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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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What Could Cause Dizziness After Receiving Neck Adjustment?

I was in a minor car accident almost two months ago, and I began seeing a chiropractor for my lower back pain. An MRI showed a bulged disc, etc., but nothing too serious. I had some mild neck pain as well. I was getting lower back adjustments and neck adjustments at the chiropractor. Three weeks ago, shortly after receiving one such neck adjustment, I began experiencing a somewhat dizzy, foggy, space-y feeling in my head that comes and goes at random every few minutes. Sometimes I have tension headaches in my forehead area and around my temples, kind of like a band squeezing around my head, but I also had sudden stabbing pains in random parts of my head; this would mostly occur as I was lying down, dozing off. This happened more in the first few days of this. When I have a particularly repetitive episode of this dizzy feeling, I sometimes have a slight carsick-y feeling of nausea. I also have a sort of weightless feeling in my left leg when I feel the spacey feeling come on. My chiro is referring me to get a brain and neck MRI to check for some nerve or disc issue. My initial fear was that I was having a stroke! My chiro did a check of my neurological facilities and found no issues, so my more rational guess is that the neck adjustment caused one of the vertebrae to impinge on a nerve. It is not as bad now as in the first couple of days, but it seems to have plateau ed since the first week -- not getting worse, but not really getting any better either. Any thoughts?
Wed, 29 Jan 2020
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Addiction Medicine Specialist 's  Response
Hi,

I cannot say in your particular case, but generally, there are a lot of possibilities. The most common is a reaction from nerves in the neck to pressure that lowers the heart rate (vaso vagal) it is common. It is not serious. On the other hand, it could be changes in brain circulation in the neck vessels going to the brain due to blockages there that can lead to a stroke. Getting neurologist evaluation with carotid flow studies would show what is going on.

Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.

Regards,
Dr. Matt Wachsman, Addiction Medicine Specialist
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What Could Cause Dizziness After Receiving Neck Adjustment?

Hi, I cannot say in your particular case, but generally, there are a lot of possibilities. The most common is a reaction from nerves in the neck to pressure that lowers the heart rate (vaso vagal) it is common. It is not serious. On the other hand, it could be changes in brain circulation in the neck vessels going to the brain due to blockages there that can lead to a stroke. Getting neurologist evaluation with carotid flow studies would show what is going on. Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further. Regards, Dr. Matt Wachsman, Addiction Medicine Specialist