Safety of Chiropractic Manipulation
The World Health Organization states that when “employed skillfully and appropriately, chiropractic care is safe and effective for the prevention and management of a number of health problems”.
The International Chiropractors Association (ICA) suggests that chiropractic is one of the safest health professions and chiropractors have some of the lowest malpractice insurance premiums in the health care industry.
As with all interventions, there are risks associated with spinal manipulation. According to Harrison's, these include vertebrobasilar accidents (VBA), strokes, spinal disc herniation, vertebral fracture, and cauda equina syndrome. A 1996 Danish chiropractic study confirmed the risk of stroke to be low, and determined that the greatest risk is with manipulation of the first two vertebrae of the cervical spine, particularly passive rotation of the neck, known as the “master cervical” or “rotary break”.
Estimates of serious complications range from 1 in 400,000 manipulations to 0 in 5 million manipulations. In comparison, there is a 3-4% rate of complications for cervical spine surgery, and 4,000-10,000 deaths per million neck surgeries. Thus one can draw conclusion after simple calculation of how much safer cervical manipulation is compared to surgery, when talking about such a common ailment as cervical disc protrusion or hernia.