We care for a large number of people in our North County St. Louis, MO clinic, and Dr. Holland has helped countless people eliminate a range of health challenges. In spite of this, a common worry that seems to prevent some men and women from pursuing care is whether or not chiropractic is safe. Well, according to three separate studies (out of many on the subject), the answer to this concern is a clear: "Yes! Chiropractic is safe!"
The first research paper(1) was published in Spine and involved 183 women and men between the ages of 20 and 85. Each person reported affected by some kind of back pain, and half of the individuals received actual chiropractic care visits whereas the remaining patients received two fake chiropractic treatments. Information was gathered after each real or fake adjustment to determine whether or not any unpleasant negative effects were caused by the actual chiropractic adjustments.
The doctors found that no one reported any significant negative adverse reactions in any way after getting one or two sessions of chiropractic care. Some individuals did state that they had a headache (just 9% of people) or muscle stiffness (about 1 out of 3) post-treatment, but the results were not serious.
The next article(2), also published in the influential publication, Spine, was done in an effort to establish the safety of chiropractic care. The test group was much larger as it involved just under 20,000 individuals. Each participant received chiropractic adjustments of the neck, with over 50,000 total adjustments for all patients.
Once again, the investigators found no serious adverse side effects. The experts computed the risk of total adverse reactions to be approximately 6 out of every 10,000 consultations or every 100,000 treatment sessions. And, just as with the previous study, some participants did report non-serious, milder, side effects such as dizziness (about 1.6%) or a headache (4 out of every 100), 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 research paper(3) is unique from the previous two reports, as it focuses on the safety of chiropractic care for kids. In this case, the authors analyzed results reported by both chiropractors and parents involving 816 children who participated in 7,173 chiropractic adjustments.
Out of 5,438 chiropractic appointments made for the children, chiropractors answering the survey documented only three cases where there were negative 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 these three studies (and many more!), chiropractic care has been judged safe and effective for everyone. To learn what chiropractic can do for you, call our North County St. Louis, MO clinic and schedule an appointment today at (314) 867-8888.
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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.
