We see a large number of patients in our Downtown St. Louis, MO clinic, and Dr. Holland has helped countless people overcome a wide array of health issues. Even so, the primary worry that seems to prevent some women and men from pursuing care is whether or not chiropractic is safe. Well, according to three separate studies (out of countless on the topic), the answer to this question is a resounding: "Yes! Chiropractic is safe!"
The first research paper(1) was published in Spine and included 183 women and men between the ages of 20 and 85. Each person was suffering from spinal pain, and half of the people received real chiropractic care whereas the remaining patients received two sham chiropractic treatments. Information was collected after each real or fake adjustment to see whether or not any unfavorable side effects were caused by the actual chiropractic adjustments.
Researchers found that no participants documented any significant negative 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 percent) after treatment, but the effects were not serious.
The second article(2), also released in the prestigious medical journal, Spine, was conducted in an effort to ascertain the safety of chiropractic care. The test 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 experts discovered no serious negative side effects. The authors calculated the risk of total negative effects to be approximately 6 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, unwanted effects such as dizziness (less than 2%) or a headache (4%), 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 research paper(3) is unique from the previous two reports, as it concentrates 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 treatment sessions.
Out of 5,438 chiropractic appointments made for the kids, chiropractors responding to the survey reported only three cases where there were adverse 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 studies like these, chiropractic has been deemed safe and effective for everyone. To learn what chiropractic care can do for you, call our Downtown St. Louis, MO office and make 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.
