Is Chiropractic Safe?

We see a large number of patients in our Land O' Lakes, FL clinic, and Dr. Michael Craven has helped countless people manage a variety of health issues. Even so, the primary concern that seems to stop many women and men from seeking care is whether or not chiropractic is safe. Well, according to three different studies (out of many on the subject), the answer to this question is a clear: "Yes! Chiropractic is safe!"

Australian Study: Chiropractic is Safe

The first research paper(1) was published in Spine and included 183 adults. Each individual reported suffering from some kind of back pain, and half of the individuals received actual chiropractic care visits whereas the remaining patients were given two sham chiropractic treatment sessions. Data was obtained after each real or fake adjustment to see whether or not any unfavorable side effects were caused by the genuine chiropractic adjustments.

The authors found that no one documented any serious adverse adverse reactions at all after receiving one or two sessions of chiropractic. Some people did state that they had a headache (just 9% of people) or muscle stiffness (37 percent) post-treatment, but the results were not of a serious nature.

National Survey Reports that Chiropractic Adjustments are Safe

A second article(2), also published in the important journal, Spine, was done in an attempt to establish the safety of chiropractic care. The test group was much larger -- 20,000 individuals. Each participant received chiropractic adjustments of the neck, with over 50,000 total adjustments for all study participants.

Once again, the investigators found no serious negative side effects. The authors 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 people did report non-serious, milder, unwanted 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 caused the researchers 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 Children

The third study(3) is different from the first two pieces of research, as it concentrates on the safety of chiropractic care for kids. In this article, researchers investigated results reported by both chiropractors and parents involving 816 children who participated in 7,173 chiropractic adjustments.

Out of 5,438 chiropractic appointments made for the young ones, chiropractors responding to the survey reported only three cases where there were adverse 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 has been deemed safe and effective for everyone. To find out what chiropractic can do for you, call our Land O' Lakes, FL clinic and schedule an appointment today at (813) 996-9800.

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.