How safe is a neck adjustment?
There is a rare risk of stroke or stroke-like symptoms associated with adjustment of the neck. The most recent research published in 2001 in the Canadian Medical Association Journal puts the risk at one in 5.85 million adjustments. Reports on the subject over the past 40 years present a range of estimates based on different research methodologies, however, all of the published studies to date agree that the risk is extremely low. Overall, a ratio of one to two cases per million neck adjustments represents a conservative and generally recognized estimate. That is less than your risk of getting struck by lightning or of dying while skiing or playing soccer. Most chiropractors do not have a single case of a patient experiencing serious adverse effects during their entire professional lives.
