Woman ends up in ICU after chiropractic session
A woman ended up in the ICU after her chiropractor accidentally tore her artery while cracking her neck. It also left her bedridden for weeks.
Carissa Klundt from Las Vegas recently recalled the 2022 incident in a June 8 report by Daily Mail, sharing that she began experiencing pain in her back when she had her breast implants removed.
The 41-year-old decided to see a chiropractor regularly to relieve her pain. She said it was all good at the start but after three sessions, a substitute practitioner had to take over and perform spinal adjustments, which included her neck.
“As soon as it happened, I knew something was wrong. You do hear a crack anyway when you get an adjustment but I knew something had gone wrong,” she shared.
“There was pain in my neck. I got home and felt like I was going to throw up," she continued.
Klundt recalled “seeing things and blacking out” a few weeks after that particular session. After undergoing medical tests, she was diagnosed with vertebral artery dissection, which "occurs when a tear forms in one of the blood vessels running up the back of your neck," according to Cleveland Clinic.
The woman was immediately sent to the ICU as medical staff pointed out that she could have suffered a stroke if she didn’t go to the hospital.
“I could've so easily died,” she said. “It traumatized my whole family.”
Klundt shared she was bedridden in the first month, just sleeping for 17 hours a day while “in constant pain.”
“My life was really put on pause. I absolutely regret going to the chiropractor,” she mused. “It's not about blaming anyone, it's just about spreading more awareness. I want people to understand what the symptoms are and that this is a life-threatening condition.”
Klundt, a fitness and wellness enthusiast, had to change her lifestyle completely from being “healthy, active, and deeply in tune” with her body.
“I'll never ski again, I'll never go on a rollercoaster. I'm not teaching [fitness] classes anymore,” she said. “There's still a residual fear of it happening again. I'm doing well now but it's been a long recovery process.”
