Chiropractic Proven Safe

Chiropractic Proven Safe

We care for a large number of people in our Asheville office, and Dr. Myers has helped countless people eliminate a wide array of health issues. Even so, a frequent worry that seems to stop some women and men from pursuing treatment is whether or not chiropractic is safe. Luckily, according to three separate studies (out of countless on the issue), the answer to this concern is a clear: "Yes! Chiropractic is safe!"

Australian Study: Chiropractic is Safe

The first study(1) was published in Spine and involved 183 men and women. Each individual reported affected by some kind of back pain, and half of the patients received real chiropractic care while the remaining patients were given two fake chiropractic treatments. Data was obtained after each real or fake adjustment to identify whether or not any unpleasant reactions were caused by the actual chiropractic adjustments.

Researchers reported that nobody documented any significant undesirable adverse reactions in any way after getting one or two sessions of chiropractic care. Some participants did report that they experienced a headache (just 9% of people) or muscle stiffness (about 1 out of 3) post-treatment, but the results were not of a serious nature.

Large US Survey Reports that Chiropractic Care is Safe

A second research study(2), also published in the distinguished journal, Spine, was performed in an effort to determine 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 cervical spine, with over 50,000 total adjustments for all study participants.

Again, the investigators discovered no serious negative side effects. The experts calculated the risk of total side effects to be approximately 6 out of every 10,000 consultations or every 100,000 treatment sessions. Plus, just as with the previous study, some volunteers 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 Is Safe for Children

The third research paper(3) is unique from the first two reports, as it focuses on the safety of chiropractic care for kids. 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 visits made for the children, chiropractors responding to the survey documented only three cases where there were adverse 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 studies like these, chiropractic care has been found to be safe and effective for everyone. To learn what chiropractic can do for you, call our Asheville office and make an appointment today at (828) 676-0963.

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.