How Safe is Chiropractic?

We tend to a large number of patients in our Noblesville clinic, and Dr. Dahlager has helped countless people manage a wide array of health problems. However, a frequent issue that seems to prevent many folks from seeking treatment is whether or not chiropractic is safe. Well, according to three different studies (out of many on the subject), the answer to this concern is a clear: "Yes! Chiropractic is safe!"

Chiropractic is Safe, According to Australian Study

The first research paper(1) was published in Spine and included 183 men and women. Each person reported affected by spine-related pain, and half of the people received real chiropractic care whereas the remaining patients were given two sham chiropractic treatment sessions. Information was gathered after each real or fake adjustment to see whether or not any undesirable side effects occurred as a result of the real chiropractic treatments.

The authors reported that no participants reported any significant unfavorable side effects in any way after getting one or two sessions of chiropractic care. Some people did report that they experienced a headache (9 percent) or muscle stiffness (37 percent) after treatment, but the results were not of a serious nature.

National Survey Confirms that Chiropractic Care is Safe

The next article(2), also released in the distinguished journal, Spine, was conducted in an attempt to establish the safety of chiropractic. The test group was much larger -- 20,000 individuals. Each participant received chiropractic adjustments of the cervical spine, with over 50,000 total adjustments for all patients.

Again, the experts discovered no serious negative side effects. The authors computed the risk of total adverse reactions to be approximately 6 out of every 10,000 consultations or every 100,000 treatment sessions. Plus, just as with the previous study, some individuals did report non-serious, milder, side 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 prompted 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 research paper(3) is different from the first two pieces of research, as it concentrates on the safety of chiropractic care for children. In this article, researchers 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 responding to the survey documented only three cases where there were adverse reactions. When parents were questioned, 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 judged safe and effective for everyone. To discover what chiropractic care can do for you, call our Noblesville office and schedule an appointment today at (317) 214-7218.

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.