ArticleCureus2024
Chiropractic Spinal Manipulation and Fall Risk in Older Adults With Spinal Pain: Observational Findings From a Matched Retrospective Cohort Study.
Article in Cureus, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Adverse events among older adults receiving chiropractic spinal manipulation and related treatments: an updated systematic review.Chiropractic & manual therapies · 2026Pooled it
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Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
introductionLimited research suggests that spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) might positively influence balance, yet its association with falls remains underexplored. We hypothesized that older adults receiving chiropractic SMT for spinal pain would have a reduced fall risk during 13 months of follow-up compared to matched controls.
methodsWe searched >116 million patient records from TriNetX (2013-2023; Cambridge, MA, US) to identify adults aged ≥65 years with spinal pain. After excluding those with major fall risk factors, we formed SMT and non-SMT cohorts, using propensity score matching to control for confounders (e.g., age, sex, comorbidities). Risk ratios (RR) with 95% CIs and p-values were calculated for primary (fall) and secondary (limb fracture) outcomes over 13 months. We explored the cumulative incidence of falls and fractures and negative control outcomes (colonoscopy, vital signs, diabetes, nicotine/tobacco screening).
resultsAfter matching, each cohort had 1,666 patients (mean age 72 years). The SMT cohort had a lower fall rate than the non-SMT cohort (3.8% vs. 5.4%), yielding an RR (95% CI) of 0.71 ((0.52, 0.97); p=0.0319). Cumulative incidences revealed a brief lag in SMT cohort fall incidence. There was no meaningful difference in limb fractures (RR of 1.16 (0.87, 1.54); p=0.3153). Negative control outcomes were similar between cohorts.
conclusionsThis study suggests that older adults receiving SMT for spinal pain may have a reduced risk of falls. However, given the observational nature of the study and the lack of significant differences in limb fracture incidence, the clinical significance of these findings remains uncertain. Further research, including randomized controlled trials, is needed to explore injurious falls, care utilization, pain, and costs.
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