Chiropractic Care: Safe for Everyone

Lincoln Chiropractic: Safe for Everyone

We tend to a large number of people in our Lincoln clinic, and Dr. Jerrad Swanson DC, FMT, DN1 has helped many people manage a wide array of health problems. In spite of this, a common issue that seems to prevent many people from pursuing treatment is whether or not chiropractic adjustments are safe. Well, according to three separate studies (out of countless on the topic), 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 involved 183 women and men. Each test subject was suffering from some kind of back pain, and half of the patients received real chiropractic adjustments while the other half received two fake chiropractic treatments. Information was collected after each real or fake adjustment to identify whether or not any unpleasant reactions were caused by the genuine chiropractic treatments.

Researchers found that no participants documented any significant adverse side effects in any way after getting one or two sessions of chiropractic. Some participants did state that they got a headache (9% of patients) or muscle stiffness (37%) after treatment, but the results were not serious.

Large US Survey Confirms that Chiropractic Care is Safe

The second article(2), also published in the prestigious medical journal, Spine, was conducted in an attempt to ascertain the safety of chiropractic. The test group was much larger as it involved just under 20,000 patients. Each participant received chiropractic adjustments of the neck, with over 50,000 total adjustments for all patients.

Again, the experts found no serious adverse side effects. The authors determined 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 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%), and this caused the researchers to determine that "the risk of a serious adverse event, immediately or up to 7 days after treatment, was low to very low."

Chiropractic Treatments are Safe for Children

The third research paper(3) is unique from the first two pieces of research, as it concentrates on the safety of chiropractic care for kids. In this article, researchers analyzed data 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 ones, chiropractors responding to the survey documented 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 these three studies (and many more!), chiropractic has been deemed safe and effective for everyone. To learn what chiropractic adjustments can do for you, call our Lincoln office and schedule an appointment today at (402) 484-5177.

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.