How safe is chiropractic care and medical massage?

After performing a literature search, we found that chiropractic manipulation and medical massage has been used not uncommonly by families who have children with Spina Bifida. One study found that 38% of the 37 children with Spina Bifida surveyed had tried this. There was nothing in the study about the success or complications of these therapies. Further searching did not reveal any papers about complications arising from medical massage or chiropractic manipulation. We could not find a study comparing these therapies to traditional care or using standard randomized or blinded study designs. Thus, we cannot comment with conviction on the benefits of these therapies. We were able to find case reports by individual practitioners reporting benefits with pain and bladder function. As always, individual cases without comparisons need to be considered with caution. As for general cautions about spinal manipulation and massage, we would advise you to make sure that the treating clinician is a ... more