Chiropractic for neck pain vs. NSAIDS

Today, while in the office, one of my patient's told me she didn't want to get her neck adjusted, because of the recent news article about the model that had a fall, went to see her chiropractor, got her neck adjusted, then later died of a VAD, or Vertebral Artery Dissection. Although this is a risk of chiropractic manipulation to the neck specifically, it should be known how RARE this risk really is. Something around 1 in 4 million people have this occurance. This means there is much more of a risk of death from taking NSAIDS, such as Aspirin, Advil, Motrin, Ibuprofen, approximately 1 in 52,000 or so, correct me if i am wrong... and approximately 16,000 people or more per year die from NSAIDS. Think about it.. if you are taking pain medication for neck pain, you are much, much, much more likely to have a medical complication vs. a safe adjustment/manipulation to the joints in the neck! And yes, there are very safe, gentle ways to adjust the neck.. it should not be a forceful procedure, nor should it involve much rotation or extension, which is what causes the dissection of the artery. Here is the most recent article on the subject of chiropractic manipulation and stroke, authored by neurosurgeons, which demonstrated no evidence for causation! Read it, absorb it, really think about your treatment options for your neck and back pain and decide for yourself what is really the safest way to help yourself. More blogs to come friends and family! Thanks for reading!

 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27014532?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

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