We care for a large number of people in our North St. Louis, MO clinic, and Dr. Holland has helped many people overcome a wide array of health problems. Even so, a common worry that seems to prevent many people from seeking treatment is whether or not chiropractic care is safe. Fortunately, according to three separate studies (out of countless on the topic), the answer to this concern is a clear: "Yes! Chiropractic is safe!"
The first research paper(1) was published in Spine and included 183 women and men. Each individual was affected by spine-related pain, and half of the individuals received real chiropractic adjustments while the remaining patients received two sham chiropractic treatment sessions. Information was gathered after each real or fake adjustment to discover if any unfavorable reactions occurred as a result of the actual chiropractic adjustments.
The doctors reported that no one documented any serious undesirable adverse reactions in any way after receiving one or two sessions of chiropractic. Some participants did report that they got a headache (just 9% of people) or muscle stiffness (37 percent) after treatment, but the results were not of a serious nature.
A second study(2), also released in the influential journal, Spine, was performed in an effort to determine the safety of chiropractic care. The study group was much larger -- 20,000 individuals. Each participant received chiropractic adjustments of the cervical spine, with over 50,000 total adjustments for all study participants.
Again, the researchers found no serious negative side effects. The authors determined the risk of total side effects to be about six out of every 10,000 consultations or every 100,000 treatment sessions. Plus, just as with the first study, some participants did report non-serious, milder, side 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 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."
The third study(3) is different from the previous two pieces of research, as it concentrates on the safety of chiropractic care for children. In this article, researchers analyzed data 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 responding to 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. 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 care has been found to be safe and effective for everyone. To discover what chiropractic can do for you, call our North St. Louis, MO office and schedule an appointment today at (314) 588-9100.
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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.
