On June 13, 2008, the ACAC was named in a lawsuit. Below you will find responses for the media and links to current research.
Previous media release
J. David Cassidy, DC, PhD, DrMedSc, Eleanor Boyle, PhD, Pierre Cote, DC, PhD, Helen He, MD, PhD, Sheilah Hogg-Johnson, PhD, Frank L. Silver, MD, FRCPC, and Susan J. Bondy, PhD. (2008) "Risk of Vertebrobasilar Stroke and Chiropractic Care: Results of a Population-based Case-control and Case-crossover Study", SPINE, Volume 33, Number 4S.
This study investigated associations between chiropractic visits and vertebrobasilar artery (VBA) stroke and contrasted this with primary care physician (medical doctor) visits and VBA stroke. Cases included eligible incident VBA strokes admitted to Ontario hospitals from April 1, 1993 to March 31, 2002. Four controls were age and gender matched to each case. Case and control exposures to chiropractors and medical doctors were determined from health billing records in the year before the stroke date. In the case-crossover analysis, cases acted as their own controls.
Conclusion: VBA stroke is a very rare event in the population. The increased risks of VBA stroke associated with both chiropractic and medical doctor visits is likely due to patients with headaches and neck pain from VBA dissection seeking care before their stroke. We found no evidence of excess risk of VBA stroke associated chiropractic care compared to medical care. Risk of VBA Stoke and Chiropractic Care
Haymo W. Thiel, DC, PhD, Jennifer E. Bolton, Phd, Sharon Docherty, PhD, and Jane C. Portlock, PhD. (2007) "Safety of Chiropractic Manipulation of the Cervical Spine: A Prospective National Survey". SPINE, Volume 32, Number 21, pp 2375-2378.
Treatment outcomes from 19,722 patients were studied to estimate the risk of serious and relatively minor adverse events following chiropractic manipulation of the cervical spine by a sample of U.K. chiropractors. Desired outcome was a better understanding of the risk of a serious adverse event following chiropractic manipulation of the cervical spine, which was largely unknown prior to study.
Data obtained from 28,807 treatment consultations and 50,276 cervical spine manipulations concluded there were no reports of serious adverse events. Although minor side effects (fainting/dizziness/light-headedness) following cervical spine manipulation were relatively common, the risk of a serious adverse event, immediately or up to 7 days after treatment, was low to very low. Safety of Chiropractic Manipulation
