Chiropractic Proven Safe

We tend to a large number of patients in our West Palm Beach office, and Dr. Dennis has helped countless people manage a variety of health problems. Even so, the primary concern that seems to stop a lot of folks from getting treatment is whether or not chiropractic adjustments are safe. Well, according to three different studies (out of quite a few on the subject), the answer to this question is a clear: "Yes! Chiropractic is safe!"

Australian Study: Chiropractic is Safe

The first study(1) was published in Spine and involved 183 women and men between the ages of 20 and 85. Each participant reported suffering from some kind of back pain, and half of the patients received actual chiropractic care visits while the remaining patients received two sham chiropractic treatments. Data was collected after each real or fake adjustment to see if any unpleasant reactions occurred as a result of the genuine chiropractic treatments.

Researchers found that none of the patients documented any significant unfavorable adverse reactions at all after receiving one or two sessions of chiropractic. Some individuals did state that they got a headache (just 9% of people) or muscle stiffness (37 percent) after treatment, but the results were not serious.

National Survey Confirms that Chiropractic Adjustments are Safe

A second article(2), also released in the prestigious medical journal, Spine, was conducted in an effort to ascertain the safety of chiropractic. The test group was much larger -- 20,000 patients. Each participant received chiropractic adjustments of the neck, with over 50,000 total adjustments for all study participants.

Once again, the investigators discovered no serious adverse side effects. The authors determined 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 first study, some individuals did report non-serious, milder, side effects such as dizziness (less than 2%) or a headache (4 out of every 100), and this prompted 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 Children

The third study(3) is unique from the first two reports, as it concentrates on the safety of chiropractic care for children. In this case, the 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 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 studies like these, chiropractic care has been deemed safe and effective for everyone. To learn what chiropractic can do for you, call our West Palm Beach clinic and make an appointment today at (561) 966-6171.

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.