How Safe Is Chiropractic Treatment?

We tend to a large number of people in our Decatur office, and Dr. Harrison has helped countless people overcome a range of health challenges. Even so, a frequent concern that seems to stop a lot of folks from seeking treatment is whether or not chiropractic adjustments are safe. Well, according to three different studies (out of quite a few on the issue), the answer to this question is a clear: "Yes! Chiropractic is safe!"

Chiropractic is Safe, According to Australian Study

The first research paper(1) was published in Spine and included 183 men and women between the ages of 20 and 85. Each participant reported suffering from spine-related pain, and half of the patients received real chiropractic adjustments whereas the remaining patients were given two sham chiropractic adjustments. Data was gathered after each real or fake adjustment to see whether or not any unfavorable side effects occurred as a result of the real chiropractic adjustments.

The doctors reported that no one documented any serious unfavorable side effects at all after getting one or two sessions of chiropractic care. Some individuals did report that they had a headache (9% of patients) or muscle stiffness (about 1 out of 3) post-treatment, but the effects were not serious.

Large US Survey Finds that Chiropractic Care is Safe

The next study(2), also released in the important journal, Spine, was performed in an effort to determine the safety of chiropractic. The test group was much larger -- 20,000 patients. Each participant received chiropractic adjustments of the cervical spine, with over 50,000 total adjustments for all study participants.

Again, the investigators found no serious adverse side effects. The authors calculated the risk of total negative effects to be about six out of every 10,000 consultations or every 100,000 treatment sessions. Plus, 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%), and this caused the authors to determine that "the risk of a serious adverse event, immediately or up to 7 days after treatment, was low to very low."

Chiropractic Treatments are Safe for Kids

This third study(3) is different from the first two pieces of research, as it concentrates on the safety of chiropractic care for children. In this case, 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 appointments made for the young ones, chiropractors responding to the survey reported only three cases where there were negative 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 has been found to be safe and effective for everyone. To discover what chiropractic treatment can do for you, call our Decatur office and make an appointment today at (404) 325-2856.

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.