Chiropractic Proven Safe

We see a large number of patients in our Henderson, NV office, and Dr. Russell and Dr. Janda has helped countless people overcome a variety of health challenges. Even so, the primary worry that seems to prevent many people from pursuing care is whether or not chiropractic adjustments are safe. Luckily, according to three separate studies (out of many on the topic), 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 involved 183 women and men between the ages of 20 and 85. Each test subject was suffering from spine-related pain, and half of the patients received actual chiropractic care visits while the other half received two sham chiropractic treatment sessions. Data was obtained after each real or fake adjustment to identify whether or not any unpleasant side effects were caused by the real chiropractic treatments.

The authors found that nobody documented any significant negative side effects in any way after receiving one or two sessions of chiropractic care. Some people did state that they got a headache (just 9% of people) or muscle stiffness (37%) after treatment, but the effects were not serious.

National Survey Confirms that Chiropractic Care is Safe

The second study(2), also released in the important journal, Spine, was performed in an effort to ascertain the safety of chiropractic care. The test group was much larger as it involved just under 20,000 individuals. Each participant received chiropractic adjustments of the neck, with over 50,000 total adjustments for all patients.

Once again, the investigators found no serious adverse side effects. The authors determined the risk of total adverse reactions to be approximately 6 out of every 10,000 consultations or every 100,000 treatment sessions. Plus, just as with the previous study, some people did report non-serious, milder, unwanted effects such as dizziness (less than 2%) or a headache (4%), 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 Care Is Safe for Kids

This third study(3) is different from the previous two pieces of research, as it focuses on the safety of chiropractic care for kids. In this case, researchers 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 children, chiropractors responding to the survey reported only three cases where there were adverse reactions. 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 deemed safe and effective for everyone. To discover what chiropractic care can do for you, call our Henderson, NV office and make 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.