Just a few years ago, 28-year-old Caitlin Jensen was looking forward to a bright future.
The chemistry and biology graduate from the University of Georgia was excitedly applying for jobs, preparing to move into her first apartment and making plans with her long-term boyfriend.
But a last-minute decision to visit a chiropractor to sort out a bit of lower back pain would change everything – and ended any hope she had of living a normal life.
During the session, the therapist performed an adjustment – a sudden twist and pull of the head ‘to align the spine’. It severed four arteries in her neck. She collapsed shortly after, unable to speak or move.
Chiropractors are alternative therapists who offer hands-on adjustments to relieve problems with the bones, muscles and joints.
And while chiropractic sessions can be beneficial, in Caitlin’s case things went catastrophically wrong.
Later it emerged the injury had caused her to suffer a series of strokes and heart attacks.
Today, she has regained some movement in her head, legs and arms but she is still unable to speak, is partially blind and relies on a wheelchair.
Caitlin Jensen went into cardiac arrest, had a stroke and lost her pulse for over ten minutes before being revived only to find out she was mostly paralysed due to a traumatic brain injury
While shocking and extreme, experts say Caitlin’s story is evidence of the risks of chiropractic. And although such cases are rare, they are not unheard of. Yet despite these risks, the treatment has only become more popular recently.
Currently it is being driven by a social media craze for videos of chiropractors manipulating spines to make terrifying cracking sounds. The more brutal the crack, the higher the views.
And now chiropractors in the UK are pushing for their services, which are largely private, to be rolled out on the NHS.
According to a report commissioned by the British Chiropractic Association, employing chiropractors in the health service could save £1.5 billion and cut physiotherapist waiting lists.
Last week The Mail on Sunday’s GP columnist Dr Ellie Cannon expressed concerns over the safety of the scheme, writing that she was worried that the forceful manipulation of the body involved can be dangerous, causing serious injuries.
Dr Cannon asked readers for their own experiences – and was flooded with responses.
Scores claimed they’d found relief from joint pain and other issues thanks to a chiropractor, when nothing else worked. Yet, disturbingly, among these were accounts from those who’d suffered horrific injuries.
Caitlin, 28, was excitedly applying for jobs, preparing to move into her first apartment and making plans with her long-term boyfriend. But a last-minute decision to visit a chiropractor to sort out a bit of lower back pain ended any hope she had of living a normal life
Today, Caitlin has regained some movement in her head, legs and arms, but she is still unable to speak, is partially blind and relies on a wheelchair
One 66-year-old grandmother said a visit to a chiropractor to treat her sore shoulder left her covered in bruises, hearing ringing in her ears and with a splitting pain in her jaw. She was later diagnosed by doctors with trigeminal neuralgia – a chronic pain disorder caused by a trapped or irritated nerve in the neck that causes sudden, electric shock-like pain in the face.
She believes the condition – which, three years later, still sometimes leaves her unable to open her mouth wide enough to speak to her grandchildren – was triggered by a chiropractic adjustment of her neck.
A 55-year-old woman was left with chronic neck and shoulder pain after visiting a chiropractor for a sore back. The pain was so bad she once spent 72 hours immobile and unable to sleep despite taking a concoction of painkillers.
And a 66-year-old man says his back went into spasm as he was leaving his first chiropractor appointment – which left him hospitalised and bedbound for weeks. The intense treatment, he later learned, had pushed one of the discs of his spine out of place, causing him to lose feeling in his right leg for ever.
In light of stories such as these – and Caitlin’s – a number of experts have raised the alarm over the practice which they say is worrying and dangerous.
So should the NHS employ chiropractors – and is it safe to go and see one?
Chiropractic as a legitimate medical treatment is a relatively new phenomenon. Until 1983, the American Medical Association considered the practice ‘an unscientific cult’. Even its founder, self-described ‘magnetic healer’ Daniel David Palmer, called it a religion – writing in his memoir that the principles of spinal manipulation were passed on to him during a seance by a doctor who had died a half century before.
He also claimed 95 per cent of all diseases ‘are caused by displaced vertebrae, the remainder by luxation [dislocation] of other joints’.
As part of a growing trend on video-sharing platform TikTok, practitioners show off their most dramatic, wince-worthy back, neck and shoulder cracks on grimacing or even screaming patients – claiming to be curing anything from erectile dysfunction to ear infections.
Some involve terrifying-looking neck straps while others see patients hit with what resembles a wooden hammer and chisel – a dramatic form of spinal adjustment known as the activator method.
And it’s not just adults on the table. In one disturbing video with more than 12 million views, American chiropractor Dr Ace claims to be treating the seizures of a two-year-old with meningitis by cracking his neck as he screams in pain.
In another, he makes similar manipulations on a little boy with hydrocephalus – excess fluid on the brain – captioning the video ‘reshape skull, crack neck’ alongside a skull emoji.
Some of the chiropractors on TikTok (see above and below) who have gained millions of views
In the UK, several film and TV shows – including Love Island – have bragged of having a resident chiropractor on set. And the number of British chiropractors has risen by more than 60 per cent in the past four years, according to regulatory board the General Chiropractic Council.
Orthopaedic surgeon Dr Simon Fleming worries that vulnerable patients are turning to chiropractors without knowing its risks.
He says: ‘It’s not that there aren’t safe chiropractors, it’s that there’s such a high risk of potentially doing harm. Adults can make their own choices – but if they want to go down that route, we need to ensure they do it with their eyes open.’
The NHS currently lists neck, back, shoulder and elbow pain as issues that can be treated with chiropractic – adding that there’s little evidence it can help with more serious conditions, or problems that don’t affect the muscles or joints. It warns: ‘There is a risk of more serious problems, such as stroke, from spinal manipulation.’
Chiropractic is not widely available on the health service, other than in exceptional circumstances where no other options, such as physiotherapy, are available. But a report released by the University of York last week called for the practice to be brought under the NHS in order to cut the number of patients with musculoskeletal issues waiting for physiotherapy.
And according to Mark Gurden, president of the Royal College of Chiropractors, it will help the NHS more generally by offering up a skilled and competent workforce during a national staffing crisis.
‘It’s a profession just like physiotherapy is a profession, and can offer a range of interventions that include both soft tissue techniques and spinal manipulation,’ he says.
‘Chiropractors are regulated healthcare professionals who undergo four-years training and must be registered with the General Chiropractic Council. It’s an entirely safe procedure when done by competent professionals.’
Edzard Ernst, emeritus professor of complementary medicine at the University of Exeter and author of Chiropractic: Not All That It’s Cracked Up To Be, says hundreds of patients have suffered a stroke after getting their necks manipulated – with some dying from the damage.
Recent instances include the tragic case of 29-year-old Joanna Kowalczyk, who suffered a fatal tear of her blood vessels after having her neck adjusted by a chiropractor, as well as Playboy model Katie May, 34, who died after getting the treatment for a pinched nerve in her neck sustained during a photoshoot.
And Professor Ernst believes even more patients may have sustained injuries than we know of.
Joanna Kowalczyk, 29, suffered a fatal tear of her blood vessels after having her neck adjusted by a chiropractor
‘Chiropractors manipulate the spine of virtually every patient, and this often moves the spine beyond its physiological range of motion, which can cause severe structural damage,’ he says.
‘There is no reporting system of side effects of chiropractic – if we don’t look, we don’t see.’
The injury linked to the deaths of both Katie May and Joanna Kowalczyk was arterial dissection – a tear to the artery that supplies blood from the heart to the brain. In some cases, patients may not even know the injury has occurred and it can heal on its own. But for others, the tear can lead to a clot forming, causing a stroke and even death.
It’s unclear just how often this complication happens after chiropractic treatment, but one study from researchers in Boston estimated that one out of every 1,000 neck manipulations results in an arterial dissection.
A review by the American Heart Association’s Stroke Council also showed the risk of arterial dissection and stroke to be as much as 12 times higher in people who’ve recently had a neck manipulation.
Systematic reviews of controlled clinical studies of treatments used by chiropractors have found no evidence that manipulation is effective – with the possible exception of back pain. One 2011 review declared that the data analysed ‘fail[ed] to demonstrate convincingly that spinal manipulation is an effective intervention for any condition’.
It’s hard to justify taking such risks when there’s very little evidence that chiropractic actually does anything beneficial, says
Dr Fleming, adding: ‘There are better ways of managing many of the conditions that are addressed by chiropractic manipulation. And while there’s a role for complementary therapies, it shouldn’t be our first port of call – and it certainly shouldn’t be prioritised for NHS funding.
‘Catastrophic issues can arise because chiropractors are not doctors. And what often happens is they have performed manipulation on patients where it’s either inappropriate or unsafe.’
He believes those who should not get spinal manipulation includes babies and children, as well as women who have gone through menopause and may be at risk of osteoporosis, which increases the chances of a fracture. Anyone with connective tissue disorders, brittle arteries due to age or vascular issues should also stay away.
Chiropractors have no access to medical records or any official age restrictions as to who they can treat, so it is up to the patient to decide whether or not to undergo a treatment. But why, if the practice has so little evidence behind it, do so many swear by it?
Likely, says Professor Ernst, because having your bones cracked is bound to have a considerable placebo effect – which can be a powerful tool at making people feel better. The fact that chiropractic is so hands-on also may contribute to patients’ satisfaction.
‘It makes sense that people who are unwell value someone providing human touch,’ says Dr Fleming. ‘And it can be reassuring to have someone who says, “I’m going to make your back make all these clicking noises”. It gives a real physical sense of having done something – but, fundamentally, it’s the same as popping your knuckles.
‘Just first make sure they’re properly registered with the General Chiropractic Council – and don’t let them anywhere near your neck.’
The scores of MoS readers who say it’s ended their agony
I have been seeing chiropractors regularly from the age of about 12 due to headaches and huge amounts of tension in my neck and shoulders.
I get instant relief from a chiropractor, which you can’t get from a physiotherapist.
Gill Neate, 69, from Surrey
In the 1980s I slipped and hit my shoulder. Afterwards I began waking each morning with a vicious headache. My friend recommended I see a chiropractor.
He put me on the bench, took hold of my neck, tugged… and I have never had another headache like that since.
Marion Bailey, 85, from Somerset
I can honestly say that my chiropractor has enabled me to live my life almost to the full.
I still go to ballet classes, sing in a choir, serve on two committees and do my gardening. Without regular trips to the chiropractor, I would be in constant discomfort and be a bored and miserable woman.
Kate White, 84, via email
In 2013 I was suffering with a bad back. My GP put it down to chronic back pain and said I’d have to live with it.
But I saw a chiropractor who sorted my problem in less than a month.
Maureen Woodhouse, 71, from Lancashire
I slipped a disc in my back and got excruciating sciatica for almost eight months.
I eventually went to see a chiropractor and, at the initial appointment, he claimed he could cure me in six sessions.
In fact, it only took two. It may not work for everyone but it was a lifesaver for me.
Cathy Jones, 57, via email
When I was in my early teens I fell out of a tree and injured my back. I went to see a chiropractor. After several sessions, the pain went away and has not come back.
Paul Kelliher, 77, via email
…and those who have been harmed
Many years ago I went to see a chiropractor as I had a problem with my neck and shoulders.
During my last visit she pummelled and pulled my back so hard and for so long that when I got back to my car the pain was so awful I couldn’t put my back against the seat.
I started to get horrendous toothache. I went to see a dentist, and he thought, as I did, that it was tooth nerve pain. The problem actually turned out to be nerve pain caused by the chiropractor’s over-zealous manipulation.
Joyce Hecks, 82, from Hertfordshire
Just over 12 years ago I had really bad pain in my right leg, from buttock to calf.
A chiropractor manipulated my leg and thigh to no avail at £40 a visit.
My excellent doctor instead sent me for an X-ray. It turned out I needed a complete hip replacement operation, which cured my problem.
I would never consult a chiropractor ever again – it wasted weeks where I could have been operated on earlier.
Barry Klarnett, 76, from Essex
I used to go to a chiropractor around 20 years ago because I had a bad back. At one session he wrenched my neck a second time to get it to ‘click’ because it didn’t work the first time.
I was left with a very sore neck for days afterwards and, needless to say, I never went back to him.
I would never go back to using a chiropractor again.
Judith Waring, 63, from West Yorkshire
I went to a chiropractor for a debilitating bad back in 2010.
I was face down on the chiropractic table and he raised a section of it beneath my lower back.
He pressed hard on my lower back while releasing a switch which jolted down the part of the table under my lower back.
The pain was immediate and excruciating, and I left barely being able to walk.
I ended up off work and not able to move.
After five days in bed I was taken to hospital with a trapped spinal nerve. I have been left with a permanent injury to my bowel and bladder but, luckily, I am not in a wheelchair.
I wonder whether it was the chiropractor’s forced and violent manipulation on the table that day that finally did for my disc. I will never know, but I will never, ever visit a chiropractor again.
Jen White, 60, via email
