Question
I went to see a chiropractor for lower back pain when I was 8 months pregnant.  Right after the manipulations on both my back and my neck, while I was still in the chiropractor's parking lot, I started to feel pain in my right arm and leg.  In a few hours, the pain had gotten so severe that I could no longer move.  My husband called an ambulance.  I was hospitalized for 2 and a half weeks.  All they found was a herniated lumbar disc, some inflammation near my sciatic nerve, and some lumbar osteoarthritis.  They could not explain why I was in that kind of extreme pain, why my right shoulder became frozen, and why my joints swelled up.

A few days after admission, I had to have a C-section under general anesthesia because I could not move at all, and my baby had to come out 2 weeks early.  It took almost 2 full months of physical therapy before I was able to be ambulatory again.

I have no doubt whatsoever that my condition was caused by the chiropractic manipulation.  However, I want to make it clear I am not interested in malpractice lawsuits or casting blame.

My questions are:  1) Are there any professional ethics or increased risks on using chiropractic on late-term pregnant women who have loosened joints?
2)  Are chiropractors aware that these types of side effects, while rare, can happen?  Obviously, the chiropractor I saw insists that what he did is perfectly safe and could not have cause the severe pain I experienced. I'd like a second opinion.
3)  Based on this limited information, what do you think might have happened with the subluxation that could have resulted in this level of pain?

Thank you.


Answer


Disclaimer: please do not take any of my advice without at least consulting with your doctor(s) first.  If necessary, print this email in its entirety for your doctor(s) to read.  In addition, please do not attempt to use this website or my advice as a substitute for your healthcare needs, as a substitute for the advice of your doctor, or as a substitute for any legal advice.  There is no way a thorough health evaluation or assessment of any medical condition can be properly made via email.  Please only use the contents discussed as a guide or tool to address your health matters with your doctor(s).  If any of the information I provide conflicts in anyway with the information your doctor(s) provide, it is always best to default to the information provided by your consulting doctor(s) or to seek additional opinions from qualified, licensed healthcare providers as needed.

Hello H.,

I抦 very sorry to hear about your experience with your chiropractor.  I抦 sure your entire experience was quite dreadful and it抯 unfortunate that you had to go through everything.

I appreciate your questions being so clear and straightforward.  However, keep in mind that any response I have to your questions cannot substitute or act as legal advice or the advice of a second opinion.  There may be critical details left out of my answer or your history that make our communication incompatible.  I would, however, strongly recommend that if you seek the advice of a second opinion, go to a qualified chiropractor who appears to be well-rounded.  You may be able to find a more complete and reliable second opinion from a chiropractic school抯 clinic.

With that said?br>
1)   Are there any professional ethics or increased risks on using chiropractic on late-term pregnant women who have loosened joints?

No.  It is understood among the profession that during pregnancy, especially late-term pregnancy, joints may be a bit looser due to a surge in the relaxin hormone to accommodate for the child and its delivery.  However, manipulation of pregnant patients, no matter what stage (early or late), as long as the pregnancy and the mother抯 health is considered normal, is highly encouraged to promote health.  If anything, the relaxin hormone can greatly assist the chiropractor by using less force for the adjustment.

2)  Are chiropractors aware that these types of side effects, while rare, can happen?  Obviously, the chiropractor I saw insists that what he did is perfectly safe and could not have cause the severe pain I experienced. I'd like a second opinion.

You抮e correct; a second opinion can always be a good thing.  But these side effects are not necessarily associated with pregnant patients.  I抳e never seen any evidence indicating these risks are increased in the pregnant patient.  It is understood, that while rare, a complication from adjustment is disc herniation, but these typically do not cause paralysis.  Of course, anything is possible, but I抳e never heard or been taught in school a disc herniation from an adjustment paralyzing a patient.  The only time I抳e heard an adjustment paralyzing a patient, while rare, stemmed from some sort of underlying pathology already present in the patient.  For example, one incident I抳e read about is a patient that was an IV drug abuser who had a bone infection that had eaten away a bone nearly in its entirety.  This was the bone that was adjusted.  This type of scenario may not be picked up on history and examination and the doctor was not faulted in this case because the patient failed to mention his/her history of IV drug abuse.  And according to many chiropractic schools based on the most current models determined by either the school or the CCE (Chiropractic Council on Education -- the oversight committee for each school) not all patients should be x-rayed before manipulation unless medically indicated.  Even still, certain pathologies may not show on an x-ray before manipulation.

3)  Based on this limited information, what do you think might have happened with the subluxation that could have resulted in this level of pain?

Unfortunately, I cannot answer this.  You do need evaluation to determine the nature of your condition or determine if everything was caused by the adjustment.  I completely sympathize with you because it does seem like such a strange coincidence to have experienced what you experienced immediately after the adjustment.  This website cannot really substitute the advice of your doctors, as I mentioned earlier, because there may be details excluded in your history that allow for a more complete and thorough evaluation of your case.

Again, I抦 very sorry to hear what happened.  Chiropractic tends to be very safe with very few complications.  And when they occur, they are quite rare.  I would like to refer you to a website that discusses more about chiropractic from an objective point-of-view.  Hopefully, it will help add some clarity to your experience.
http://www.answers.com/topic/chiropractic?cat=health
Under the precautions heading, it objectively discusses some of the risks and complications of adjustment.  This will provide you with a source of what is understood to be a complication of treatment.

I hope this helps you out a bit, and I appreciate your efforts to seek the truth and objectively investigate your experience.

Sincerely,
Dr. J.R. Strecker, D.C.