Is Chiropractic Safe?

Is Chiropractic Safe?

We care for a large number of people in our Burke office, and Dr. Zapf has helped countless people overcome a range of health problems. Even so, the primary issue that seems to prevent a lot of people from getting treatment is whether or not chiropractic adjustments are safe. Well, according to three different studies (out of many on the issue), 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 adults. Each test subject was suffering from some kind of back pain, and half of the patients received real chiropractic care while the remaining patients received two fake chiropractic treatments. Information was obtained after each real or fake adjustment to determine whether or not any undesirable reactions were caused by the genuine chiropractic adjustments.

The doctors reported that no participants documented any significant unfavorable side effects in any way after receiving one or two sessions of chiropractic. Some individuals did state that they got a headache (9 percent) or muscle stiffness (37 percent) after treatment, but the effects were not of a serious nature.

Large US Survey Confirms that Chiropractic Care is Safe

A second study(2), also published in the influential medical journal, Spine, was conducted in an attempt to determine the safety of chiropractic. The study group was much larger -- 20,000 patients. Each participant received chiropractic adjustments of the cervical spine, with over 50,000 total adjustments for all study participants.

Again, the experts found no serious negative side effects. The experts calculated the risk of total negative effects 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 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 Kids

The third study(3) is unique from the previous two reports, as it focuses on the safety of chiropractic care for children. In this article, researchers investigated data reported by both chiropractors and parents involving 816 children who participated in 7,173 chiropractic treatment sessions.

Out of 5,438 chiropractic appointments made for the children, chiropractors answering the survey reported only three cases where there were adverse 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 these three studies (and many more!), chiropractic care has been deemed safe and effective for everyone. To learn what chiropractic can do for you, call our Burke clinic and schedule an appointment today at (703) 455-9555.

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.