Chiropractic Care Safe for Children

Much has been made lately about the safety of Chiropractic care and children. A research literature review published in the September/October 1997 newsletter of the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association found that during the period between 1966 - 1997 there was only one reported case of damage to a child from receiving a chiropractic adjustment.

The case in which it was reported that an adjustment caused damage involved a rare spinal tumor with associated tissue damage that was allegedly caused by "chiropractic manipulation". No proof or scientific connection was offered other than the irresponsible speculation of the author of the study. The credentials of the person performing the manipulation were not discussed either. It should be noted here that research concerning chiropractic has historically been distorted by the medical media.

An article in the May, 1995 issue of Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics reports that numerous medical authors have misrepresented the facts when reporting on the incidence of injury related to chiropractic care. Going as far back as 1934, researchers found 78 cases of stroke occurring after "chiropractic manipulation" (none of the cases involved children). In 36% (28) of the cases, the "chiropractic" care that caused injury was not even performed by a chiropractor yet the research author irresponsibly chose to report them as examples of chiropractic care anyway.

Perhaps some other examples of damage that can occur from medical care can put this into perspective.

• You have a 30% chance of having an adverse drug event if you are hospitalized (Anderson, 1992).
• You have almost a 4% chance of acquiring a serious infection during a hospital stay (CDC, 1991).
• There is a .057% incidence of seizure from the DPT Vaccine (CDC, 1994).
• There is a 0.0008-0.001% chance you will die from surgical anesthesia (Anderson, 1992).
• You have a 2 in 1,000,000 chance (0.000002%) of getting hit by lightning in the U.S. (Eriksson & Ornehult, 1988).
• There is a 1 in 1,000,000 chance (0.000001%) of serious neurological complications from cervical manipulation (the generic, less specific medical term for adjustment) in adults (Cyriax, 1978 & Guttman, 1983).

So, by way of commentary, since 1966 we have one case of damage to a child from chiropractic care that is questionable at best. Research tells us that adults have twice the chance that they'll be struck by lightning than hurt from an adjustment . The risk is even smaller for children, so small that figuring the odds is virtually impossible.  

In Touch Vol. 4, No. 8 August 2000 ISSN 1525-416X
© 2000 In Touch P.O. Box 2353 Peachtree City, GA 30269

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