A longtime patient came in yesterday and told me that her niece had
just read an article about the dangers of chiropractic cervical
manipulations and how she was worried for her because my patient sees a
chiropractor. Certain segments of the medical profession have been
attacking chiropractic for years on this issue. The hypocrisy of this
is that over 750.000 Americans die each year from medical mistakes!  I
told my patient, you should call your niece back and say, “I just heard
that medicine is the third leading cause of death, and I knew that you
went to a medical doctor and that I was worried about you!” There have
been a few cases of people getting strokes after a chiropractic neck
manipulation, just has there have been a few cases of people getting
strokes from getting their hair done at the beauty parlor, or turning
their neck quickly. The current understanding, is that certain people
have certain weaknesses that can cause a stroke from any sudden
movement of the head. Again the risk is minimal.

To put this in
perspective, there is an epidemic of medical doctors leaving the
profession because of the cost of malpractice insurance (up to $100,000
a year in some cases. Chiropractic malpractice insurance at most costs
$3000 a year (mine is half that). This is a true indicator of the
safety of the chiropractic profession.

For the record, I am not
a fan of cervical chiropractic manipulations, but not because they are
unsafe, but because the there is a better way to address the cervical
misalignment.  This way is gentler and does not include any twisting,
cracking or popping. The name of this procedure is NUCCA.