So how safe is chiropractic care? Put simply. VERY SAFE. I know you’ve seen some awesome action movies where someone gets their head grabbed and turned quickly as they follow down “dead” after a loud crack. It happens so frequently that we forget that we’re watching a movie, and this isn’t how you kill someone. If you really think about it, those actors who are twisting their necks around aren’t dying when it happens (might be tough to find extras in a movie if you knew you would die from a washed up 80’s action movie star).
An adjustment is totally different. A proper cervical adjustment consists of little to no rotation. Also, the cracking noise that an adjustment makes is just the gaping of a joint which releases some gas. That gaping is what helps increase range of motion and decrease pain after an adjustment. Chiropractors are also trained to use minimal rotation when performing an adjustment. This is important because rotation has been the problem child when it comes to range of motion in the neck. It used to be believed that chiropractors give patients strokes by adjusting their neck. Research has shown time and time again that it’s more likely that a patient was already having a stroke before they came into the office as there was a equal percent chance that a patient who saw a chiropractor and a medical doctor had a stroke.
If you follow the money, it shows us that chiropractic care is very safe. This is because malpractice insurance is only around $1000 a year. I’ve talked to tile layers who pay $500 a year. Also when you compare that to an OBGYN who pays around $46,000 it’s safe to say that chiropractors are safe. Now of course delivering a baby has inherent risks that chiropractic care does not, but it’s still easy to see how safe the profession is just based on that statistic alone. If chiropractors were injuring people all the time or giving strokes there’s no way our insurance would be that cheap.
Now of course everything has it’s risk, but when you compare the risk of spinal surgery to conservative treatment it’s easy to see that chiropractic care is the safer and cheaper option. I’m not a magician so I know that in some cases surgery is 100% recommended, but in most cases conservative care should be the front line to treatment. So at the end of the day it’s important to make sure your body is functioning optimally to avoid pain and discomfort. If you’re unsure about chiropractic adjustments then of course you won’t be forced into it. There are plenty of more gentle treatment protocols like massage and instrument assisted adjustments all to help you get better, faster.
