Chiropractic Proven Safe

We care for a large number of people in our Saint Paul office, and Dr. Slater has helped countless people manage a variety of health problems. In spite of this, a common worry that seems to stop many women and men from pursuing care is whether or not chiropractic adjustments are safe. Well, according to three separate studies (out of quite a few on the subject), the answer to this concern is a resounding: "Yes! Chiropractic is safe!"

Chiropractic is Safe, According to Australian Study

The first research paper(1) was published in Spine and involved 183 adults between the ages of 20 and 85. Each person reported suffering from spinal pain, and half of the patients received real chiropractic care while the other half received two fake chiropractic treatments. Data was obtained after each real or fake adjustment to discover whether or not any undesirable side effects were caused by the real chiropractic treatments.

The authors reported that none of the patients reported any serious undesirable side effects at all after receiving one or two sessions of chiropractic care. Some people did report that they had a headache (9 percent) or muscle stiffness (about 1 out of 3) after treatment, but the results were not serious.

Large US Survey Finds that Chiropractic Care is Safe

The next research study(2), also released in the prestigious publication, Spine, was conducted in an effort to establish the safety of chiropractic. The study group was much larger as it involved just under 20,000 patients. Each participant received chiropractic adjustments of the neck, with over 50,000 total adjustments for all patients.

Again, the experts discovered no serious adverse side effects. The experts computed the risk of total negative effects to be about 6 out of every 10,000 consultations or every 100,000 treatment sessions. And, just as with the previous study, some individuals did report non-serious, milder, side effects such as dizziness (about 1.6%) 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 Is Safe for Children

This third research paper(3) is different from the first two reports, as it focuses on the safety of chiropractic care for children. In this article, the researchers investigated data reported by both chiropractors and parents involving 816 children who participated in 7,173 chiropractic treatment sessions.

Out of 5,438 chiropractic visits made for the young children, chiropractors responding to the survey reported only three cases where there were adverse effects. When parents were surveyed, they indicated only two adverse side effects out of 1,735 visits. Additionally, 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 judged safe and effective for everyone. To discover what chiropractic care can do for you, call our Saint Paul office and make an appointment today at (651) 699-3366.

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.