697 children received 5,242 chiropractic treatments with 85% of parents reporting an improvement. The children were under 3 years of age with 73.5% under 12 weeks of age. "This study shows that...chiropractic manipulation...was a safe form of therapy in the treatment of patients in this age group (children under 3 years old)" Journal of Manipulative and Physiologic Therapeutics, July, 2008.
Listed under Mayo Clinic's Top 10 Complementary Therapies is spinal manipulation. One of the criteria used at the world-renowned Clinic is "...Is It Safe? If a complementary treatment is completely safe, then it may be worth trying,..." Listed under BEST TREATMENTS is "Spinal Manipulation. Practiced by chiropractors...this hands-on technique adjusts the spine to properly align the vertebrae with muscles, joints and nerves. Spinal manipulation is an accepted medical practice for low back pain..." Mayo Clinic's Top 10 Complementary Therapies, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Amit Sood, M.D., 2008.
"Significant increases in low back surgery rates have been reported in the past 16 years, while the efficacy of surgery for treating low back pain has remained largely unproved and the results largely counterproductive. Spine surgeons and other medical professionals must in greater numbers refer patients to conservative practitioners. The abundance of evidence supporting chiropractic care for low back pain cannot be disregarded nor can patients be denied access to this treatment option." Foundation for Chiropractic Education and Research, 1996.
"There is no clinical or case control study that demonstrates or even implies that chiropractic spinal manipulation is unsafe in the treatment of low back pain. Some medical treatments are equally safe, but some others are unsafe and generate iatrogenic complications for low back pain patients. Our reading of the literature suggests that chiropractic manipulation is safer than medical management for low back pain." The Ontario Ministry of Health, Canada, 1993.
"An analysis of literature on complications on low back spinal manipulation from 1911 and 1991 indicates that, on the average, less than one case occurs each year. This report documents the extreme infrequency of complications associated with spinal manipulation of the low back." Chiropractic Journal of Australia, 1992.
"Manipulation, and in particular, chiropractic manipulation, is a widely practiced method of treating back pain. Recent clinical trials have demonstrated that it can reduce symptoms of back pain and it is very well accepted by patients who subjectively consider it to be beneficial…" Spine, 1992.
"Over a decade ago, more than 125 million chiropractic visits were analyzed. Of the 30% which involved cervical manipulation, complications resulted in fewer than one in one million instances." Journal of the American Medical Association, 1981.