What Experts Say About Cracking Your Neck And Your Risk Of Stroke - BuzzFeed News

“It is a known risk factor for stroke,” said Dr. Joe Whittington, a California-based emergency medicine physician with Kaiser Permanente who has posted about this on TikTok.

Adjustments, or when the chiropractor applies pressure or performs a sharp movement on joints in an effort to reduce pain and restore function, are a key component of chiropractic treatments.

The woman whose case was reported on Twitter wrote, “The reason [the hospital] got me in so fast is strokes happen from neck cracking all the time.”

When a vessel tears, blood clots form to stop the bleeding, which can lead to a stroke, said Dr. Mohammad Hirzallah, assistant professor of neurology and neurosurgery at Baylor College of Medicine.

Of course, this is the very reason many people seek help from a chiropractor, which raises the question of whether neck manipulation is making an existing problem worse.

Balance: being off balance Eyes: double vision, loss of vision on one side of the visual field Face: facial droop, particularly on one side, or an uneven smile Arms: one arm is weak or droops when you try to lift it Speech: slurred speech, other problems in trying to express yourself verbally Time: time to call 9-1-1