Seeing a chiropractor or back pain specialist is widely known for being a painless, natural way for people to alleviate spinal problems, chronic pain, headaches, injuries and muscle strain.

But for one Oklahoma man, a routine visit to his local chiropractor turned deadly after he suffered a stroke after his chiropractor manipulated the vertebrae in his neck.

According to a Nov. 8 FOX 8 Cleveland article, no one in the local chiropractor’s office called 911 as Jeremy Youngblood, 30, lay on the chiropractic table with a stroke. His family claims that the office called his father, who then brought him to the emergency room, where he stayed for six hours. Youngblood died after being flown to a different hospital.

Youngblood’s autopsy reveals that his stroke was brought on by “acute cerebellar infarction” as a result of his chiropractor’s spinal decompression therapy, one of many chiropractic techniques that involves manually adjusting the vertebrae of the back and neck, FOX 8 Cleveland reports.

Youngblood’s death was certainly an extenuating circumstance, and strokes and fatalities due to seeking out massage or chiropractor therapy are very rare.

“The loss or harm of any patient is a very disturbing circumstance that medical professionals have struggled with throughout history,” Youngblood’s chiropractic office said in a statement. “Unfortunately, there is no single form of medical care without risks. The safety of chiropractic care is evident by the lowest medical malpractice insurance rates of any licensed medical profession.”

However, one Canadian study found that the risk for a stroke is higher among younger chiropractic patients (45 years old and younger), meaning there could be some correlation between chiropractic care and stroke for some people, according to a Raw Story article.

What are your thoughts on this story? Do you think Youngblood’s chiropractor took the right response upon seeing that he was having a stroke? Let us know by leaving a comment below. Good references here.