We care for a large number of patients in our Napa clinic, and Dr. Bettencourt has helped countless people eliminate a range of health issues. In spite of this, a frequent worry that seems to stop many women and men from seeking treatment is whether or not chiropractic is safe. Well, according to three separate studies (out of countless on the topic), the answer to this concern is a clear: "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 person was affected by spine-related pain, and half of the individuals received actual chiropractic care visits whereas the other half received two sham chiropractic treatment sessions. Data was gathered after each real or fake adjustment to discover if any undesirable negative effects occurred as a result of the real chiropractic treatments.
Researchers found that no participants documented any significant adverse adverse reactions whatsoever after getting one or two sessions of chiropractic. Some people did report that they had a headache (just 9% of people) or muscle stiffness (about 1 out of 3) after treatment, but the effects were not serious.
A second research study(2), also published in the prestigious publication, Spine, was performed in an attempt to ascertain the safety of chiropractic. 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.
Once again, the researchers discovered no serious adverse side effects. The experts determined the risk of total side effects to be about 6 out of every 10,000 consultations or every 100,000 treatment sessions. And, just as with the previous study, some people 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 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 previous two pieces of research, as it focuses on the safety of chiropractic care for kids. In this article, researchers investigated results reported by both chiropractors and parents involving 816 children who participated in 7,173 chiropractic treatment sessions.
Out of 5,438 chiropractic visits made for the kids, chiropractors answering the survey reported 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 care has been deemed safe and effective for everyone. To find out what chiropractic can do for you, call our Napa clinic and schedule an appointment today at (707) 257-3600.
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Dr. Bettencourt
At Ranch Chiropractic our approach is unique and different! We see you as an individual with a unique set of needs, and we see Chiropractic health care as the means to help retrain your body to take care of itself. As you grow older, the stress of everyday life, repetitive motion at work, injuries and falls, or just plain living can compromise your body’s ability to cope. Our mission is to provide affordable, effective, “results-driven” patient centered Care.