Chiropractic Care: Safe for Everyone

Chiropractic Proven Safe in Depew

We tend to a large number of people in our Depew clinic, and Dr. Palmer has helped countless people overcome a variety of health challenges. However, one issue that seems to stop some folks from getting care is whether or not chiropractic adjustments are safe. Luckily, according to three different studies (out of quite a few on the topic), the answer to this concern is a clear: "Yes! Chiropractic is safe!"

Chiropractic is Safe, According to Australian Study

The first study(1) was published in Spine and involved 183 women and men. Each test subject was suffering from spinal pain, and half of the individuals received real chiropractic care while the other half were given two sham chiropractic treatment sessions. Information was collected after each real or fake adjustment to determine if any undesirable side effects occurred as a result of the actual chiropractic adjustments.

The doctors found that none of the patients reported any significant adverse side effects at all after getting one or two sessions of chiropractic care. Some people did state that they got a headache (9 percent) or muscle stiffness (37%) after treatment, but the results were not of a serious nature.

Nationwide Survey Reports that Chiropractic Treatments are Safe

The next article(2), also released in the distinguished publication, Spine, was performed in an attempt to determine the safety of chiropractic care. The study group was much larger -- 20,000 people. Each participant received chiropractic adjustments of the cervical spine, with over 50,000 total adjustments for all study participants.

Once again, the researchers discovered no serious negative side effects. The authors determined the risk of total negative effects to be approximately 6 out of every 10,000 consultations or every 100,000 treatment sessions. And, just as with the first study, some volunteers 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%), 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 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 case, the authors analyzed data 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 children, chiropractors answering the survey documented only three cases where there were adverse reactions. When parents were questioned, 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 deemed safe and effective for everyone. To discover what chiropractic adjustments can do for you, call our Depew clinic and schedule an appointment today at (716) 668-2225.

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.