Chiropractic Therapy Not Linked to Strokes

It has been speculated for some time that chiropractor therapy was somehow linked to strokes. A recent study published in Spine magazine however, seeks to put any fears of this to rest. The study shows that you are no more at risk of getting a stroke from chiropractic therapy than you are going to see your regular family physician. The study claims that patents who received strokes after having chiropractic treatment performed on them were most likely experiencing symptoms of a stroke which led them to seek the care of the chiropractor in the first place. It is quite possible that the patients had an undiagnosed vertebral artery dissection prior to their receiving the chiropractic therapy.

The results of this study are extremely important as they prove to anyone who may be afraid of chiropractor therapy that they have nothing to worry about. The entire concept of strokes being linked to chiropractic therapy is due to the fact that there is an occasional case of a vertebral artery tearing which can lead to the formation of a blood clot. If this blood clot breaks free, it can travel up the base of the neck and block off blood flow to the brain. This process can happen during any activity, playing tennis, walking the dog, doing household chores, or receiving chiropractor therapy.

There was an important research paper published in 2001 in the Canadian Medical Association Journal that sought to prove that your risk of having a stroke after having chiropractic therapy was in fact one in 5.85 million. The study included nine years of data collected in Ontario which showed that during this time only 818 patients received a stroke out of the entire population of 11.5 million citizens. This study not only looked to find a correlation between stoke incidents and chiropractor therapy, but also looked for a correlation between stoke incidents and regular family doctor visits. The results showed that there were no more incidents of stroke following chiropractor visits than there were after general practice doctor visits.

Even so, it is always important that you know what stroke symptoms are just in case you are ever unfortunate enough to have one. There is no set procedure or screening process for strokes, but they usually result in the following symptoms: difficulty speaking, confusion or altered mental state, numbing or tingling on one or both sides of the face, dizziness and loss of balance, difficulty standing or walking, and sudden lack of vision.