We care for a large number of people in our Nashville clinic, and Sweeney Chiropractic has helped many people manage a range of health issues. However, a frequent issue that seems to stop a lot of people from getting care is whether or not chiropractic care is safe. Luckily, according to three separate studies (out of countless on the topic), the answer to this concern is a resounding: "Yes! Chiropractic is safe!"
The first article(1) was published in Spine and included 183 women and men between the ages of 20 and 85. Each individual reported suffering from some kind of back pain, and half of the patients received real chiropractic adjustments whereas the remaining patients were given two sham chiropractic adjustments. Data was collected after each real or fake adjustment to determine if any unfavorable reactions occurred as a result of the real chiropractic adjustments.
The authors reported that nobody documented any significant negative side effects whatsoever after getting one or two sessions of chiropractic care. Some participants did report that they experienced a headache (9 percent) or muscle stiffness (37%) after treatment, but the effects were not serious.
The second study(2), also published in the important publication, Spine, was done in an attempt to determine the safety of chiropractic care. The study group was much larger as it involved just under 20,000 people. Each participant received chiropractic adjustments of the neck, with over 50,000 total adjustments for all patients.
Again, the experts found no serious adverse side effects. The authors computed the risk of total side effects to be about 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 (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 conclude 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 unique from the first two reports, as it concentrates on the safety of chiropractic care for children. In this article, the authors investigated results 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 children, chiropractors answering the survey documented 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. 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 Nashville clinic and schedule an appointment today at (615) 331-7040.
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Dr. Jim Sweeney & Dr. Jon Sweeney, your Nashville Chiropractors and Palmer College of Chiropractic West graduates, provide quality chiropractic care to patients in Nashville, TN. If you suffer from back pain, neck pain, headache, sciatica or have been in an auto collision, Sweeney Chiropractic can get you back on the road to health.
