A study published in the journal, Chiropractic & Osteopathy, on July 9, 2010 looked at three types of chiropractic adjustments to see how patients with neck pain responded to care. The study also looked at the safety of these procedures by checking to see if there were any adverse reactions among participants in the study.
In this study, conducted at Anglo-European College of Chiropractic, in Bournemouth, Dorset, United Kingdom, volunteer subjects who met the criteria were divided into three groups. Each of the groups used a different kind of chiropractic technique for care. All three groups were also given exercise and advice. The researchers looked to see if there was any difference in the outcomes between the various kinds of chiropractic procedures. They also recorded any adverse events to see if there was any difference in that area as well.
The results showed that all three groups showed significant improvement over a 12 month period. No major differences were observed between the various groups. Additionally, none of the participants showed any significant or severe adverse reactions or events from the care. It was noted that a number of the participants did have some mild adverse reactions, but that all of them were resolved within 1 to 2 days.
The authors of this study concluded that although their study was small, it showed that three different types of chiropractic care resulted in improvement in the patients, with no adverse effects, “it appears that all three methods of treating mechanical neck pain had a long-term benefit for subacute neck pain, without moderate or serious adverse events associated with any of the treatment methods.”