Safety, Seniors, and Chiropractic in Rockville

Safety, Seniors, and Chiropractic in Rockville

active elderly couple

A recent study performed by scientists at the Dartmouth school of medicine looked at US patients from age 66 to age 99 who had been seen by either chiropractors or medical doctors, to evaluate for any possible injury from chiropractic. The findings were surprising, \"Among Medicare beneficiaries aged 66 to 99 years with an office visit risk for a neuromusculoskeletal problem, risk of injury to the head, neck, or trunk within 7 days was 76% lower among subjects with a chiropractic office visit than among those who saw a primary care physician.\" In the chiropractic care, 40 injury incidents per 100,000 subjects were seen compared with 153 incidents per 100,000 subjects in those seen by their primary care.

It is not clear if individuals with more minor problems went to the chiropractors, healthier individuals were seeing their chiropractors, if there was a protective effect of chiropractic or if there was an increased adverse affect from seeing the MD\'s. Very often studies of this nature can be difficult to determine, and a combination of these factors could be in play. What can be seen is that there did not seem to be an excessive risk from seniors seeing chiropractors. As a chiropractor who treats many Medicare patients for neck and back pain in the Rockville area, it is common for me to see significant benefit in elderly patients. Related conditions such as spinal stenosis can often be treated conservatively by gentle chiropractic methods. If you have any questions or concerns, please call and ask.

Whedon JM, Mackenzie TA, Phillips RB, Lurie JD
Risk of traumatic injury associated with chiropractic spinal manipulation in medicare part B beneficiaries aged 66 to 99 years.
Spine (Phila Pa 1976) 2015 Feb 15; 40(4):264-70

Dr. Charlie Ginsburg, DC
Rosa Chiropractic and Physical Therapy in Rockville
301-545-0800

Chiropractic VA and MD Accessible Beltway Clinics