Back Cracking

Crack, Pop, Or Stop?

When it comes to treatment of the spine thrust mobilization is both something people want and something people may fear. Every so often a news story comes along about a person with neck pain having a stroke after chiropractic manipulation. A treatment used by many professions under different names thrust treatment to the spine puts someone with a developing stroke at increased risk. By taking the neck to end range it puts increased strain on the arteries of the neck. This occurs in less than 1 in 2 million interventions and is no different than going to a physician but at Ascend Orthopaedics we take the steps to reduce this already low rate.

How We Keep Thrust Mobilization Safe

At Ascend Orthopaedics we take neck pain seriously. Knowing vascular events such as strokes occur within 72 hours of presenting for care. This means we do not provide thrust mobilization of the neck in the first week of care. Research supports a reduction in pain with thoracic thrust mobilization which is the first line of treatment. We also provide treatment in positions that lower the stress on the vasculature when we provide thrust mobilization. This provides a safer mobilization for the patients we see.

Safe And Helpful

Even though thrust mobilization is about as safe as training for a marathon and safer than other interventions such as ibuprofen making it safer is still important. It is also important to understand patient presentation and to be able to point people in the right direction. Missing a developing stroke is also serious and something we at Ascend Orthopaedics take seriously. You know you are in good hands at Ascend.