We tend to a large number of people in our Downtown St. Louis, MO clinic, and Dr. Holland has helped many people overcome a variety of health challenges. In spite of this, a frequent worry that seems to prevent some men and women from getting care is whether or not chiropractic care is safe. Fortunately, according to three separate studies (out of countless on the issue), the answer to this question is a clear: "Yes! Chiropractic is safe!"
The first study(1) was published in Spine and included 183 adults. Each individual reported affected by spine-related pain, and half of the patients received real chiropractic adjustments while the remaining patients received two sham chiropractic adjustments. Data was gathered after each real or fake adjustment to discover whether or not any unfavorable side effects occurred as a result of the real chiropractic treatments.
The doctors reported that no one reported any serious negative side effects whatsoever after receiving one or two sessions of chiropractic care. Some people did state that they experienced a headache (just 9% of people) or muscle stiffness (about 1 out of 3) after treatment, but the effects were not of a serious nature.
A second study(2), also released in the influential publication, Spine, was done in an effort to establish the safety of chiropractic care. 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 study participants.
Once again, the experts found no serious adverse side effects. The authors computed the risk of total adverse reactions to be approximately six out of every 10,000 consultations or every 100,000 treatment sessions. And, just as with the previous study, some individuals did report non-serious, milder, unwanted 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%), and this prompted 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 first two reports, as it concentrates on the safety of chiropractic care for children. In this article, 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 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 deemed safe and effective for everyone. To find out what chiropractic can do for you, call our Downtown St. Louis, MO clinic 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.
