Cerebrovascular accidents and fractures caused by bad manipulations of osteopathy, etiopathy or chiropractic? Doc Amine warns against the practices of some of his professionals. This social media influential Marseille GP explained that he received a patient this summer for a suspected cerebellar stroke, i.e. a stroke in the cerebellum, after osteopathy manipulation.
Clearly: manipulation of this patient’s neck caused a tear in the artery that carries oxygenated blood to the brain. Which then caused a stroke.
“In the cervical spine (the part of the spine at the level of the neck, editor’s note), there are a number of vessels, including the cervical artery,” Doc Amine explains to BFMTV.com. “It’s a bit like strings. For my patient, the artery was dissected (torn, editor’s note).”
When Doc Amine arrives at her home, sent by SOS Médecins, the patient suffers from vertigo, paralysis of the face and extremities. He sends her to the ER, which confirms her stroke.
A few hours earlier, the patient had been treated by an osteopath for rib pain. “I would have declared that the diaphragm was stuck and manipulated her cervical spine making it pop. But it is an aberration. The diaphragm cannot be blocked, or we are in intensive care.”
irreversible consequences
A study by the American Heart Association, an American association dedicated to cardiovascular health, has already pointed out the links between neck manipulation and stroke. And other similar cases have had a resounding echo. Like the story of Katie May, this American model nicknamed “the queen of Snapchat” died after a stroke apparently caused by a chiropractic session.
Another case in France: in 2016, a 59-year-old patient sued his chiropractor after a manipulation that would have caused him 20% disability and limitation in the use of his leg, he recalls The office.
Guillaume Giordano Orsini, an emergency physician and resuscitator at Reims University Hospital, is co-author of an article on the subject published in The Journal of Critical Care Medicine. In this article he returns to the case of his patient, a 34-year-old French woman who suffered a locked-in syndrome after spinal manipulation by a chiropractor.
“This woman complained of neck pain and has seen a chiropractor several times,” he told BFMTV.com. “A mishandling or a malformation is enough for the walls of the artery to detach. This causes a hematoma, then a stroke. For this patient, the sequelae were irreversible.”
After being in a coma and undergoing a tracheotomy, the young woman now uses a wheelchair and speaks through a voice cannula.
Rare accidents, more frequent pain
Accidents of this severity after a consultation with an osteopath, Ethiopian or chiropractor are fortunately still extremely rare, acknowledges Guillaume Giordano Orsini: the High Authority for Health has no data on the matter. But an earlier British study found that the side effects of some of these manipulations, particularly chiropractic, were underestimated.
This doctor still mentions other less serious complications.
“What we have more often are increases in pain or episodes of recurrence. Repeated manipulations can create fragility in the ligaments, especially in the case of torticollis or lumbago.”
Another general practitioner evokes for BFMTV.com the case of one of his patients who suffered a hip tendon rupture during manipulation. He cites more frequent cases of patients consulting osteopaths who come “with complex and established problems” because they haven’t been properly cared for for weeks or even months. “That’s every week.”
An “alternative medicine”
If physiotherapy is recognized as a paramedical profession -just like pedicures, speech therapists or orthopedists-, the same does not happen with osteopathy. Like etiopathy, chiropractic, hypnosis, or acupuncture, these are so-called non-conventional health care practices (NCHPs), sometimes called “alternative medicine” or “alternative medicine,” which are not recognized by medicine and whose efficacy has not been scientifically proven.
“Osteopathy does not have scientific evidence of efficacy, unlike physiotherapy,” insists Doc Amine, who asks for caution in the face of “misinformation” by certain professionals. This doctor thus explains that a diagnosis of “blocked nerve” or “displaced vertebra” is a “myth” and a “misuse of language”.
“It’s highly unlikely,” he said. “And if that were the case, a displaced vertebra or pelvis would not be replaced manually but with orthopedic surgery or neurosurgery. And in that case it would be really very serious.”
This doctor protests against a certain practice of osteopathy that he describes as “show”. “People who manipulate the vertebrae and chain the abdominals, it’s dangerous and useless”, he assails him.
million views
Christophe Couturaud, president of the French Association of Osteopaths Register, denounces instead a form of denigration suffered by osteopaths. Uk says that “high-velocity, low-amplitude techniques” – that is, sit-ups – are not the only methods used in the practice.
“We have a lot of soft techniques,” he insists for BFMTV.com. “Conscientiously practicing osteopaths always take precautions.”
“There is no danger in consulting an osteopath trained by an approved school,” continues the Haute-Garonne-based osteopath. Also, when in doubt, he will refrain.
If the use of the title of osteopath or chiropractor is reserved for people in possession of a diploma, it is not, however, a state diploma -although issued by approved establishments, according to the Ministry of Health-.
But Christophe Couturaud wants as proof, according to him, of the effectiveness of osteopathy, the millions of annual consultations (26 million in 2015, according to an OpinionWay survey carried out for the French Union of Osteopaths). “We know our patients trust us,” he concludes.
“Being manipulated is not trivial”
As for the Ethiopian profession, the Interministerial Mission for Surveillance and Fight against Sectarian Abuses (Miviludes) warned against certain formations, evoking “swarms of new bonesetters-healers more or less competent”, “cohorts of imaginary doctors likely to be prosecuted for the illegal exercise of a health profession”, which raises fears of “sectarian excesses”, he wrote.
Dr. Guillaume Giordano Orsini shares the same concerns. For him, the first reflex in case of pain is by no means to resort to manipulation.
“It is essential to first consult a doctor who can identify the origin of the pain, prescribe x-rays, physical therapy or muscle strengthening and treat the cause. You have to keep in mind that being manipulated is not trivial.
These manipulations must, according to him, “remain an alternative.” If they are not techniques that must be avoided completely, he clarifies, they must be used “in a reasoned and reasonable way.”
Source: BFM TV
