Victims of whiplash and neck injury can be understandably guarded about their injured bodies, even when seeking help to relieve their pain. Many people might already know that chiropractic adjustments are an excellent, natural, drug-free way to relieve neck pain (especially whiplash) and to return patients to normal functioning.

But for people who might be reticent about having a doctor adjust the neck area afflicting them, it might relieve them to know about a national survey of 19,722 patients conducted in October 2007 (“Safety of Chiropractic Manipulation of the Cervical Spine”) designed to assess the risk of serious and minor adverse events following chiropractic manipulation of the cervical spine.

This first, large-scale study examined treatment outcomes obtained from:

• 19,722 patients
• 8,807 treatment consultations
• 50,276 cervical spine manipulations and
• 377 Chiropractors from the U.K.

The researchers found that the Chiropractors’ cervical manipulations resulted in no reports of serious adverse events.

According to the study, estimates of serious complications following spinal manipulative therapy of the cervical spine “vary between 1 serious adverse event in 200,000 manipulative neck treatments to 1 in several million.”

The authors of this study state that “this survey provides evidence that cervical spine manipulation is a relatively safe procedure when administered by registered U.K. chiropractors.”

They also note that the “risks reported here are also lower than those reported for acupuncture, which were described as a very safe intervention in the hands of a competent practitioner.”

One important take-away from these results is that natural methods of caring for neck injuries can be very safe as well as effective.

Yours in health,

Evergreen Chiropractic

1666 E Olive Way

Seattle, WA 98102

(206) 323-1666

www.evergreenchiropractic.com

Reference: “Safety of Chiropractic Manipulation of the Cervical Spine.” A Prospective National Survey Spine. Volume 32(21), October 2007, pp 2375-2378. (Thiel, Haymo W. DC, PhD; Bolton, Jennifer E. PhD; Docherty, Sharon PhD; Portlock,Jane C. PhD)