Chiropractic: Safe for Everyone

We tend to a large number of patients in our Henderson, NV office, and Dr. Russell has helped countless people manage a variety of health issues. In spite of this, the primary worry that seems to prevent some folks from pursuing care is whether or not chiropractic care is safe. Fortunately, according to three separate studies (out of many on the issue), the answer to this question is a resounding: "Yes! Chiropractic is safe!"

Australian Study: Chiropractic is Safe

The first article(1) was published in Spine and included 183 men and women. Each individual reported affected by some kind of back pain, and half of the individuals received real chiropractic care while the other half received two sham chiropractic treatments. Information was gathered after each real or fake adjustment to identify whether or not any undesirable negative effects were caused by the actual chiropractic adjustments.

Researchers found that nobody reported any serious unfavorable adverse reactions at all after getting one or two sessions of chiropractic. Some people did state that they had a headache (9% of patients) or muscle stiffness (37 percent) post-treatment, but the results were not serious.

National Survey Finds that Chiropractic Adjustments are Safe

The second research study(2), also released in the influential journal, Spine, was performed in an attempt to ascertain the safety of chiropractic care. The test group was much larger -- 20,000 individuals. Each participant received chiropractic adjustments of the cervical spine, with over 50,000 total adjustments for all patients.

Once again, the investigators discovered no serious adverse side effects. The experts calculated the risk of total side 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 individuals did report non-serious, milder, unwanted effects such as dizziness (about 1.6%) or a headache (4%), and this caused the researchers to conclude that "the risk of a serious adverse event, immediately or up to 7 days after treatment, was low to very low."

Chiropractic Care Is Safe for Children

This third research paper(3) is unique from the previous two reports, as it focuses on the safety of chiropractic care for children. In this article, the authors investigated 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 young children, chiropractors answering 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. 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 has been deemed safe and effective for everyone. To discover what chiropractic care can do for you, call our Henderson, NV clinic and schedule an appointment today at (702) 990-2225.

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.