Safety of Chiropractic
Statistically, to get seriously injured by drugs is over five thousand times more likely than to be injured by Chiropractic.
Back surgery
General surgery
Chiropractic adjustments (manipulation)
Back Surgery
Many people are concerned that their back problem may need surgery, or they fear surgery may be the only option in order to alleviate a back problem.
Please note that PAIN is not necessarily a reason for surgery.
Let's see what medical experts have to say...
1. What about "disc problems"?
In the world's most prestigious medical journal about the spine (Spine, 1998, Volume 21, Number 245), it was stated that:
• 1% of the general population will experience disc herniation per year....
• That amounts to 2.8 million herniations per year in the US....
• More than 90% of patients with disc herniation improve with conservative (non-surgical) care
• Approximately 2-4% of patients with disc herniations have indications for surgical intervention...
• MRI will reveal a disc herniation in approximately 20% of asymptomatic (no symptoms or pain) patients aged less than 60 years."
Over time, most patients with disc herniations recover with or without surgery, so that outcomes after five years are similar when surgical and non-surgical approaches are compared...
2. So why is surgery on the rise?
"Only 0.25% of individuals with back problems require some form of surgery." (That's one in four hundred.)
This was stated by Dr J. Kraemer - Presidential address: In, Natural course and prognosis of intervertebral disc diseases. International society for the study of the lumbar spine. Seattle, Washington, June 1994.
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General Surgery
Risks of surgery, not including cardiac (heart) surgery:
Definitions:
* Mortality = the outcome of the surgery is death
* Morbidity = a diseased state as a result of the surgery
* Eg: So if the risk of mortality is 5%, this means you may be one of the 5 people that dies every one hundred times the operation is performed.
| TYPE OF SURGERY | MORTALITY % | MORBIDITY % | TOTAL % |
|---|---|---|---|
| General | 5.6 | 24.4 | 30 |
| Orthopedics (spine, musculoskeletal) | 1.8 | 11.7 | 13.5 |
| Urology (urinary system) | 0.7 | 8.5 | 9.2 |
| Peripheral Vascular (blood vessels) | 4.6 | 29.6 | 34.2 |
| Neurosurgery (nervous system) | 2.4 | 14.2 | 16.6 |
| Otolaryngology (ear nose throat) | 2.9 | 15.7 | 18.6 |
| Thoracic (chest, non cardiac) | 5.9 | 23.5 | 29.4 |
| Plastic (cosmetic, reconstruction etc) | 1.3 | 15.9 | 17.2 |
| Average | 3.1 | 17.4 | 20.5 |
Source: Khuri SF, Daley J, Henderson W et al. Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care: Results of the National Veterans Affairs surgical risk study. J American College of Surgeons. 1997.
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Chiropractic adjustments (manipulation)
Compared with other common treatments:
Check out the contents of this research article regarding the risks associated with serious injury from chiropractic in comparison to surgery and drugs.
(Source: "Efficacy and Risks of Chiropractic Manipulation: What Does the Evidence Suggest?" by Ian Coulter, Ph.D. Journal Integrative Medicine, volume 1, number 2, pp.61-66)
• The risk of a complication with neck adjusting is 6.39 per 10 million adjustments, and, one in 100 million for low back adjustments.
• Cervical spine surgeries risk is 15.6 per 1,000.
• Use of anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) risk is 3.2 complications per 1000, or 32,000 per 10 million.
This is EQUAL TO 6.39 per 10 million neck adjustments versus 156,000 per 10 million cervical spine surgeries
• So, the likelihood of complication with surgery 24,413 times worse than from a neck adjustment
• and the risk of complications with anti-inflammatory drugs is 5,007 times more likely than a chiropractic neck adjustment...Phew!
Yes that's right; statistically, to get seriously injured by drugs is over five thousand times more likely.
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