How Safe is Chiropractic?

We tend to a large number of patients in our Napa, CA office, and Dr. Roxann Bettencourt, DC has helped many people eliminate a wide array of health challenges. Even so, a frequent concern that seems to prevent some folks from getting treatment is whether or not chiropractic care is safe. Fortunately, according to three different studies (out of many on the topic), the answer to this question is a clear: "Yes! Chiropractic is safe!"

Australian Study: Chiropractic is Safe

The first study(1) was published in Spine and included 183 women and men between the ages of 20 and 85. Each test subject was affected by some kind of back pain, and half of the people received real chiropractic care while the remaining patients received two fake chiropractic treatment sessions. Data was gathered after each real or fake adjustment to determine whether or not any unpleasant negative effects were caused by the actual chiropractic adjustments.

Researchers found that no one reported any significant adverse side effects at all after receiving one or two sessions of chiropractic care. Some individuals did state that they got a headache (9% of patients) or muscle stiffness (about 1 out of 3) post-treatment, but the results were not serious.

National Survey Confirms that Chiropractic Adjustments are Safe

The second article(2), also released in the important publication, Spine, was conducted in an attempt to determine the safety of chiropractic. The study group was much larger as it involved just under 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 authors determined the risk of total adverse reactions to be about 6 out of every 10,000 consultations or every 100,000 treatment sessions. And, just as with the previous study, some individuals did report non-serious, milder, unwanted effects such as dizziness (about 1.6%) 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 Care Is Safe for Your Children

This third research paper(3) is different from the previous two pieces of research, as it concentrates on the safety of chiropractic care for kids. 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 kids, chiropractors answering the survey documented only three cases where there were adverse reactions. 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 studies like these, chiropractic has been deemed safe and effective for everyone. To discover what chiropractic can do for you, call our Napa, CA clinic and schedule an appointment today at (707) 257-3600.

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.