Is Chiropractic Safe?

We tend to a large number of patients in our South Buffalo office, and Dr. John Nowak has helped many people overcome a range of health issues. Even so, a frequent issue that seems to stop many people from getting care is whether or not chiropractic care is safe. Luckily, according to three different studies (out of countless on the subject), the answer to this question is a clear: "Yes! Chiropractic is safe!"

Chiropractic is Safe, According to Australian Study

The first study(1) was published in Spine and included 183 women and men between the ages of 20 and 85. Each test subject reported suffering from spinal pain, and half of the people received real chiropractic adjustments whereas the remaining patients were given two sham chiropractic adjustments. Data was obtained after each real or fake adjustment to identify whether or not any unpleasant side effects occurred as a result of the real chiropractic adjustments.

Researchers found that nobody documented any serious adverse adverse reactions whatsoever after receiving one or two sessions of chiropractic. Some individuals did state that they experienced a headache (9 percent) or muscle stiffness (37 percent) after treatment, but the results were not serious.

Nationwide Survey Confirms that Chiropractic Adjustments are Safe

The next article(2), also published in the influential publication, Spine, was done in an effort to ascertain the safety of chiropractic. 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 researchers found 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, side 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 Is Safe for Your Children

The 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 kids, chiropractors answering the survey documented 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 studies like these, chiropractic care has been judged safe and effective for everyone. To discover what chiropractic care can do for you, call our South Buffalo clinic and make an appointment today at (716) 825-4121.

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.