We care for a large number of patients in our Highland Park, Saint Paul, Minnesota office, and Robert C Slater, DC has helped many people overcome a range of health issues. Even so, a common worry that seems to prevent a lot of men and women from seeking treatment is whether or not chiropractic adjustments are safe. Well, according to three different studies (out of countless on the issue), the answer to this question is a clear: "Yes! Chiropractic is safe!"
Australian Study: Chiropractic is Safe
The first study(1) was published in Spine and included 183 women and men. Each person reported affected by some kind of back pain, and half of the individuals received real chiropractic adjustments whereas the other half were given two sham chiropractic treatment sessions. Information was gathered after each real or fake adjustment to determine if any unpleasant reactions occurred as a result of the genuine chiropractic treatments.
Researchers found that no one documented any significant undesirable adverse reactions whatsoever after getting one or two sessions of chiropractic care. Some individuals did report that they experienced a headache (just 9% of people) or muscle stiffness (37%) after treatment, but the effects were not serious.
Nationwide Survey Confirms that Chiropractic Care is Safe
The next study(2), also published in the important journal, Spine, was done in an effort to determine the safety of chiropractic care. The study group was much larger as it involved just under 20,000 people. Each participant received chiropractic adjustments of the neck, with over 50,000 total adjustments for all patients.
Again, the researchers discovered no serious negative side effects. The authors 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 participants did report non-serious, milder, unwanted effects such as dizziness (less than 2%) or a headache (4 out of every 100), 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 unique from the previous two pieces of research, as it concentrates on the safety of chiropractic care for kids. In this article, the authors investigated data 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 kids, chiropractors answering the survey reported only three cases where there were adverse side effects. 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 studies like these, chiropractic has been found to be safe and effective for everyone. To learn what chiropractic care can do for you, call our Highland Park, Saint Paul, Minnesota clinic and make an appointment today at (651) 699-3366.
References
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
