Chiropractic Treatments Might Do More Harm Than Good
While some people aren't afraid of undergoing a little joint readjustment, a new study from the University of Exeter has found that many of the randomized trials conducted on chiropractic treatments tend to rule out reports of any adverse effects. From the Guardian:
Improper reporting of the adverse effects of a medical intervention was unethical, said Edzard Ernst, professor of complementary medicine at the Peninsula medical school, University of Exeter, who led the latest analysis. This had allowed chiropractors to create a falsely positive picture about the safety of their treatments, he said.
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In his latest analysis, Ernst's team collated data from 60 randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of chiropractic carried out from January 2000 to July 2011. They found that 29 of the studies failed to mention any adverse effects of the treatment and, of the 31 trials where adverse effects were reported, 16 reported that none had occurred during the study. The results are published in the April 2012 edition of the New Zealand Medical Journal.
For those of you wondering what sort of affects they're referring, it can range anywhere from something like mild pain to more severe complications like "an artery can disintegrate and lead to a stroke." And that's not exactly what you want to hear when someone has your spine in their hands....
In his latest analysis, Ernst's team collated data from 60 randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of chiropractic carried out from January 2000 to July 2011. They found that 29 of the studies failed to mention any adverse effects of the treatment and, of the 31 trials where adverse effects were reported, 16 reported that none had occurred during the study. The results are published in the April 2012 edition of the New Zealand Medical Journal.
