Chiropractic Treatment: Safe for Everyone

We help a large number of people in our Burton clinic, and Dr. Elganainy has helped countless people overcome a variety of health challenges. Even so, a frequent worry that seems to stop some people from getting treatment is whether or not chiropractic adjustments are safe. Well, according to three separate studies (out of many on the subject), the answer to this concern is a resounding: "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 participant reported affected by spine-related pain, and half of the patients received actual chiropractic care visits whereas the remaining patients were given two sham chiropractic treatments. Data was collected after each real or fake adjustment to identify whether or not any unpleasant reactions were caused by the actual chiropractic adjustments.

The doctors found that nobody reported any significant undesirable side effects whatsoever after getting one or two sessions of chiropractic. Some participants did report that they experienced a headache (9 percent) or muscle stiffness (37 percent) after treatment, but the results were not serious.

Large US Survey Confirms that Chiropractic Adjustments are Safe

The next research study(2), also published in the influential medical journal, Spine, was done 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 cervical spine, with over 50,000 total adjustments for all patients.

Once again, the experts discovered no serious negative side effects. The authors calculated the risk of total adverse reactions to be about six out of every 10,000 consultations or every 100,000 treatment sessions. And, just as with the previous study, some volunteers did report non-serious, milder, unwanted effects such as dizziness (16 out of every 1,000 treatment consultations and 15 out of every 1,000 treatment sessions) or a headache (4 out of every 100), and this caused the researchers to conclude 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 study(3) is unique from the first two reports, as it focuses on the safety of chiropractic care for children. In this article, the authors investigated results reported by both chiropractors and parents involving 816 children who participated in 7,173 chiropractic adjustments.

Out of 5,438 chiropractic visits made for the 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. 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 judged safe and effective for everyone. To discover what chiropractic treatment can do for you, call our Burton office and schedule an appointment today at (810) 715-7746.

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.