March 2008

Chiropractors don't raise stroke risk, study finds

A research report published in the Spine Journal, the official journal of the North American Spine Society confirms what chiropractors have said for years: chiropractic care does NOT cause an increased risk of strokes due to arterial dissection. ("Risk of Vertebrobasilar Stroke and Chiropractic Care: Results of a Population‑Based Case‑Control and Case‑Crossover Study." Spine 33(4S) Neck Pain Task Force Supplement:S176‑S183, February 15, 2008. For a link to the study's abstract, visit www.worldchiropracticalliance.org .)

"We didn't see any increased association between chiropractic care and usual family physician care, and the stroke," said researcher Frank Silver, professor of medicine at the University of Toronto and director of the University Health Network stroke program. "The association occurs because patients tend to seek care when they're having neck pain or headache, and sometimes they go to a chiropractor, sometimes they go to a physician. But we didn't see an increased likelihood of them having this type of stroke after seeing a chiropractor."

During the past several years, chiropractic has come under intense attack by anti‑chiropractic organizations, including several that claim to represent chiropractic "victims." Despite a wealth of evidence to the contrary ‑‑ including a 2001 study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal that the risk of suffering a stroke due to chiropractic adjustments was less than one in nearly six million ‑‑ critics have kept up their attacks and tried to persuade the public that chiropractic adjustments are dangerous.

For this latest project, a Canadian research team studied nine years of patient data and found that, of the 818 cases involving this kind of stroke, patients were just as likely to have visited their family medical doctor as they did a chiropractor. There was no increased risk from having received chiropractic care.

Dr. Silver admitted that he and his team were specifically looking for an increased association between chiropractic care and stroke but found none.

According to the report's conclusion, "The increased risks of VBA stroke associated with chiropractic and PCP visits is likely due to patients with headache and neck pain from VBA dissection seeking care before their stroke. We found no evidence of excess risk of VBA stroke associated chiropractic care compared to primary care."

Terry A. Rondberg, DC, president of the World Chiropractic Alliance stated: "This research study is important, but we have to continue our vigilance and our own research. This one report will not silence all those critics who have tried to frighten the public into thinking chiropractic is dangerous. We have to pile on more and more evidence and keep public education at the top of our priority list."