We see a large number of patients in our State College, PA clinic, and Drs. Matt & Annie Reyes has helped countless people overcome a range of health problems. In spite of this, a common issue that seems to stop a lot of women and men from getting care is whether or not chiropractic is safe. Well, according to three different studies (out of countless on the issue), the answer to this concern is a clear: "Yes! Chiropractic is safe!"
The first study(1) was published in Spine and included 183 women and men. Each person reported affected by spinal pain, and half of the patients received real chiropractic care whereas the other half were given two fake chiropractic adjustments. Data was collected after each real or fake adjustment to identify if any unpleasant negative effects occurred as a result of the real chiropractic treatments.
The authors reported that none of the patients reported any significant unfavorable side effects whatsoever after receiving one or two sessions of chiropractic care. Some people did report that they experienced a headache (9% of patients) or muscle stiffness (37 percent) after treatment, but the effects were not of a serious nature.
The next study(2), also released in the distinguished publication, Spine, was done in an effort to determine the safety of chiropractic. The test group was much larger -- 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 authors calculated the risk of total adverse reactions to be approximately six out of every 10,000 consultations or every 100,000 treatment sessions. Plus, just as with the first study, some volunteers 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 different from the previous two reports, as it focuses on the safety of chiropractic care for kids. In this article, the researchers 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 young children, chiropractors responding to the survey documented only three cases where there were adverse reactions. 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 studies like these, chiropractic has been found to be safe and effective for everyone. To discover what chiropractic can do for you, call our State College, PA office and make 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.
