Chiropractic manipulation: Reasons for concern?

Abstract Chiropractic's popularity is rising among the general population. Moreover, few studies have been conducted to properly evaluate its safety. We report three cases of serious neurological adverse events in patients treated with chiropractic manipulation. The first case is a 41 years old...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Clinical neurology and neurosurgery 2007-12, Vol.109 (10), p.922-925
Main Authors: Gouveia, Liliana Olim, Castanho, Pedro, Ferreira, Joaquim J, Guedes, Miguel Moura, Falcão, Filipa, Melo, Teresa Pinho e
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Adverse events
Aged
Aneurysm, Dissecting - diagnosis
Aneurysm, Dissecting - etiology
Angiography, Digital Subtraction
Biological and medical sciences
Cerebral Angiography
Cervical Vertebrae
Chiropractic
Female
Hematoma, Epidural, Spinal - diagnosis
Hematoma, Epidural, Spinal - etiology
Humans
Intracranial Aneurysm - diagnosis
Intracranial Aneurysm - etiology
Lateral Medullary Syndrome - diagnosis
Lateral Medullary Syndrome - etiology
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Manipulation, Chiropractic - adverse effects
Medical sciences
Neurology
Neurosurgery
Quadriplegia - diagnosis
Quadriplegia - etiology
Radial Nerve - injuries
Risk Assessment
Safety
Spinal manipulation
Surgery (general aspects). Transplantations, organ and tissue grafts. Graft diseases
Vertebrobasilar Insufficiency - diagnosis
Vertebrobasilar Insufficiency - etiology
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Summary:Abstract Chiropractic's popularity is rising among the general population. Moreover, few studies have been conducted to properly evaluate its safety. We report three cases of serious neurological adverse events in patients treated with chiropractic manipulation. The first case is a 41 years old woman who developed a vertebro-basilar stroke 48 h after cervical manipulation. The second case represents a 68 years old woman who presented a neuropraxic injury of both radial nerves after three sessions of spinal manipulation. The last case is a 34 years old man who developed a cervical epidural haematoma after a chiropractic treatment for neck pain. In all three cases there were criteria to consider a causality relation between the neurological adverse events and the chiropractic manipulation. The described serious adverse events promptly recommend the implementation of a risk alert system.
ISSN:0303-8467
1872-6968
DOI:10.1016/j.clineuro.2007.08.004