Patient Testimonials

“My experience of Wight Chiropractic Clinic has been very positive indeed. My neck pain is gone, and my general wellbeing has improved greatly. Doctors and staff do a great job of letting you know how they care about your health in a pleasant, relaxed environment. ”

The Safety of Chiropractic

Children playing Chiropractic is extremely safe. The one area which has received much attention is the possibility of CVA (stroke) but even this is minute.

The incidence of stroke is less than 1 case per 2 million neck adjustments(1) - which in clinical terms in considered statistically insignificant. There is doubt whether these rare occurrences have been caused by the treatment or whether they have simply occurred on or about the same time as the treatment i.e. the blood vessels in the neck were already "compromised" or "faulty" and no readily available screening test could have made this fault apparent or warned of a stroke. 43% of all strokes occur spontaneously whilst undertaking normal daily activities like walking, household duties or even coughing.

The risks associated with chiropractic treatment can be compared to the risks associated with the two most common medical strategies which are available to you:

  1. Analgesics (painkillers) or anti inflammatory medications (e.g. nurofen and ibuprofen) - when anti-inflammatory medications are taken for two months or more they can result in a 20% chance of gastric/stomach erosions/ulcers and the resultant bleeding can lead to the death of 1 in every 1200 recipients. (1,2) Many medications have undesirable side-effects and can lead to patient dependence.
  2. Surgery in conjunction with a hospital stay carries the risk of adverse reaction to anaesthetic plus exposure to virulent communicable diseases. Neck surgery (for chronic pain and loss of function due to osteoarthritis) leads to complications in up to 8% of cases and fatalities in up to 1.8% of cases - surgery has also shown to provide no significant benefit at 12 months. (3)

References:

  1. Terrett (2001) Current Concepts in Vertebrobasilar Complications Following Spinal Manipulation, NCMIC Group Inc, West Des Moines, I.A.
  2. Friese (1992) Assessing and Understanding Patient Risk, Scan J Rheumatol 92 (Suppl): 21-24
  3. Fouyas, Stantham & Sandercock (2002) Cochrane Review on the Role of Surgery in Cervical Spondylotic Radiculomyelopathy, Spine, 27(7):736-747