Chiropractic Proven Safe

We tend to a large number of patients in our Boone office, and Dr. Dustin Gorman has helped countless people eliminate a variety of health issues. In spite of this, the primary concern that seems to prevent a lot of women and men from seeking care is whether or not chiropractic care is safe. Luckily, according to three different studies (out of quite a few on the issue), the answer to this question is a clear: "Yes! Chiropractic is safe!"

Australian Study: Chiropractic is Safe

The first research paper(1) was published in Spine and involved 183 women and men between the ages of 20 and 85. Each test subject was suffering from spinal pain, and half of the people received real chiropractic care whereas the remaining patients received two sham chiropractic treatments. Data was collected after each real or fake adjustment to see whether or not any unpleasant reactions occurred as a result of the real chiropractic treatments.

Researchers reported that no participants documented any significant unfavorable adverse reactions at all after receiving one or two sessions of chiropractic. Some people did state that they had a headache (9 percent) or muscle stiffness (37%) after treatment, but the effects were not serious.

Nationwide Survey Confirms that Chiropractic is Safe

The second article(2), also released in the prestigious publication, Spine, was done in an effort to ascertain the safety of chiropractic. The test group was much larger -- 20,000 individuals. Each participant received chiropractic adjustments of the neck, with over 50,000 total adjustments for all study participants.

Once again, the researchers discovered no serious negative side effects. The authors computed the risk of total side effects to be approximately six 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, 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 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 Adjustments are Safe for Children

The third research paper(3) is different from the first two reports, as it concentrates on the safety of chiropractic care for kids. In this article, the authors investigated results 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 kids, chiropractors responding to the survey documented only three cases where there were adverse side effects. 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 studies like these, chiropractic has been found to be safe and effective for everyone. To find out what chiropractic can do for you, call our Boone clinic and make an appointment today at (515) 460-2256.

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.