We tend to a large number of people in our South Buffalo office, and Dr. John Nowak has helped countless people manage a wide array of health issues. Even so, one concern that seems to stop many women and men from getting treatment is whether or not chiropractic adjustments are safe. Fortunately, according to three separate studies (out of many on the topic), the answer to this concern is a clear: "Yes! Chiropractic is safe!"
Australian Study: Chiropractic is Safe
The first study(1) was published in Spine and included 183 men and women. Each individual was suffering from some kind of back pain, and half of the patients received real chiropractic care while the remaining patients were given two fake chiropractic adjustments. Data was collected after each real or fake adjustment to see if any unpleasant negative effects were caused by the real chiropractic adjustments.
Researchers reported that no participants reported any significant unfavorable side effects at all after getting one or two sessions of chiropractic care. Some people did report that they experienced a headache (9 percent) or muscle stiffness (37 percent) post-treatment, but the effects were not serious.
National Survey Confirms that Chiropractic Care is Safe
The second study(2), also published in the important publication, Spine, was performed in an effort to determine the safety of chiropractic care. The test group was much larger -- 20,000 people. Each participant received chiropractic adjustments of the cervical spine, with over 50,000 total adjustments for all patients.
Once again, the experts discovered no serious negative side effects. The experts calculated the risk of total adverse reactions to be about 6 out of every 10,000 consultations or every 100,000 treatment sessions. Plus, just as with the first study, some individuals did report non-serious, milder, unwanted effects such as dizziness (about 1.6%) or a headache (4%), and this caused the authors to conclude 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
The third study(3) is different from the previous two reports, as it concentrates on the safety of chiropractic care for kids. In this article, the authors analyzed results reported by both chiropractors and parents involving 816 children who participated in 7,173 chiropractic treatment sessions.
Out of 5,438 chiropractic appointments made for the young children, 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 care has been deemed safe and effective for everyone. To discover what chiropractic can do for you, call our South Buffalo clinic and schedule an appointment today at (716) 825-4121.
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.
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