Is chiropractic safe? Absolutely. Many people erroneously fear that chiropractic healthcare is not safe, even though this unfounded fear has been the subject of countless research articles which have never produced a conclusion that chiropractic is an unsafe or dangerous form of healthcare. To put the safety of chiropractic into perspective, I want to compare it to NSAID’s which stands for non-steroidal anti-infalmmatory’s. An example of a NSAID would be any over-the-counter pain reliever such as aspirin, Tylenol, or Ibuprofen. According to the FDA, approximately 10,000 – 20,000 deaths per year and 76,000 hospitalizations per year are caused by use of NSAID’s - yet most of us don’t think twice about popping a couple Advil to treat a headache or fever. The probability of having an adverse reaction to a chiropractic adjustment, according to multiple sources, is 1 out of 749 treatments. Of the adverse reactions that have been reported, most are merely complaints of a temporarily sore neck following neck adjustments.
Chiropractic is extremely safe and cost effective for ANYONE (infant, child, adult, or elderly – with the rare exceptions) who wants to improve their quality of life. There may be people out there who have certain preexisting conditions that would require their chiropractor to change the technique they use in order to ensure that safety is not compromised, but even in those small percentages of cases it is still considered to be very safe when the proper accommodations are made by the doctor. To any skeptics, my advice to you is this: don’t “Google” chiropractic and safety - actually read the peer-reviewed research in reputable journals if you still have doubts.
One thing I especially cannot stand is when someone in the healthcare field tells people that chiropractic is dangerous and that they should not go see a chiropractor. Not only is this statement completely false, but it actually makes the healthcare professional look like an idiot. Common sense should tell you that it is dangerous to purport to know what you don’t know – healthcare professionals may be an expert in their own field, but that does not make them an expert in others. People providing healthcare to people need to recognize what they don’t know and should put their egos aside for the sake of their patients. Only a Doctor of Chiropractic can talk to you about the safety of adjustments.
I saw a perfect example of some peoples’ ignorance on this subject recently while I was reading a pop culture magazine and saw the question: “Are chiropractic adjustments safe for infants?” The magazine had a chiropractor give one answer, and then had an anesthesiologist give another. The anesthesiologist said something like “this is unnecessary because infants don’t have neck problems.” I think this is the dumbest thing I have ever heard an educated person say. What does an anesthesiologist know about chiropractic? They don’t take one class on chiropractic in all of their years of schooling, so his opinion is invalid - not to mention completely wrong. That would be like someone coming up to me and asking “are root canals a safe procedure for people with a dead tooth?” I would say, “I have no idea” - because I’m not educated in dentistry or oral surgery. Birth trauma can be very hard on an infant’s head, neck, and spine and should definitely be checked by a chiropractor soon after birth. The only exception to this would be if there is a certain congenital malformation or if the baby is premature. Contrary to what the anesthesiologist in this magazine article likely thought, medical professionals would actually bolster their credibility by deferring to the education and expertise of other healthcare providers in instances such as these.
I could go on and on about the safety of chiropractic but I want to keep this short and sweet. According to the national survey conducted by Chiropractic Economics 2011, the mean cost of malpractice insurance for a chiropractor in a solo practice was $2,210 PER YEAR. This is a mere fraction of what M.D.’s pay. While M.D.’s annual medical malpractice insurance premiums vary by state and by practice area, the national averages span from roughly $20,000/year to over $200,000/year. Clearly, even the insurance companies who are experts at assigning a dollar value to the risk involved with certain medical fields understand the safety of chiropractic care. If you are not persuaded by the peer-reviewed research or experts in the chiropractic field, these medical malpractice costs alone should demonstrate to any skeptic that the safety of chiropractic is paramount to most – if not all – other fields of healthcare. If anyone is still unsure of the safety of chiropractic please feel free to email me with any questions regarding this topic.
References
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