How Safe is Chiropractic?

We care for a large number of patients in our Memphis clinic, and Dr. Amodeo has helped many people overcome a variety of health problems. However, a common issue that seems to stop many men and women from pursuing 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 concern is a resounding: "Yes! Chiropractic is safe!"

Chiropractic is Safe, According to Australian Study

The first article(1) was published in Spine and involved 183 women and men between the ages of 20 and 85. Each person reported suffering from some kind of back pain, and half of the people received actual chiropractic care visits while the other half were given two fake chiropractic adjustments. Information was gathered after each real or fake adjustment to see whether or not any unpleasant negative effects occurred as a result of the genuine chiropractic treatments.

Researchers reported that no participants documented any serious adverse adverse reactions in any way after getting one or two sessions of chiropractic care. Some people did report that they had a headache (just 9% of people) or muscle stiffness (37 percent) after treatment, but the effects were not of a serious nature.

Nationwide Survey Finds that Chiropractic is Safe

A second research study(2), also released in the distinguished journal, Spine, was performed in an effort to establish the safety of chiropractic. The study group was much larger -- 20,000 individuals. Each participant received chiropractic adjustments of the cervical spine, with over 50,000 total adjustments for all study participants.

Once again, the experts found no serious adverse side effects. The authors determined the risk of total adverse reactions to be about 6 out of every 10,000 consultations or every 100,000 treatment sessions. And, just as with the previous study, some participants 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 out of every 100), and this prompted the researchers to conclude that "the risk of a serious adverse event, immediately or up to 7 days after treatment, was low to very low."

Chiropractic Care Is Safe for Kids

The third research paper(3) is unique from the first two pieces of research, 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 ones, chiropractors answering the survey reported only three cases where there were adverse reactions. When parents were surveyed, 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 judged safe and effective for everyone. To find out what chiropractic care can do for you, call our Memphis clinic and schedule an appointment today at (901) 757-8311.

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.