We see a large number of people in our State College, PA office, and Drs. Matt & Annie Reyes has helped many people manage a wide array of health challenges. However, a common issue that seems to prevent some women and men from seeking treatment is whether or not chiropractic adjustments are safe. Well, according to three separate studies (out of many on the issue), the answer to this question is a resounding: "Yes! Chiropractic is safe!"
The first article(1) was published in Spine and included 183 women and men. Each person was affected by spinal pain, and half of the people received actual chiropractic care visits while the remaining patients received two sham chiropractic adjustments. Data was collected after each real or fake adjustment to discover if any undesirable reactions occurred as a result of the actual chiropractic treatments.
Researchers reported that no participants reported any significant adverse adverse reactions in any way after receiving one or two sessions of chiropractic. Some people did state that they had a headache (9 percent) or muscle stiffness (about 1 out of 3) after treatment, but the effects were not serious.
The second article(2), also released in the distinguished journal, Spine, was conducted in an effort to establish the safety of chiropractic care. The test group was much larger -- 20,000 people. Each participant received chiropractic adjustments of the neck, with over 50,000 total adjustments for all patients.
Once again, the researchers discovered no serious negative side effects. The experts calculated 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 previous study, some participants did report non-serious, milder, side effects such as dizziness (about 1.6%) or a headache (4%), and this prompted the authors to conclude 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 different from the first two pieces of research, as it concentrates on the safety of chiropractic care for children. In this article, the researchers investigated data reported by both chiropractors and parents involving 816 children who participated in 7,173 chiropractic adjustments.
Out of 5,438 chiropractic visits made for the children, chiropractors answering the survey documented only three cases where there were adverse reactions. 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 has been deemed safe and effective for everyone. To discover what chiropractic care can do for you, call our State College, PA office and schedule an appointment today at (814) 308-9352.
References
Dr. Matt Reyes was born and raised in Apalachin, a small town in Upstate New York. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology with a concentration in Fitness Development from the State University at New York College at Cortland. He then fulfilled his ambition to become a Doctor of Chiropractic when he graduated from New York Chiropractic College in 2013.
