Studies Confirm that Chiropractic is Safe

Studies Confirm that Chiropractic is Safe

Estero, Bonita Springs Chiropractic for familiesWe see a large number of patients in our Estero, Bonita Springs office, and Dr. Green has helped many people overcome a variety of health challenges. In spite of this, a frequent concern that seems to stop some folks from seeking care is whether or not chiropractic care is safe. Well, according to three different studies (out of countless on the topic), 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 included 183 men and women between the ages of 20 and 85. Each person reported suffering from spinal pain, and half of the individuals received actual chiropractic care visits while the remaining patients were given two sham chiropractic treatment sessions. Information was gathered after each real or fake adjustment to discover if any undesirable reactions were caused by the genuine chiropractic treatments.

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

National Survey Confirms that Chiropractic is Safe

The next research study(2), also released in the influential journal, Spine, was conducted in an effort to determine the safety of chiropractic care. 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.

Again, the researchers discovered no serious negative side effects. The experts determined the risk of total negative effects to be approximately 6 out of every 10,000 consultations or every 100,000 treatment sessions. Plus, just as with the first study, some individuals did report non-serious, milder, side effects such as dizziness (about 1.6%) or a headache (4%), and this caused the authors 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

This third research paper(3) is different from the first two pieces of research, as it focuses 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 negative side effects. 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 studies like these, chiropractic care has been found to be safe and effective for everyone. To learn what chiropractic care can do for you, call our Estero, Bonita Springs office and make an appointment today at (239) 495-1166.

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.
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    Welcome to Chiropractic Care and Rehab Center. We are a health care center dedicated to helping you improve your health naturally. Our goals are simple. We strive to help reduce your pain and restore your lost function. We want to assist you in getting your life 'back'. For those simply looking for prevention and maintenance, we are quite happy to aid you in taking quality care of yourself with natural, safe and effective chiropractic care.