We tend to a large number of patients in our Tulsa office, and Dr. Bogan has helped many people eliminate a wide array of health challenges. However, a common worry that seems to stop a lot of women and men from getting care is whether or not chiropractic adjustments are safe. Luckily, according to three separate studies (out of many on the issue), the answer to this concern is a clear: "Yes! Chiropractic is safe!"
The first research paper(1) was published in Spine and included 183 adults between the ages of 20 and 85. Each test subject was suffering from spinal pain, and half of the patients received real chiropractic care whereas the remaining patients were given two sham chiropractic adjustments. Data was obtained after each real or fake adjustment to see if any undesirable negative effects were caused by the real chiropractic treatments.
Researchers reported that no participants documented any significant undesirable side effects in any way after receiving one or two sessions of chiropractic. Some individuals did state that they had a headache (just 9% of people) or muscle stiffness (about 1 out of 3) after treatment, but the results were not serious.
A second research study(2), also released in the influential medical journal, Spine, was conducted in an attempt to establish the safety of chiropractic. The study group was much larger as it involved just under 20,000 patients. Each participant received chiropractic adjustments of the cervical spine, with over 50,000 total adjustments for all study participants.
Once again, the researchers 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. Plus, just as with the previous study, some individuals did report non-serious, milder, unwanted 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 first two reports, as it concentrates on the safety of chiropractic care for children. In this case, researchers investigated 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 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. 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 deemed safe and effective for everyone. To find out what chiropractic can do for you, call our Tulsa clinic and schedule an appointment today at (918) 832-7880.
References
Dr. Fred Bogan provides quality chiropractic care to patients in Jenks, OK. Whether you're searching for effective pain relief or a way to boost whole body wellness, Alliance Chiropractic can help.
