Stroke and Trauma

A side note to the story below: Most people would never connect these two words: stroke and trauma. But stroke is a problem that affects at least 10% of our clients, yet such strokes are never diagnosed acutely. Strokes in automobile wrecks happen predominantly in two ways:

First, the twisting of the neck in the whiplash mechanism, damages a cerebral artery (one that takes blood to the brain). This damage can result in the formation of a blood clot, that when it releases, flows to the brain and causes a clot. This is called an “artery dissection.

The second way is that many people after a whiplash injury to their neck go see a chiropractor for the neck stiffness and pain. The process of torquing a neck in a neck manipulation can cause an artery dissection, similar to the way it happens in an accident.

I will blog on this topic more in the coming weeks, but if a motor vehicle wreck survivor starts to have stroke type symptoms, not only insist on an ER visit, but insist that they be given the same medication that stroke victims get. The ER doctors may be slow on the uptake on this, but perhaps a story like the below AP story, can help get their attention.