Chiropractic treatments can cause mild and temporary side effects, such as discomfort, stiffness, or headache. Rarely, people also report serious episodes. Rarely, people also report serious events, such as spinal cord injury, arterial dissection, and stroke. During the adaptation, you may be asked to lie down on a specially designed stretcher.
By placing the hands in precise places and using controlled movements, a chiropractor works on one joint at a time. This is to help improve movement and ease pain. Chiropractic adjustment is a procedure in which trained specialists called chiropractors use their hands or a small instrument to apply controlled force to a spinal joint. The goal of this procedure, also called spinal manipulation, is to improve spinal movement and the body's ability to move.
Low back pain, neck pain, and headaches are the most common reasons people seek chiropractic adjustments. You don't need to do anything special before a chiropractic adjustment. During a chiropractic adjustment, the chiropractor will most often place you in certain positions to treat the affected areas. You're likely to lie face down on a special padded chiropractic table.
By using the hands to apply controlled force to a joint, the chiropractor pushes the joint beyond its usual range of motion. You may hear popping or crackling sounds when the chiropractor moves your joints during the treatment session. Some people have mild side effects for a few days after the chiropractic adjustment. These may include headaches or pain in the parts of the body that were treated and be Tired.
Chiropractic adjustments can ease lower back pain. Depending on the cause of your lower back pain, you may need several sessions. Research shows that spinal manipulation works to treat certain types of low back pain. Some studies also suggest that chiropractic adjustments may work for headaches and other spine-related conditions, such as neck pain.
Mayo Clinic does not endorse companies or products. Advertising revenues support our nonprofit mission. Donate to our 2025 campaign to cure cancer and transform the way cancer is treated and defeated. The reported adverse effects were documented in a randomized controlled trial comparing spinal manipulation with spinal mobilization as a treatment for neck pain, 43 of the 280 patients, 30% reported at least one adverse effect.
Patients undergoing spinal manipulation were more likely to experience adverse effects than patients treated with mobilization, a more gentle manual technique preferred by many osteopaths. The most common side effects were increased pain, headache, tiredness and pain irradiation. Spinal manipulation (MS) performed by chiropractors is an effective option for treating certain types of spinal pain and some headaches. 1—4 Because MS involves the application of physical force, there is a potential risk of traumatic injury if the manipulation lacks technical skill or precision, if the manipulation is performed on people who are particularly vulnerable to injury, or if it is incorrectly applied for some other reason.
However, the risk of head, neck, or trunk injuries after multiple sclerosis remains uncertain, especially for older adults. The man developed neurological injuries after chiropractic treatment on his neck. While chiropractors may request diagnostic imaging techniques, such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, they don't usually use them in the early stages of treating spinal problems. These chiropractors object to the claim that their colleagues can treat numerous medical conditions by manipulating the spine. Spinal manipulation had been administered by orthopedic surgeons (50%), physical therapists (14%), chiropractors (11%) or others health professionals.
The main therapeutic method is spinal manipulation, which is not exclusive to chiropractic, but has been used since 400 BC. C. and has been accepted and rejected several times over the centuries. Another argument that chiropractors offer in their defense is the extreme rarity of these complications.
Chiropractic is now an established part of the American healthcare system, and some doctors work with chiropractors. Chiropractic doctors should exercise caution regarding the treatment of multiple sclerosis in elderly patients with coagulation defects, inflammatory spondylopathy, osteoporosis, aortic aneurysm and dissection or with prolonged use of anticoagulant therapy. There are about 60,000 chiropractic professionals in the United States, but few in Europe. In fact, the risk of injury in patients with intervertebral disc disorder with myelopathy was reduced, suggesting that this condition is not a risk factor for injury due to chiropractic.
In the chiropractic literature, a vertebrogenic hearing disorder has been described, whose manifestations are tinnitus, a feeling of pressure in the ears, otalgia and deafness, as symptoms of a functional deficit in the upper part of the cervical spine. This patient had a history of chiropractic-induced vertebrobasilar infarction and arteriovenous fistula was a complication of chiropractic manipulation. A baby with congenital torticollis underwent chiropractic manipulation and, within a few hours, developed respiratory failure, seizures and quadriplegia. Before receiving chiropractic treatment, people must obtain medical authorization from a doctor or their primary care physician and undergo a thorough evaluation and talk to a professional.
authorized.
