How Safe is Chiropractic?

We tend to a large number of people in our New York office, and Dr. Valente has helped many people eliminate a variety of health problems. However, one issue that seems to stop a lot of folks from seeking treatment is whether or not chiropractic care is safe. Well, according to three different studies (out of quite a few on the subject), the answer to this question is a resounding: "Yes! Chiropractic is safe!"

Chiropractic is Safe, According to Australian Study

The first research paper(1) was published in Spine and included 183 women and men. Each participant reported suffering from spine-related pain, and half of the individuals received real chiropractic adjustments while the other half were given two fake chiropractic treatments. Information was collected after each real or fake adjustment to see whether or not any unfavorable negative effects occurred as a result of the actual chiropractic treatments.

The doctors found that no participants documented any significant undesirable adverse reactions whatsoever after getting one or two sessions of chiropractic. Some individuals did state that they got a headache (9 percent) or muscle stiffness (37 percent) post-treatment, but the effects were not of a serious nature.

Large US Survey Finds that Chiropractic is Safe

A second study(2), also released in the prestigious journal, Spine, was done in an attempt to ascertain the safety of chiropractic care. The study group was much larger -- 20,000 patients. Each participant received chiropractic adjustments of the cervical spine, with over 50,000 total adjustments for all study participants.

Again, the experts discovered no serious negative side effects. The experts determined the risk of total side effects to be approximately 6 out of every 10,000 consultations or every 100,000 treatment sessions. And, just as with the first study, some individuals did report non-serious, milder, side effects such as dizziness (16 out of every 1,000 treatment consultations and 15 out of every 1,000 treatment sessions) or a headache (4%), and this prompted the authors to determine that "the risk of a serious adverse event, immediately or up to 7 days after treatment, was low to very low."

Chiropractic Adjustments are Safe for Your Children

This third study(3) is different from the previous two reports, as it focuses on the safety of chiropractic care for children. In this article, the authors investigated results reported by both chiropractors and parents involving 816 children who participated in 7,173 chiropractic adjustments.

Out of 5,438 chiropractic visits made for the young ones, chiropractors responding to the survey documented only three cases where there were negative side effects. When parents were questioned, they indicated only two adverse side effects out of 1,735 visits. Furthermore, both chiropractors and parents reported "a high rate of improvement with respect to the children's presenting complaints."

Based on these three studies (and many more!), chiropractic care has been found to be safe and effective for everyone. To discover what chiropractic care can do for you, call our New York office and schedule an appointment today at (917) 338-7917.

References

1. Walker BF, Hebert JJ, Stomski NJ, Clarke BR, Bowden RS, Losco B, French SD. Outcomes of usual chiropractic. The OUCH randomized controlled trial of adverse events. Spine 2013;38(20):1723-9.
2. Thiel HW1, Bolton JE, Docherty S, Portlock JC. Safety of chiropractic manipulation of the cervical spine: a prospective national survey. Spine 2007;32(21):2375-8.
3. Alcantara J, Ohm J, Kunz D. The safety and effectiveness of pediatric chiropractic: a survey of chiropractors and parents in a practice-based research network. Explore NY 2009;5(5): 290-5.