Noblesville Studies Confirm that Chiropractic Is Safe

We treat a large number of people in our Noblesville office, and Dr. Dahlager has helped many people overcome a range of health problems. Even so, a common concern that seems to prevent many people from pursuing treatment is whether or not chiropractic is safe. Fortunately, according to three separate studies (out of quite a few on the topic), the answer to this concern is a resounding: "Yes! Chiropractic is safe!"

Chiropractic is Safe, According to Australian Study

The first research paper(1) was published in Spine and included 183 women and men. Each person was affected by spine-related pain, and half of the patients received real chiropractic care while the remaining patients received two sham chiropractic treatment sessions. Information was gathered after each real or fake adjustment to discover if any unpleasant reactions were caused by the actual chiropractic treatments.

The doctors reported that nobody documented any significant undesirable side effects whatsoever after getting one or two sessions of chiropractic care. Some individuals did state that they got a headache (just 9% of people) or muscle stiffness (about 1 out of 3) post-treatment, but the effects were not of a serious nature.

Nationwide Survey Confirms that Chiropractic Care is Safe

The next research study(2), also released in the important medical journal, Spine, was done in an effort to ascertain the safety of chiropractic. The test group was much larger -- 20,000 people. 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 negative side effects. The experts computed the risk of total side effects to be approximately 6 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, unwanted effects such as dizziness (less than 2%) 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."

Chiropractic Care Is Safe for Your Children

This third study(3) is different from the first two reports, as it concentrates on the safety of chiropractic care for children. In this case, the researchers investigated 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 young ones, chiropractors answering the survey reported only three cases where there were adverse reactions. When parents were surveyed, 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 judged safe and effective for everyone. To find out what chiropractic therapy can do for you, call our Noblesville office and schedule an appointment today at (317) 214-7218.

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.