Chiropractic: Safe for Everyone

We see a large number of people in our New Carrollton clinic, and Dr. Carl Heusler, DC has helped countless people eliminate a wide array of health problems. However, a frequent worry that seems to prevent some people from pursuing treatment is whether or not chiropractic adjustments are safe. Fortunately, according to three separate studies (out of many on the topic), the answer to this question is a clear: "Yes! Chiropractic is safe!"

Chiropractic is Safe, According to Australian Study

The first research paper(1) was published in Spine and included 183 adults. Each test subject was suffering from spinal pain, and half of the patients received real chiropractic care while the other half received two sham chiropractic treatments. Information was collected after each real or fake adjustment to identify if any undesirable negative effects were caused by the real chiropractic treatments.

The doctors found that nobody documented any serious adverse side effects whatsoever after getting one or two sessions of chiropractic. Some people did report that they got a headache (9 percent) or muscle stiffness (37%) after treatment, but the results were not serious.

National Survey Confirms that Chiropractic Care is Safe

The next article(2), also published in the important publication, Spine, was performed in an attempt to establish the safety of chiropractic. The test group was much larger -- 20,000 patients. Each participant received chiropractic adjustments of the cervical spine, with over 50,000 total adjustments for all patients.

Once again, the investigators discovered no serious negative side effects. The experts calculated the risk of total side effects to be approximately six out of every 10,000 consultations or every 100,000 treatment sessions. And, just as with the first study, some participants did report non-serious, milder, side effects such as dizziness (about 1.6%) or a headache (4 out of every 100), and this prompted the authors 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 Children

This third research paper(3) is different from the previous two reports, as it focuses on the safety of chiropractic care for kids. In this article, researchers investigated results reported by both chiropractors and parents involving 816 children who participated in 7,173 chiropractic treatment sessions.

Out of 5,438 chiropractic visits made for the children, chiropractors answering 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 found to be safe and effective for everyone. To learn what chiropractic care can do for you, call our New Carrollton office and make an appointment today at (301) 577-0023.

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.