We care for a large number of people in our North County, St. Louis, MO office, and Dr. Mark Holland has helped countless people overcome a variety of health issues. In spite of this, a common issue that seems to stop a lot of men and women from getting care is whether or not chiropractic care is safe. Luckily, according to three separate studies (out of quite a few on the topic), the answer to this question is a clear: "Yes! Chiropractic is safe!"
The first article(1) was published in Spine and involved 183 men and women between the ages of 20 and 85. Each test subject reported suffering from spinal pain, and half of the people received real chiropractic adjustments while the other half were given two sham chiropractic treatments. Data was obtained after each real or fake adjustment to discover if any unfavorable reactions were caused by the real chiropractic adjustments.
The doctors found that none of the patients documented any serious adverse side effects whatsoever after receiving one or two sessions of chiropractic care. Some individuals did report that they had a headache (9 percent) or muscle stiffness (37%) after treatment, but the effects were not serious.
A second research study(2), also published in the influential medical journal, Spine, was conducted in an attempt to establish the safety of chiropractic. The study group was much larger -- 20,000 individuals. Each participant received chiropractic adjustments of the neck, with over 50,000 total adjustments for all patients.
Again, the researchers 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. 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 out of every 100), and this caused 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."
This third study(3) is unique from the previous two reports, as it focuses on the safety of chiropractic care for kids. In this case, 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 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 discover what chiropractic can do for you, call our North County, St. Louis, MO office and schedule an appointment today at (314) 867-8888.
References
We have a long-standing track record or helping people get out of pain with chiropractic care. Whether you were injured last week, or have been suffering from chronic pain for years - It might only take one visit to our office in Downtown Saint Louis, MO to get you back on the path to everyday health.
