Let’s start from a premise. There is no certain and definitive scientific data available on the risk that undergoing maneuvers that make it “crack” the neck only in terms of the possibility of encountering a stroke. But the social statement by Andrea Vianello is causing discussion. As reported in his book, he testified that he was subjected to the maneuver shortly before going to meet stroke.
On the subject, also to understand what could happen and what could be the potential problems related to these maneuvers, here is the opinion of Maximum of the SevenDirector of the Neurology Department at the San Martino Polyclinic in Genoa (and member of the Technical Scientific Committee of ALICe. Italia Odv).
The risk for the arteries
“Fortunately the frequency of the carotid artery dissection (the vessels that run along the neck) is not high, it is estimated that in the global population the incidence is around 2-3% per 100 thousand inhabitants – explains the expert. Despite this, carotid dissection represents approximately 10% of all strokes which occur at an age under 45, hence the so-called juvenile stroke”.
Let’s be clear. Among the causes of carotid dissection the trauma It represents an element to take into account, even if much more frequently these are spontaneous manifestations.
“The dissection of the carotid artery is favoured by a traumatic event, often even a trivial one, such as rotation of the head for example, sometimes most important traumas like a motorcycle accident – reports Del Sette”.
Pay attention to the predisposition
It is obvious that the presence of predisposing conditions facilitates the fact that even a small trauma can cause a dissection. We are talking in particular about possible connective tissue diseasesor that tissue that connects organs together, which can be altered for genetic reasons.
“One of these conditions is the Marfan syndrome: these are people who, due to this connective tissue disease, have a particular laxity of the ligaments of the joints, an increase in the vertical lines of the body (very tall, very long arms) and hyperextensible joints – Del Sette says. This connective tissue pathology can facilitate the rupture, dissection of the carotid artery”.
How to behave
Coming to the specific case, Del Sette recalls that There is no absolute contraindication to perform massages or chiropractic maneuvers on people who need these treatments. But be careful.
“Particular caution must be exercised in those who, for predisposition (for example having had someone in the family who has already had this pathology) or biological conditions such that somatically a connective tissue pathology may be suspected, in these cases in particular an evaluation must first be carried out to see that there are no contraindications to some maneuvers which, however, must be performed in any case carried out with caution – concludes Del Sette. This derives from the fact that, in particular, the vertebral arteries are arteries that run inside the canals between one vertebra and another and therefore a sudden rotation of the head can determine a stretching of the arteries right in the space between one vertebra and another, phenomenon that facilitates desiccation”.
