Trial reportChiropractic & manual therapies2021
Effectiveness of chiropractic manipulation versus sham manipulation for recurrent headaches in children aged 7-14 years - a randomised clinical trial.
Trial report in Chiropractic & manual therapies, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT02684916 (Effectiveness of Chiropractic Manipulation Treatment Versus Placebo Manipulation on Children Aged 7-14 Years With Headache and Musculoskeletal Problems. A Randomized Clinical Trial), which is not on this map. Cited by 7 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Effectiveness of Chiropractic Manipulation Treatment Versus Placebo Manipulation on Children Aged 7-14 Years With Headache and Musculoskeletal Problems. A Randomized Clinical Trial
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 33 citations in OpenAlex.
- Potential effect modifiers for treatment with chiropractic manipulation versus sham manipulation for recurrent headaches in children aged 7-14 years: development of and results from a secondary analysis of a randomised clinical trial.Chiropractic & manual therapies · 2023Trial
- Description of recurrent headaches in 7-14-year-old children: Baseline data from a randomized clinical trial on effectiveness of chiropractic spinal manipulation in children with recurrent headaches.Chiropractic & manual therapies · 2023Trial
- The short-term effects of spiral stabilization on human posture correction.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2025Article
- Chiropractic Care in Children: A Review of Evidence and Safety.Clinical pediatrics · 2025Review
- [Complementary and supplementary procedures in the treatment of headache].Schmerz (Berlin, Germany) · 2023Review
- [Complementary procedures for chronic pain disorders in childhood and adolescence].Schmerz (Berlin, Germany) · 2023Review
- Spinal manipulation and mobilisation in the treatment of infants, children, and adolescents: a systematic scoping review.BMC pediatrics · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundTo investigate the effectiveness of chiropractic spinal manipulation versus sham manipulation in children aged 7-14 with recurrent headaches.
methodsDesign: A two-arm, single-blind, superiority randomised controlled trial.
settingOne chiropractic clinic and one paediatric specialty practice in Denmark, November 2015 to August 2020.
participants199 children aged 7 to 14 years, with at least one episode of headache per week for the previous 6 months and at least one musculoskeletal dysfunction identified.
interventionsAll participants received standard oral and written advice to reduce headaches. In addition, children in the active treatment group received chiropractic spinal manipulation and children in the control group received sham manipulation for a period of 4 months. Number and frequency of treatments were based on the chiropractor's individual evaluation in the active treatment group; the children in the control group received approximately eight visits during the treatment period. PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURES: 'Number of days with headache', 'pain intensity' and 'medication' were reported weekly by text messages, and global perceived effect by text message after 4 months. A planned fixed sequence strategy based on an initial outcome data analysis was used to prioritize outcomes. 'Number of days with headache' and 'pain intensity' were chosen as equally important outcomes of highest priority, followed by global perceived effect and medication. The significance level for the first two outcomes was fixed to 0.025 to take multiplicity into account.
resultsChiropractic spinal manipulation resulted in significantly fewer days with headaches (reduction of 0.81 vs. 0.41, p = 0.019, NNT = 7 for 20% improvement) and better global perceived effect (dichotomized into improved/not improved, OR = 2.8 (95% CI: 1.5-5.3), NNT = 5) compared with a sham manipulation procedure. There was no difference between groups for pain intensity during headache episodes. Due to methodological shortcomings, no conclusions could be drawn about medication use.
conclusionsChiropractic spinal manipulation resulted in fewer headaches and higher global perceived effect, with only minor side effects. It did not lower the intensity of the headaches. Since the treatment is easily applicable, of low cost and minor side effects, chiropractic spinal manipulation might be considered as a valuable treatment option for children with recurrent headaches.
trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov, identifier NCT02684916 , registered 02/18/2016 - retrospectively registered.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.