With an elongated styloid, is manual neck manipulation dangerous? There’s very little to read on this. It’s the only thing that really helps me, but after reading more and more and considering the length of my styloid, it seems risky to my carotid. ‘Sharp abruptly pivoting near carotid’.
Since you know there may be a risk to your carotid artery, it would probably be best to stay away from neck adjustments that involve “snapping” your neck to the left or right. There are forms of neck manipulation that are more passive i.e. using an “activator” tool or gradual, gentle working the head to the left or right w/ a little pressure. It would be worthwhile discussing alternative ways to do neck adjustments w/ your chiropractor. An experienced chiropractor generally knows more than one way to accomplish a given adjustment.
I am speaking from experience here as I still need neck work even after ES surgery. I believe my ES was caused by a whiplash injury in my early 20s. Getting my styloids out didn’t correct my cervical vertebra which don’t want to stay correctly in place. My chiropractor is very gentle w/ how he works on my neck now, but it still helps w/ the misalignment issue. Some ES surgeons recommend no more neck adjustments after ES surgery but that has not been an option for me.
If you want a chiro who won’t do the snapping movements with your neck, I’d recommend Dr Finer at northwestern health sciences university assuming you are in the cities. In addition to eagles I have suspected hEDS which means chiro adjustment that aims to snap is bad for me especially in the neck area.
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Be very wary!
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I think there is varied opinions especially from ES surgeons who generally don’t support neck manipulations.It makes sense to use caution.
I had a couple whiplash incidents decades ago coupled with EDS -hypermobility and have had alot of neck instability. I also have significant osteoarthritis in my TMJ are which also causes me ongoing chronic problems. AT one point, my orthopedic docs supported using proliferon injections by their opinion that my neck had been “over-adjusted” and that because of that my neck couldn’t hold an adjustment.Looking back on my life, its been a bit of a wacka-mole tyrpe of approach to get out of pain.
I use chiropractic adjustments still but try not to overuse it. Passive adjustments rarely help me. I get massive painful headaches when certain areas out out of alignment and a good “crack” is all that helps me. My chiropractor is experienced and cautious especially after ES surgery. I know what I need and I listen to my body. I have also found cranial-sacral therapy very subtle and gentle work that has been soo helpful.
If I had a good crack and had symptoms afterward front he adjustment, I would re-think my approach. Now that my styloids are gone, I don’t worry about it. Listen to your body and your instincts (as well as consider your CT scan results) about what is right for you.
ES premanipulative vascular dysf precautions.pdf (2.2 MB)
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