The weekly trip to the hair salon holds a hidden danger for elderly
women. Manipulation of the head and neck during shampooing can alter the
flow of blood to the brain and cause a type of stroke, warns an American
researcher.
According to Michael Weintraub, a neurologist at New York Medical College,
arteries that supply blood to the brain – the two carotid arteries at the
sides of the neck, and the vertebral artery – are particularly vulnerable
to injury when the neck is manipulated.
‘As people grow older, conditions like hardening of the arteries and
arthritis, along with a host of other medical conditions, make it important
that the neck is not extended or manipulated beyond limited ranges,’ Weintraub
told a meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in San Diego.
Following reports that two elderly women had suffered strokes after
hanging their heads back into washbasins, Weintraub conducted a survey of
25 women with a history of transient ischaemic attacks, or ‘mini-strokes’,
to see if neck positions were dangerous. He found that 23 of the women were
sensitive to extreme movements of the neck; 18 experienced symptoms in a
hanging-head position, and extreme sideways movements provoked symptoms
in 5.
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Weintraub believes people who work in salons – and their clients – should
be warned.
