Chiropractic: Safe for Everyone

We tend to a large number of patients in our Rochester Hills clinic, and Dr. Dalton has helped many people eliminate a variety of health challenges. In spite of this, the primary issue that seems to stop a lot of women and men from getting care is whether or not chiropractic care is safe. Fortunately, according to three separate studies (out of countless on the subject), the answer to this question is a clear: "Yes! Chiropractic is safe!"

Chiropractic is Safe, According to Australian Study

The first article(1) was published in Spine and included 183 men and women. Each person reported suffering from spinal pain, and half of the patients received real chiropractic adjustments whereas the remaining patients were given two fake chiropractic treatment sessions. Information was gathered after each real or fake adjustment to determine whether or not any undesirable side effects were caused by the actual chiropractic adjustments.

Researchers reported that nobody documented any serious negative adverse reactions at all after receiving one or two sessions of chiropractic. Some people did report that they had a headache (just 9% of people) or muscle stiffness (37%) after treatment, but the results were not serious.

National Survey Finds that Chiropractic is Safe

The next article(2), also published in the important journal, Spine, was performed in an effort to establish 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 experts discovered no serious negative side effects. The experts computed the risk of total adverse reactions to be about 6 out of every 10,000 consultations or every 100,000 treatment sessions. Plus, just as with the first study, some participants did report non-serious, milder, unwanted effects such as dizziness (about 1.6%) or a headache (4%), and this prompted 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 Adjustments are Safe for Kids

This third research paper(3) is unique from the previous two reports, as it focuses on the safety of chiropractic care for children. In this article, the researchers analyzed results 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 reported only three cases where there were negative 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 has been judged safe and effective for everyone. To find out what chiropractic care can do for you, call our Rochester Hills clinic and make an appointment today at (248) 977-7039.

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.