Question
I am a 30 year old male.  I am thinking of going to a chiropractor for dull headaches I've been having in my forehead/temples/behind the eyes for several weeks.
I have had a CT scan (results normal).
A doctor told me that I may want to read into the possibility of VAD from having chiropractic work done on the neck.  Is this indeed something worth worrying about?  Is chiropractic work (on the neck specifically, because I imagine they may find tension there) dangerous?

Answer
Headaches, neck caused ?

Hello Mike,

You have headaches, I agree you need to get to the cause of it.  Imaging tests, certainly, are of great help.  MRI, CT, Xray of the head and neck (brain/ cervical spine) are an excellent diagnostic pathway.  If medicine cannot find a brain tumor, brain lesion, or metabolic (organic cause) of your headaches, if your vision has been checked, and 'medical' arena reasons ruled out as the cause, chiropractic is an excellent approach for headaches.  The number one reason people come to chiropractors is low back and leg (sciatic) pain, the number two reason people come to the Doctor of Chiropractic is Headache.  

Doctors of Chiropractic are often the first health practitioner that a patient sees for a complaint of headache.  Physical examination, subjective history, objective signs and symptoms allow the Doctor to determine if further testing is needed or not, and what type of treatment regimen to initiate.  Sometimes referral is made to other practitioners, sometimes tests are ordered, sometimes care can begin that first meeting, sometimes not.  When you do go to your local family Doctor of Chiropractic, he(she) may want to order additional tests, or depending upon the findings, may be able to initiate care immediately.  A regimen of care may or may not include osseous adjustment, soft tissue manipulation, low force chiropractic techniques, adjunctive physiotherapy, and perhaps nutritional recommendations.  Treatment choices are wide and varied within Chiropractic.

If you are concerned with VAD ( a type of stroke ), you should certainly communicate that to your Doctor of Chiropractic.  Recently some allegations of Chiropractic induced stroke (VAD) have been made.
The profession of Chiropractic, our schools, researchers and insurers have studied the issue intensely.  The outcome is that when studied objectively, when you go to the original data, CHIROPRACTIC adverse events are extremely rare.  Doctors of Chiropractic have very, very low malpractice insurance because adverse events caused by DCs utilizing chiropractic approaches are very low, often quoted as low as 1 in 1million or more (see chart below for comparison).

Spinal adjustment used to be derided outside of the Chiropractic profession twenty, thirty, one hundred years ago.  Now, with the safety, efficiency and cost effectiveness of Chiropractic techniques apparent, other disciplines are beginning to manipulate the spine. By definition: only a Doctor of Chiropractic can give a Chiropractic Adjustment to the spine.  Chiropractic adjustments are very safe (best evidenced by low malpractice insurance rates).  Manipulations performed by other disciplines upon the spine do not seem to have the same safety and efficiency.  If you go to a website, read a study, whatever the source - - verify that the research is upon CHIROPRACTIC
adjustment administered by a Doctor of Chiropractic, if it is SMT (spinal manipulative therapy) practiced by another provider, then it is comparing apples to oranges and is not valid commenting upon chiropractic adjustment.

I agree with your concern about safety, in a landmark article by authors::  Gary Null, PhD; Carolyn Dean MD, ND; Martin Feldman, MD; Debora Rasio, MD; and Dorothy Smith, PhD :: They state the following:

"..... is that the total number of deaths caused by conventional medicine is an astounding 783,936 per year. It is now evident that the American medical system is the leading cause of death and injury in the US. (By contrast, the number of deaths attributable to heart disease in 2001 was 699,697, while the number of deaths attributable to cancer was 553,251.5)
We placed this article on our website to memorialize the failure of the American medical system. By exposing these gruesome statistics in painstaking detail, we provide a basis for competent and compassionate medical professionals to recognize the inadequacies of today抯 system ....."

Table 1: Estimated Annual Mortality and Economic Cost of Medical Intervention
   Condition    Deaths   Cost           Author
Adverse Drug Reactions 106,000 $12 billion Lazarou(1), Suh (49)
Medical error 98,000      $2 billion IOM(6)
Bedsores 115,000     $55 billion      Xakellis(7), Barczak (8)
Infection 88,000    $5 billion      Weinstein(9), MMWR (10)
Malnutrition 108,800    -----------     Nurses Coalition(11)
Outpatients 199,000   $77 billion  Starfield(12),Weingart(112)
Unnecessary Procedures 37,136 $122 billion  HCUP(3,13)
Surgery-Related 32,000 $9 billion AHRQ(85)
Total      783,936 deaths $282 billion

(Null et al,  "Death by Medicine")


The above statistics show why medicine has a higher malpractice insurance cost than chiropractic.  

In thirty years in chiropractic I have not read of a Doctor of Chiropractic utilizing Chiropractic techniques causing death, paralysis, stroke.  I have read of manipulation causing injury, but not by DCs, as reflected by malpractice costs.

I have a handout I utilize in my Staten Island Chiropractic office to inform people as to diferent conditions and the possibility of subluxation being a cause.  The 'Vertebral Subluxation Complex' is the chiropractic entity that Doctors of Chiropractic look for.

Headache / neck pain / subluxation :

Headache is  a  quite  common  condition.   However,  the course of the condition is highly variable.   Some patients with headache literally cannot walk, cannot function, yet other patients with similar X-ray/ MRI findings may be able to run marathons or lift heavy weights.   Some people suffer for only a few days with pain and symptoms, some people suffer for months or even years- until the CAUSE is found.  If there is no pathology such as metabolic disturbance, brain lesion, or other 'medically' sought answers, perhaps the answer is within chiropractic.  Only Doctors of Chiropractic look for the chiropractic cause- the Vertebral Subluxation Complex.  Only Doctors of Chiropractic can correct the vertebral subluxation complex.  Subluxation can cause nerve iritation, muscle spasm, and dysfunction wherever the irritated nerves go to.  Headache is a common condition in the chiropractic office, because headache often comes from causes in the cervical spine (neck) area.

        Vertebral   Subluxation   Complex    (a.k.a.  憇ubluxation?
The vertebral subluxation complex is the underlying cause of many healthcare problems.
A subluxation interferes with the proper functioning of joints, and can cause osteo-arthritic degeneration, Degenerative Disk Disease, degenerative joint disease, etc.
A subluxation interferes with the proper functioning of the nervous system (the master system which controls and coordinates all function within the body) and may cause various other conditions, symptoms and problems.

Subluxation  is  a  serious  condition  identified  by  its  five  parts:

   Spinal Kinesiopathology:
        This is fancy way of saying the bones of the spine have lost their normal motion and position. It restricts your ability to turn and bend. It sets in motion the other four components.

   Neuropathophysiology:
        Improper spinal function can choke, stretch, or irritate delicate nerve tissue. The resulting nerve  system  dysfunction  can  cause  symptoms  elsewhere  in  the  body.

   Myopathology:
         Muscles supporting the spine can weaken, atrophy, or become tight and go into spasm. The  resulting  scar  tissue  changes  muscle  tone,  requiring  repeated  spinal  adjustments.

   Histopathology:
        A rise in temperature from an increase in blood and lymph supplies result in swelling and inflammation.   Inflammed  Discs can easily bulge,  herniate,  tear,  or  degenerate.   Other  soft tissues  may  also  suffer  permanent  damage.

   Pathophysiology:
        The VSC contributes to  OsteoArthritic  degeneration.  Bone spurs and other abnormal bony growths attempt to fuse malfunctioning spinal joints. This spinal decay, scar tissue, and long-term  nerve  dysfunction  can  cause  other  systems  of  the  body  to  malfunction.

The Vertebral Subluxation Complex describes what happens when spinal bones lose their normal movement patterns and position.  When subluxated, joints are in a stressed, vulnerable, compromised condition.  Subluxation may cause Arthritis, Disk Herniation, Disk Degeneration,  or aggravate such conditions.

         Vertebral  Subluxation  cannot be corrected through chemicals (medicine), stretching, yoga, vitamins or physical therapy alone.     Subluxation- a neuro/skeletal/muscular-   mechanical-   problem  requires  a   mechanical correction-  -  -    a manipulation,     best performed with the chiropractic adjustment.


The above is an informational handout I use in the ofice, I hope it helps.

As always, this article is for discussion purposes only.  Information, education are the goal of this discusion. Evaluation, DX, RX, TX, PX can only be given by a treating health professional in person.

This is your Staten Island Chiropractor signing off and wishing you-
good luck and Good Health Naturally !

Dr. Victor Dolan, DC
http://drvictordolan.chiroweb.com   (email newsletter)
http://www.DocDolan.net
http://www.GoodHealthNaturally.info