Chiropractic care and falls risk in older people

A study completed by researchers at the New Zealand College of Chiropractic looked into the changes in fall risk in elderly patients following chiropractic adjustments.

The researchers looked at the impact on proprioception which is the bodies awareness of where it is in space. “Compared with the control group, those receiving chiropractic care improved significantly in ankle joint position sense error.” “There was also a significant improvement at the 12-week mark for choice stepping response time, showing increased sensorimotor function, in comparison with the control group.” They also found a “significant overall group effect of chiropractic care on susceptibility to the sound-induced flash illusion, with the chiropractic group showing greater improvement than the control group across the 4- and 12-week assessments. The chiropractic group improved by 13.5% compared with the control group at the 12-week assessment [1].” This was looking at an important factor in preventing falls - multi-sensory processing - which is the integration of information from different senses (sight, proprioception, sound, ect) and processing of this to help best navigate your environment. These factors measured are all thought to have an impact on falls risk in the elderly population and so when improved, reduce the risk of falls.

Link to full study here