How Safe Is Chiropractic Care?

We help a large number of people in our Cary clinic, and Swiss Spine Clinic has helped countless people overcome a variety of health challenges. In spite of this, a common worry that seems to prevent many people from seeking care is whether or not chiropractic care is safe. Luckily, according to three separate studies (out of quite a few 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 involved 183 adults. Each person was affected by spine-related pain, and half of the people received actual chiropractic care visits while the remaining patients received two fake chiropractic adjustments. Data was collected after each real or fake adjustment to determine if any undesirable negative effects occurred as a result of the real chiropractic adjustments.

The doctors reported that none of the patients reported any serious negative adverse reactions whatsoever after getting one or two sessions of chiropractic care. Some individuals did report that they had a headache (9% of patients) or muscle stiffness (about 1 out of 3) after treatment, but the results were not of a serious nature.

Large US Survey Reports that Chiropractic is Safe

The next research study(2), also released in the prestigious publication, Spine, was done in an attempt to determine the safety of chiropractic care. The test group was much larger as it involved just under 20,000 individuals. Each participant received chiropractic adjustments of the cervical spine, with over 50,000 total adjustments for all patients.

Once again, the investigators found no serious negative side effects. The experts calculated the risk of total adverse reactions to be about six 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, side effects such as dizziness (less than 2%) 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 Treatments are Safe for Kids

The third research paper(3) is unique from the first two pieces of research, 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 young 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 has been judged safe and effective for everyone. To learn what chiropractic adjustments can do for you, call our Cary office and schedule an appointment today at (919) 589-0909.

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.