We tend to a large number of people in our Henderson office, and Dr. Russell has helped countless people eliminate a range of health problems. Even so, the primary concern that seems to prevent some folks from getting treatment is whether or not chiropractic care is safe. Luckily, according to three separate studies (out of countless on the subject), the answer to this concern is a clear: "Yes! Chiropractic is safe!"

Australian Study: Chiropractic is Safe

The first article(1) was published in Spine and included 183 men and women between the ages of 20 and 85. Each participant reported affected by spine-related pain, and half of the patients received real chiropractic care while the other half received two sham chiropractic adjustments. Data was obtained after each real or fake adjustment to identify whether or not any unpleasant reactions occurred as a result of the genuine chiropractic adjustments.

The authors found that no participants reported any significant negative side effects at all after getting one or two sessions of chiropractic. Some participants did state that they had a headache (9 percent) or muscle stiffness (about 1 out of 3) post-treatment, but the effects were not serious.

Nationwide Survey Finds that Chiropractic Adjustments are Safe

A second article(2), also published in the influential publication, Spine, was performed in an attempt to establish the safety of chiropractic care. The test group was much larger as it involved just under 20,000 people. Each participant received chiropractic adjustments of the cervical spine, with over 50,000 total adjustments for all patients.

Again, the experts discovered no serious adverse side effects. The experts calculated the risk of total negative effects to be approximately six out of every 10,000 consultations or every 100,000 treatment sessions. And, just as with the previous study, some individuals 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 Your Children

The third research paper(3) is different from the first two reports, as it focuses 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 children, chiropractors responding to the survey reported only three cases where there were adverse reactions. When parents were surveyed, 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 found to be safe and effective for everyone. To find out what chiropractic can do for you, call our Henderson office 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.