle, a spokesman for the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud.
Strokes after neck manipulation
Paralyzed woman sues chiropractor, regulators and Alberta government for Half-Billion dollars
Sandra Nette v. Gregory John Stiles et al.
EDMONTON — A woman who says she became paralyzed after having her upper spine manipulated is suing the Alberta College and Association of Chiropractors and the provincial government for half a billion dollars.
"A perfectly healthy young woman's life has been irreparably and devastatingly damaged as a result of her exposure to a chiropractor's manipulation of the vertebrae in her upper neck to correct alleged subluxations," says the statement of claim.
Story by Paul Benedetti and Wayne MacPhail - June 12, 2008 - An Alberta woman, paralyzed after her neck was manipulated by a chiropractor, has launched the biggest-ever class action suit against chiropractic in Canada.
The suit, filed yesterday in Edmonton, is asking for more than a half billion dollars in damages not only for the victim, Sandy Nette and her husband, David, but for an entire class – anyone in Alberta treated or harmed by chiropractors who deliver "inappropriate and non-beneficial adjustments."
Links to YouTube.com videos from David and Sandy NetteDavid Nette says, "I'm Not An Angry Man".
Shortly after visiting an Edmonton, Alberta chiropractor and having her neck manipulated, David Nette's wife, Sandy, suffered a stroke. Both vertebral arteries in her neck were torn on the inside and she was left almost totally paralyzed.
A support group for people injured by chiropractors expands its television public awareness campaign.
Wethersfield, CT (PRWEB) October 29, 2007 -- The Chiropractic Stroke Awareness Group (CSAG) is expanding its television awareness campaign, this time asking the question, "Have you been injured by a chiropractor?" on the ABC affiliate in Connecticut. The public service announcement (PSA) then provides contact information for victims to seek information and support.
The PSA, which can be seen on WTNH-TV News Channel 8, is part of an ongoing public service effort (including print and outdoor advertising) designed to raise the public consciousness about the risks of chiropractic treatment. Last month CSAG launched the television component on WTIC-TV the Fox affiliate in Connecticut.
"The response has been overwhelming," said Amanda Thompson of CSAG. "Many people are coming forward to share their horror stories and to seek help."
The organization represents hundreds of people across the country who have been injured by chiropractic treatment. Potential risks can include stroke, permanent disability and even death. CSAG is dismayed at the chiropractic community's response of preferring not to inform patients apparently out of fear some people might decide against chiropractic treatment if they were informed.
"Sadly, the chiropractic industry remains more concerned about protecting profits than protecting their patients," Ms. Thompson said. "One must ask the question 'what are they afraid of?"
One of the most common 'alternative' treatments for backache is dangerous and can kill, says Britain's leading expert on complementary medicine, Professor Edzard Ernst.
Spinal manipulation, used by chiropractors to treat hundreds of thousands of patients a year, poses serious risks, he warns in a paper published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine
"[It] is associated with frequent, mild and transient adverse effects as well as with serious complications which can lead to permanent disability or death."
Spinal manipulation involves sharp thrusts against a patient's spine to push individual vertebrae beyond normal levels of stress. But Ernst says that such violent therapy can seriously damage the arteries running near the spine, triggering thrombosis or a stroke.
The claim has incensed chiropractors. In letters to be published in the journal's October issue, they accuse Ernst of distortion, errors and misinterpreting data.
"The major body of published evidence points to manipulation being a safe and effective tool," says Barry Lewis, president of the British Chiropractic Association. He accuses Ernst of "puffing up his evidence out of all proportion".
One case involves Frances Denoon, who was in her 20s when she pulled a nerve in her neck while exercising. She visited a registered chiropractor and recalled feeling a 'crack' when he began his treatment.
"I couldn't focus and realised I wasn't saying words clearly," she says on the Action for Victims of Chiropractic's website. Denoon suffered a brain-stem stroke and now has poor balance and cannot write with her right hand. A court cleared her chiropractor of negligence.
Such stories are just the tip of an iceberg, says Ernst, director of complementary medicine at the Peninsula Medical School, run by Exeter and Plymouth universities. He has collected details of about 700 cases.
"I am not calling for a ban on chiropractors carrying out spinal manipulation but I think we have to think about regulating the practice far more carefully than we do at present," he said.
A spokeswoman for the General Chiropractic Council (GCC) said 2,300 chiropractors were registered with it and that since 2001 only one had been disciplined for breaching guidelines.
Peter Dixon, the council's chairman, said the report was 'yet another research scare' story.
"This does not serve the interests of the public or those of researchers who are dedicated to improving the public's health," he said.
I wonder how many articles that this chairman has authored on the subject, what his training has been, and whether he even bothered to read the article by Ernst that contained 75 academic references from around the world. Google search for "Peter Dixon GCC"
As for your reporter’s mention of spinal manipulation carrying the ‘risk of dangerous side-effects including strokes’. Actually, there’s no available evidence to show that manipulation of the neck by chiropractors has ever caused a stroke. Professor Ernst
likes to speculate about this and then say that as his assertions have never been proved to be wrong he must therefore be right – which is a bit mischievous – but always good for a newspaper story. Serious side effects associated with chiropractors happen so rarely that meaningful statistics are difficult to gather. It is fair to say though that
every form of human activity carries some risk – a walk in the park has risks attached to it – and seeing a chiropractor is just the same.
GCC Chairman Peter Dixon, said, "reporting of medical and science matters can be tricky - overstate the facts, put a sensationalist spin on something to pique press interest, and before you know it there's a distorted story doing the rounds that can create a great deal of anxiety. This is then next to impossible to correct because journalist's interests move quickly on to the next story and there's no putting the genie back into the bottle."
J. William Kinsinger, Marvin Levant, Judy Ford, Sharon Mathiason
www.neck911.com
National Post op-ed article
Friday, May 18, 2007 - Page A-17
Laurie Jean Mathiason of Saskatchewan, Lana Dale Lewis of Ontario and Pierrette Parisien of Quebec had several things in common. They were all Canadians, they are all dead. Their deaths have all been directly attributed to chiropractic highest neck manipulation, either by inquest or coroner's report. They were all young women, 20, 36 and 45, like most of the victims of stroke and death due to chiropractic highest neck manipulation. Women appear to be at increased risk. The deaths of these women were not due to a therapy gone wrong. Rather, as Laurie's mother, Sharon Mathiason, said, "Laurie died due to a false non-scientific philosophical belief that chiropractic highest neck manipulation is a cure-all."
The basic chiropractic philosophy began with the founding of chiropractic over 100 years ago by a Canadian born "magnetic" healer, named David Palmer. The Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College in Toronto is named after him. This philosophy states that disease is caused by our spinal vertebrae being out of place and that disease can be treated and even prevented by manipulating the vertebrae back into place. The most important joints, this theory says, are the two in the highest neck area.
Highest neck manipulation has always been central to chiropractic. Without it, there is no chiropractic philosophy. Of the many treatments chiropractors offer, some of which are beneficial, chiropractic cannot abandon highest neck manipulation, the most useless and dangerous "treatment" of all. Ms. Mathiason had tailbone pain, yet her highest neck was manipulated over 40 times; Ms. Lewis had headaches, not neck pain. For everyone from young babies to senior citizens, specific attention is focused on the high neck and the need to manipulate it time and time again. The notion that chiropractic high neck manipulation is done primarily to treat neck pain is a myth.
According to this philosophy -- taught to students at chiropractic schools and applied by chiropractors and their regulators of chiropractic-- chiropractors can diagnose spinal bones as out of place, even in a baby's neck that is 1 1/2 inches long and covered by fat, and tell which of the seven little bones is out of place causing "subluxations" that lead to everything from ear infections to colic. They then claim they can adjust the bone back into place. No amount of "studies" or "research" can ever make true this anatomical nonsense.
As in two inquests, in Saskatchewan in 1998 and Ontario in 2002, and a coroner's report in Quebec this past month, the scientific and legal conclusions all state the same thing: There is something
deadly about chiropractic highest neck manipulation.
The direct link between highest neck manipulation stroke and death has been shown by 60 years of published scientific evidence in The Journal of Forensic Science, The Journal of Clinical Pathology, The Journal of the American Medical Association, the Journal of the Canadian Medical Association, the British Medical Journal, and other journals.
Yet the licensing bodies legally responsible to protect the public fully endorse highest neck manipulation. All the provincial licensing boards in Canada and state boards in the United States continue to deny that it causes stroke and death. They make statements such as this, from the British Columbia College of Chiropractors, 2006. "Unfortunately, much of the information now available to the public is based on faulty or biased research."
The families of many such stroke victims see this denial by the regulators as absolute proof that the solution cannot come from within chiropractic, that the fox is guarding the henhouse.
They are now asking that, just as medical doctors must adhere to scientific guidelines when they prescribe medications and use treatments, so must chiropractors in regard to highest neck manipulation. Just as the Food and Drug Administration in the U.S. and the Health Protection Branch in Canada impose drug therapy standards that physicians and their licensing boards must adhere to, now all governments must insist on the same for chiropractic highest neck manipulation. The Quebec coroner recognized this need.
The scientific standard developed by families and by medical specialists, and by chiropractors who have given up highest neck manipulation, is very simple. In essence it states that highest neck manipulation should not be performed on infants and children, or on people who have no neck pain, or as part of a philosophy that falsely believes it can be used to prevent or treat organic illness. This standard cannot be argued against rationally and scientifically.
This standard should be imposed upon the regulators. There are mechanisms for doing so all across North America. The three provinces that provide some public funds for chiropractic should cease payments until the standard is adhered to, as should insurers and workers's compensation boards. All graduates of chiropractic schools should show they adhere to this standard. Teachers at chiropractic schools who teach chiropractic highest neck manipulation philosophy should be dismissed.
Chiropractors must be forced to adhere to the scientific standard and cease highest neck manipulation philosophy, a practice that is killing and maiming victims, mainly young women. -
J. William Kinsinger, MD, is an American physician with a special interest in alternative medicine.
Marvin Levant, MD, is a retired Alberta radiologist.
Sharon Mathiason is the mother of Laurie Jean Mathiason.
April 30, 2004 - Chiropractic neck manipulations of the top two vertebra are killing Canadians. Press conferences were held by victims's families and their supporters to demand an immediate cessation of all chiropractic high neck manipulations. The chiropractic regulators across Canada have failed to voluntarily halt this useless and dangerous procedure. Two inquests found that the chiropractors were at fault. There have been numerous lawsuits over the years, and yet these procedures continue with the blessings of chiropractic associations and regulators. Governments that cover chiropractic still pay for this procedure. The families are supported by pediatricians, neurologists, and other experts who have seen the chiropractic regulators dance around any thought of meaningful self-regulation.
When the five families of the victims of chiropractic stroke produced their video, a small part of the 52 minute tape included footage of news reports by CTV's Lloyd Robertson and Avis Favaro. When they saw copies of the tape, CTV called their lawyers and demanded that all copies of the tapes be returned and/or destroyed because of copyright issues.
The families, and their friends may differ in their personal views about complying with the requests by the lawyers who work for CTV, but as an advocate for the families' cause, and staunch supporter of their efforts to educate the public about the terrible price that their families have already paid, I will do everything in my power to see that the public knows about the risks involved even if the few sections of the CTV clips are removed.
CTV's lawyer now feels that their segments on chiropractic neck manipulations have been "taken out of context and selectively used to support a particular position - a moratorium on chiropractic neck manipulation - whether this is characterized as educational, political or even legal".
CTV's W-FIVE production called "Harm or Heal?" about the risks of chiropractic stroke is still featured in its entirety on their own web site. It's there for you to judge for yourself if CTV is a news vehicle, an educational vehicle, and if their broadasts are neutral on the subject. If the politicians and health ministers across Canada have seen the film, it is not because of this web site. I had nothing to do with the distribution, or production of the video tape itself. I only support its point of view.
You can watch CTV's two-part segment any time you want, and there are a number of other links that are still maintained as well. So, why does CTV now want the families and their supporters to return each and every one of the tapes that have been distributed to the media and to hundreds of others across Canada?
Why do they think that the tapes are being used for political, not educational reasons?
If the Federal and Provincial governments ignore the risks to the public, and if the chiropractic regulators continue to sweep it under the table, what other recourse do the families have? If the chiefs of pediatrics of all of the teaching hospitals across Canada appealed to the governments about the dangers of pediatric chiropractic and were ignored, what recourse do they have. And finally, when scores of Canadian neurologists signed a letter demanding an end to highest-neck manipulations and were threatened by the chiropractors in writing, and still the government did zero in response, what recourse do these people have?
What was the news worthiness of these stories, and what did CTV have to say about the pediatricians, and neurologists at the time? I guess we will have to ask CTV, won't we.
THIS NOT A POLITICAL MOVEMENT!
THIS IS A MOVEMENT TO DEFEND FAMILIES FROM ASSAULT FROM THE LEADERS OF CHIROPRACTIC WHO STAND BY THE STRANGE TENETS OF THEIR BLOODY UNSCIENTIFIC PHILOSOPHY AS IF IT IS CARVED IN STONE. THEIR INNATE INTELLIGENCE TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY OF THIS HAS SOMEHOW BEEN LACKING.
As a direct result of the video that was produced by the families of the victims and their friends, CTV's position is that THEY don't want the video to be used by people who have been victimized by the chiropractors. THEY think that the families are POLITICIANS.
What's the position of the respective "Colleges" of chiropractic across Canada on this matter? That is the real problem here. By saying nothing, in my opinion, the chiropractors have admitted that they are incapable of governing their own flock of philosopher kings. They have defended the indefensible position that they are NOT responsible for any of this, and the carnage caused by chiropractic highest-neck manipulation continues to exact a toll on our communities.
From a personal point of view, it might matter to the readers and critics of ChiroWatch to realize that in my own personal practice over the last twelve years, I have had three patients who have had strokes following chiropractic treatement. I run an acne care clinic, I am not a neurologist or neurosurgeon. These are primary care patients. The statistic in my office is that 1:5000 patients in my own practice have suffered injury after chiropractic treatment on their upper necks. That is a far cry from the 1:1,000,000 or 1:5,000,000 that the leaders of chiropractic in Canada usually use to indicate that chiropractic neck manipulations are safe.
Tell that to the Mathiasons, the Fords, the Graingers, the Limages, the Labontes, and to the Rodrigues of the world.
Recent Media Coverage
RTE.IE - Irish Television Prime Time
Dangers of Alternative Medicine Prime Time - May 5, 2005
Investigative anchor Donagh Diamond explores the fascination with alternative medicines and the dangers of chiropractic therapy. After a discussion of several deaths related to homeopaths in Ireland, REI producers travelled to Canada to cover the tragic stories about Laurie Jean Mathiason, Lana Dale Lewis, and Diane Rodrigue. The interviews with Dr. Brad Stewart, the neurologist from the University of Alberta are very powerful. You can watch the whole show. We hope that there will be DVDs available in NTSC format in the future.
Mystery surrounds woman's death
No answer for mourning Guelph man two years after his wife's fatal stroke
The Record - Kitchener-Waterloo - July 10, 2004
PAUL BENEDETTI AND WAYNE MACPHAIL
Click for article
Guelph woman Dora Labonte died after a sudden stroke in 2002, just days before her 41st birthday.
On the evening of June 17, 2002, Joe Labonte says he got a frantic call from his wife Dora.
He was in North Carolina on business. His wife was at home in Guelph. She sounded frightened.
"The chiropractor did something that really scared me," Joe Labonte claims she told him.
Science or Quackery
May 22, 2004
Danielle Smith Calgary Herald Associate Editor
A campaign by five families reignites the debate over the chiropractic industry. This is a scathing endictment of the chiropractic community's failure to take action against their members for promoting quackery, and of performing high neck manipulation. She reviews the research done by Dr. Herzog at the University of Calgary and attacks it without mercy.
Harm or Heal? - W-FIVE - April 26, 2002
She was just 30 years old when Diane Rodrigue had a massive stroke right in the chiropractor's office. It left her completely paralyzed. The chiropractor never accepted blame, but in a settlement agreed to pay her a million dollars eight years ago. The woman who loved to fish and be outdoors now depends on machines to breathe and caregivers to feed and bathe her. For years, she couldn't speak.
Now through a mechanical device Diane has her voice back. You can watch the CTV videos of the complete show.
Original article
Reports on a major retrospective study of stroke cases at two major academic medical centers, led by University of California, San Francisco neurologists, indicates that chiropractic manipulation of the neck can cause vertebral artery dissection, a tearing of the vertebral artery leading to the brain that causes stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA).
Neck Manipulations And The Risk Of Stroke - An Aetna InteliHealth/Harvard Medical School Look At The News
By Robert H. Shmerling, M.D. -
Harvard Medical School How does this article relate to me?
Here is the central question posed by this article: Can chiropractic manipulation of the neck cause stroke or other serious injury to the blood vessels in the neck? While a definitive answer is not provided, the study described here raises the possibility that spinal adjustment in the neck may be dangerous.
CBC News Reports - listen to audio and watch video
More than 60 neurologists have signed a
letter warning that chiropractic neck treatment can lead to strokes. They
say if the neck is rotated improperly, a blood vessel can
tear, causing a clot to form.
Neck manipulation may cause strokes - Stephen Barrett's C-Health
"...since stroke is such a serious event, every effort should be made to stop chiropractors from manipulating necks without adequate reason. Many chiropractors believe that all types of headaches might be amenable to spinal manipulation even though no scientific evidence supports such a belief."
MDs warn of chiropractic peril
62 neurologists say neck manipulations are often hazardous; chiropractors reject charge - Chirobase.org
A deadly twist - Self Magazine - May 2007 Chiropractors are causing strokes in young, healthy women. Read this before your next appointment.Christa Heck lay crumpled on her right side in the front seat of her SUV, staring helplessly at the dashboard. She tried to right herself, but her body wouldn't obey her brain: One arm was limp, the other floundering uncontrollably. Ten minutes earlier, she'd been at her chiropractor's office for a routine follow-up. But something had obviously gone wrong. Lying virtually paralyzed across her passenger seat, "all I could do was pray someone would help me," she recalls. "I thought I was going to die."
When Simple Actions Ravage Arteries - Jane Brody - New York Times - April 3, 2001
Brody's article is a warning to all people who go to chiropractors. This is a must read!!
"While these dissections account for only about 2 percent of all
nonhemorrhagic strokes, they are an important cause of stroke in young and
middle-aged patients, accounting for as many as one-quarter of cases in
these age groups."
Neck cracking raises stroke risk: Web MD - May 12, 2003
Should Chiropractors Warn of Real but Small Danger?
If you've got a pain in the neck, think twice about getting your neck cracked. Spinal manipulative therapy, as chiropractors call it, increases your risk of stroke.
One of the leading causes of stroke before age 45 is something called cervical arterial dissection. That's when one of the two arteries that wind through the back of the neck to the brain starts to tear. The lining of the artery bleeds and forms a blood clot. This clot can easily enter the brain and cause a fatal stroke.
The neuro-ophthalmologic complications of cervical manipulation. Neuro-ophthalmology 2000 Dec;20(4):236-9 - Devereaux MW
Department of Neurology, University Hospitals of Cleveland, Case Western Reserve University, Ohio 44106, USA.
Cervical manipulation, specifically chiropractic manipulation, is an important cause of vertebrobasilar and occasionally
carotid distribution strokes. Neuro-ophthalmologic findings are a common and at times relatively isolated feature of
cervical manipulation-induced stroke. A case of chiropractic-induced occipital lobe infarction with homonymous
hemianopsia is reported, and the literature regarding neuro-ophthalmologic findings is reviewed.
Vertebral Artery Dissection: Warning Symptoms, Clinical Features and Prognosis in 26
Patients - Canadian J. neurological Sciences - Nov 2000
They studied 26 consecutive patients with vertebral artery dissection (tears). One out of ten of them was related to chiropractic neck manipulation. Although there has been a recent increase in the number of reported cases of vertebral artery (VA) dissection, a study of the patients presented in this report show that VA dissection diagnosis is frequently not considered in the younger patient with typical symptoms. In many instances, the diagnosis in patients with multiple suggestive symptoms is missed until after stroke develops. Our objectives of presenting this series include identifying the early symptoms that should raise suspicion of VA dissection, explore the variety of clinical presentation of VA dissection, and to evaluate the prognosis and
frequency of recurrence.
Call for chiropractic stroke investigation in the U.K.
People who seek treatment for neck or back pain from a
chiropractor, osteopath or physiotherapist offering spinal
manipulation may be putting themselves at risk of a stroke or
other serious injury. All the cases were within 24 hours of manipulation.
Chiropractic Technique Under Fire - Procedure linked to fatal strokes in several patients - by Noreen Seebacher HealthScout reporter Within the past few years,
there have been reports of several deaths related to
neck manipulation. Although none of those cases
resulted in criminal charges, there are at least three
wrongful death lawsuits pending in the United States
and Canada.
CBC - Winnipeg - Nancy Gregory reports - RealPlayer - video - Why do chiropractors insist that there is little or no risk in twisting the necks of their patients? A victim of chiropractic neck manipulation in Alberta strikes out at chiropractic, and Dr. James Norris discusses the Stroke Consortium preliminary findings that indicates that strokes after cervical crunching may be underestimated.
Sudden neck movement and cervical artery dissection
John W. Norris, Vadim Beletsky, Zurab G. Nadareishvili, on behalf of the Canadian Stroke
Consortium
CMAJ 2000;163(1):38-40
Two recent deaths from artery dissection following neck manipulation by chiropractors have
focused media and medical attention on the relation between sudden neck movement and
cervical artery dissection. Although the first case of carotid artery dissection due to chiropractic
neck manipulation was described over 50 years ago, the frequency of carotid and vertebral
artery dissection as a cause of stroke has only been recognized in the last decade. Since then,
there have been many publications and case reports on this topic. In a recent Canadian survey,
dissection of the cervical arteries was one of the most common causes of stroke in patients less
than 45 years of age.
Most patients undergoing
therapeutic neck manipulation will have no ill effects, but there is no doubt that chiropractic
neck manipulation can result in dissection of the carotid or vertebral arteries leading to stroke.
Until a high-risk group can be identified, chiropractors should inform all patients of possible
serious complications before neck manipulation. This is already emphasized in their current
training programs.
Finally, physicians should be made aware of this potential complication, and all patients with
suspected ischemic stroke should be questioned on hospital admission about recent head or
neck injuries or neck manipulation.
Suspected cases of cervical artery dissection can be reported to the Canadian Stroke
Consortium Headquarters 416-480-4287 fax 416-480-5753).
Quebec naturopath sued over neck manoeuvre - Medical Post - May 11, 2004
When your legislature refuses to regulate naturopaths, osteopaths, and homeopaths it opens to door to tragedies like this. What is a young 21 year-old woman supposed to do after her life was nearly taken away from her by a wacko unlicensed and unregulated predator in the Province of Quebec. Well, the government won't help for sure. She had to sue the bastard in court. Sorry, but this is not just an occasional problem in Quebec. Things like this can happen again.
Women stroked out after 2nd chiro treatment in U.K. She was only 28 at the time. - If you live in the U.K. you need to pay attention to this young woman's story. Chiropractors wake up. This could happen in your practice. When the legislation in Britain goes into effect next year, chiropractors will have to do something.
Watch a video from Dr. Jeff Ptak - Los Angeles, CA This chiropractor demonstrates his technique on a willing woman. The only thing you can't hear is the snap. While you're at his site, click on the "horse" section for a real eye opener.
Chiropractor
to professional and Olympic athletes teaches ART - Active Release Therapy
- Michael Leahy, D.C.- During a CBC radio show broadcast on November 8,
1998 a Canadian skier who had a severe head injury claimed that Dr. Leahy
had freed up the muscle attached to his dura mater, and now he is going
to try to return to active downhill racing. I don't know about you, but
in my anatomy books, I can't find any muscles attached to the dura mater.
Perhaps he has been reading the X-files description of neuroanatomy or
something. I think that he might be suffering from the "almost Sonny Bono"
syndrome. I sure hope that the 93% of clients that Leahy claims he cures
with ART have as much chutzpah, or life insurance, just in case.
"Several recent news items have reported on
the supposed risks of chiropractic manipulation to the neck. As a practicing
chiropractor who uses neck manipulation everyday in my practice, I find
these reports exaggerated and alarmist."
A study to determine the appropriateness of
manipulation of the spine for patients with low-back pain. Of 1,310
patients assessed at five metropolitan sites, 420 were from the Toronto
area and the rest were from the U.S. But the study also found that 29 per
cent of patients were treated "inappropriately" and care was "uncertain"
among the remaining 25 per cent, noted Shekelle. (If
this study was redone with the neck manipulation instead of lower back,
what would be the appropriateness percent be then?)
The World Chiropractic Alliance wanted me to post their position paper on the risk of strokes from chiropractic neck manipulation. In order to be fair to the chiropractic profession, we are posting it here. We are also going to invite those of you who want ot raise any questions about their statements to get back to us, and we will post the best ones here.
Spin Doctors I - The risks of neck manipulation to the lack of adequate protection for the public is the focus of this report.
Spin Doctors II - The cult of chiropractors who think they are pediatricians prey on our families and scam our precious medical resources. Undercover investigation by CANOE.CA
Paul Benedetti and Wayne McPhail's interactive chiropractic "investigation in a nut shell" for CANOE.CA
Chiropractic twist on truth may have sparked inquest June 26, 2000 Misleading statements by chiropractors that appeared in several newspapers may be the reason the Coroner's Office reversed
itself and called an inquest into the death of a Toronto woman.
CMCC misled and deceived York officials about studies, its
association with medical institutions, and chiropractic
practices
Three leading Canadian chiropractors withheld information
about a chiropractic death in 1996 that may soon be subject
to an inquest because of their actions
The vast majority of chiropractors routinely treat babies and children with therapies that earned them at least $40 million last year
chiropractic neck manipulation could be responsible for as
many as 150 strokes a year
the basic theory of chiropractic medicine remains unproven 100 years after its inception
York officials have done a shoddy job of evaluating CMCC
and the chiropractic profession
Before you get your neck manipulated by anyone check with ChiroWatch.com
The Naked Chiropractor
Amazon.com
Amazon.ca
