31/10/2025
How Chiropractic Care Could Reduce The Risk of Falls In The Elderly
In 2016 chiropractic care was assessed to see if it could reduce falls risk in elder patients based upon a 2004 discussion paper on the topic (2)...
It showed significant positive results for chiropractic care...
They discovered that chiropractic care for a period of 12 weeks had a significant impact on a number of factors related to fall risk.(1)
They initially believed that this was due to the role of the neck in postural control and the role of neck pain and dysfunction in decreased balance (and therefore increased risk of falling).
Follow up research since 2016 has confirmed this...
They found that when the neck joints were not moving properly (what chiropractors call spinal subluxations) it would interfere with your brains ability to accurately perceive what the rest of your body is doing (sensorimotor integration). This was the effect even if they weren't experiencing pain. They found that chiropractic care reduces this interference with the brain body communication. This explains why chiropractic care was shown to reduce the elderly the risk in the 2016 study.
1) Holt, K. R., Haavik, H., Lee, A. C., Murphy, B., & Elley, C. R. (2016). Effectiveness of Chiropractic Care to Improve
Sensorimotor Function Associated With Falls Risk in Older People: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of
manipulative and physiological therapeutics, 39(4), 267–278. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmpt.2016.02.003
2) Walsh, M., Polus, B., and Webb, M., (2004). The role of the Cervical Spine in Balance and Risk of Falling in the Elderly.
Chiropractic Journal of Australia 2024; 34: 19-22,
