The facts about chiropractics and strokes

It's what they press calls "chiropractic's dirty little secret". Yes, I actually saw it written that way once-the supposed relationship between chiropractic neck manipulations and strokes resulting from tiny tears to the vertebral artery. The incidence of this over years has turned the anti-chiropractic movement into something of a witch hunt, encouraging people to ban the practice entirely because it's far too risky.

Really, as a doctor, what can you say to that? Yes, there's some risk of stroke as a result of tears to the vertebral artery. Yes, the potential relationship between that and the neck adjustments done by chiropractors has inspired most of us to be more careful. But what I tell my patients when they ask me about it is this: It's no more dangerous than any other medical procedure you'll have done. There's actually a considerably lower risk of having a stroke from a neck adjustment than there is of dying on the table during routine surgery, and that happens every day.

What do you tell your patients when they ask you?