Chiropractic Proven Safe

We tend to a large number of people in our Memphis office, and Dr. Richard Amodeo has helped many people eliminate a range of health challenges. However, the primary issue that seems to prevent a lot of folks from getting care is whether or not chiropractic care is safe. Fortunately, according to three different studies (out of quite a few on the subject), the answer to this concern is a clear: "Yes! Chiropractic is safe!"

Australian Study: Chiropractic is Safe

The first study(1) was published in Spine and involved 183 women and men between the ages of 20 and 85. Each participant was suffering from some kind of back pain, and half of the individuals received actual chiropractic care visits while the remaining patients received two fake chiropractic adjustments. Information was obtained after each real or fake adjustment to discover whether or not any unpleasant reactions were caused by the actual chiropractic treatments.

Researchers reported that nobody documented any serious adverse side effects whatsoever after receiving one or two sessions of chiropractic care. Some people did state that they got a headache (9 percent) or muscle stiffness (37 percent) after treatment, but the results were not of a serious nature.

Nationwide Survey Reports that Chiropractic Care is Safe

The next research study(2), also released in the distinguished publication, Spine, was done in an effort to determine the safety of chiropractic. The study 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 adverse side effects. The authors computed the risk of total adverse reactions to be about 6 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, side effects such as dizziness (less than 2%) or a headache (4 out of every 100), and this caused the authors to determine 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 Kids

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

Out of 5,438 chiropractic visits made for the kids, chiropractors responding to the survey reported 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 found to be safe and effective for everyone. To find out what chiropractic can do for you, call our Memphis office and schedule an appointment today at (901) 757-8311.

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.