We care for a large number of people in our Portland clinic, and Chiropractic Healing Hands For You has helped countless people manage a variety of health challenges. Even so, a frequent issue that seems to stop a lot of folks from getting treatment is whether or not chiropractic is safe. Luckily, according to three different studies (out of many on the issue), the answer to this concern is a clear: "Yes! Chiropractic is safe!"
The first article(1) was published in Spine and involved 183 women and men between the ages of 20 and 85. Each test subject reported affected by spinal pain, and half of the people received actual chiropractic care visits while the remaining patients received two sham chiropractic treatments. Data was gathered after each real or fake adjustment to determine if any undesirable side effects were caused by the actual chiropractic treatments.
The doctors found that no one reported any serious adverse adverse reactions at all after receiving one or two sessions of chiropractic care. Some participants did state that they experienced a headache (9 percent) or muscle stiffness (about 1 out of 3) post-treatment, but the results were not of a serious nature.
A second study(2), also released in the prestigious journal, Spine, was done in an attempt to establish the safety of chiropractic care. 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 found no serious negative side effects. The experts computed 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 people did report non-serious, milder, side effects such as dizziness (about 1.6%) 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."
This third research paper(3) is different from the first two pieces of research, as it focuses on the safety of chiropractic care for children. In this case, 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 kids, chiropractors answering the survey reported 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. 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 care has been deemed safe and effective for everyone. To find out what chiropractic care can do for you, call our Portland clinic and make an appointment today at (503) 771-1974.
References
Dr. Helton, a Portland chiropractor, has been providing chiropractic health care and treatment for accident injuries for over 30 years. Dr. Helton specializes and is an expert in the evaluation and treatment of injuries from auto accidents. He has passed advanced certification training and testing by the Spine Research Institute of San Diego in the evaluation, treatment, and management of injuries from whiplash and brain traumatology.
