Chiropractic causes very, very few
deaths. Statisticians have shown that you have about the same chance
of dying from a Chiropractic adjustment as from being struck by
lightening while playing golf. It can happen, it does happen, but it
is very rare. Roughly one in a million* chance and that makes the
Chiropractic adjustment one of the very safest treatments.
In comparison, the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Resources stated that on average, 17.14% of the
700 000 physicians in the United States caused one accidental death
per year.
Is Chiropractic totally safe? No,
it’s not, but it’s a great deal safer than taking anti-inflammatories
or going for surgery. They too, however, have their merits and your
Chiropractor may sometimes refer you for drugs or surgery.
* Dr S Haldeman, medical
neurologist and chiropractor, states that there have been 23 known
cases of vertebral artery dissection in 10 years, probably leading
to stroke. During this time 135 million cervical manipulations were
given, a rate of less than 1 in 6 million. In comparison, 16 000
Americans died in one year from gastric hemorrhage, directly from
taking NSAIDs, not including those who died from heart and other
conditions.
The only sensible conclusion
is that chiropractic manipulation is a relatively, but not
perfectly, safe procedure. There are no perfectly safe procedures.
