Q:

Dear Doc,

 I have a patient who has been under chiro care dor 3 weeks for low back and neck pain 
during pregnancy.  After her first adjustment she has felt relief and has continued to feel 
relief through the next 6 adjustments..  However, 2 days after her last adjustment she 
started to feel numbness in her legs..2 days later she felt numbness in her arms.  her OB 
sent her out for a neurological consult.  An MRI was performed and came back negative.  
The neurologist suggested to the OB that she could be experiencing signs of M.S..  
However, the OB has never heard of this happening to any of her patients in her 20 years 
of practice.  I spoke with the OB today and she told me the numbness is subsiding.  I have 
done all sorts of searches on the internet to find out what her condition could be related to.  
The OB said it must be due to more than just edema or pressure on the inferior vena cava 
and thinks it is due to an inflammatory reaction 48 hours after my last adjustment?!?! She 
has recommended that the patient hold off on Chiro care until this problem has completely 
subsided or just wait all together until 6 weeks postpartum.  Do you have any insight into 
regarding this case?



A:

I've taken care of many pregnant patients in the 21 years I've been in practice and what 
seems to be your patient's problem is not unusual .. obviously from my vantage point and 
from what you are telling me .. any excessive pressure via bodily changes can aggravate 
the nervous system with specific plexuses of nerves irritated and therefore parathesia 
setting in .. this easily could be in the legs and tension overall may aggravate a latent 
irritation in the brachial plexus above.

The medics .. especially after a negative MRI .. has to give a DX and MS is good enough 
.. obviously if told to the patient will freak her out even more. 

Your care rendered .. if conservative .. should not have produced these symptoms .. or if 
they even had an effect .. not for long term (therefore her improvement). 

The fact that her symptoms arose 2 days after her last adjustment with you (and only with 6 
adjustments to boot) tells me there should be no relationship with what you did and her 
present problems .. in fact her initial concern was neck and lower back. The OB is 
conservative (maybe a little too quick for an MRI) and hasn't a clue herself so she feels it's 
a delayed reaction to the adjustment (I doubt it).

For the sake of Risk Management (mal-practice) go along with the OB's advice unless the 
patient wishes to continue care (in that case be very gentle .. maybe Activator only). The 
relationship between the muscule and nervous system makes people prone to neurological 
effects if sudden body morphing takes place .. as with pregnancy .. physical trauma or 
general chronic stress

That's my best answer to you

Have a Great Day

Dr. M