Chiropractic: Safe for Everyone

We care for a large number of people in our Livermore office, and Haque Chiropractic Inc. has helped countless people eliminate a range of health issues. However, a common issue that seems to prevent a lot of women and men from getting treatment is whether or not chiropractic is safe. Luckily, according to three different studies (out of quite a few on the subject), the answer to this concern is a resounding: "Yes! Chiropractic is safe!"

Australian Study: Chiropractic is Safe

The first research paper(1) was published in Spine and included 183 men and women. Each participant reported affected by spine-related pain, and half of the people received actual chiropractic care visits whereas the remaining patients were given two fake chiropractic treatments. Data was collected after each real or fake adjustment to determine whether or not any unfavorable side effects occurred as a result of the genuine chiropractic treatments.

The authors found that none of the patients documented any significant adverse side effects whatsoever after getting one or two sessions of chiropractic care. Some people did state that they had a headache (9 percent) or muscle stiffness (37%) after treatment, but the effects were not of a serious nature.

Nationwide Survey Finds that Chiropractic Care is Safe

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

Once again, the experts found no serious adverse side effects. The experts calculated 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 participants did report non-serious, milder, unwanted 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 prompted 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 Adjustments are Safe for Children

The third study(3) is unique from the previous two pieces of research, as it concentrates on the safety of chiropractic care for kids. In this article, the authors investigated 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 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 deemed safe and effective for everyone. To find out what chiropractic care can do for you, call our Livermore office and make an appointment today at (925) 960-1960.

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.