| OBJECTIVE: To assess the correlation between neck pain in patients that present to a chiropractic office as a relevant risk factor for cervical artery dissections. METHODS: A literature search of the Pubmed, MANTIS, CINAHL and Alt.Health Watch Databases was performed. Indexing terms used were “neck pain, cervical artery dissection, vertebral artery dissection, chiropractic manipulation”. The results of this database search produced 50 articles. References of the selected studies were also searched for relevant papers. Selection of relevant articles for final review was based on whether the article’s primary focus was on symptoms of cervical artery dissection, neck pain and chiropractic manipulation were evaluated and discussed extensively. RESULTS: 14 articles were selected. This literature reviewed suggested that within the patient population that presents to the chiropractic office, new, sudden, intense neck pain before or after a chiropractic manipulation may be manifesting an initial symptom of a cervical artery dissection. DISCUSSION: The results of this review demonstrate that prudence in patient selection, intervention and processing may prove fruitful in both identifying patients with vascular pain from arterial damage and preventing possible ischemic complications. This abstract is reproduced with the permission of the publisher. |
