Dangers of chiropractic treatments under-reported, study finds

[phands]

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/may/14/dangers-chiropractic-treatment-under-reported


Another piece of quackery that I despise: chiropractic treatments.

Chiropractic treatments might appear safer than they actually are because their adverse effects are under-reported in medical trials, a study has found.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.
Chiropractors use spinal manipulation to treat ailments of the muscles and joints. Some practitioners claim the treatments can be used to treat more general health problems such as colic, asthma and prolonged crying in babies.
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.

There is nothing that chiropractors do which cannot be done by conventional physiotherapy, much more safely. The stuff unique to it is dangerous, made-up quackery.

 

[Underseer]

Yeah, my brother and his wife visit a chiropractor regularly, and I worry about them.

 

[dendrast]

None of my hair has grown back in. Yet. This year.

And my feet still hurt.