A common question we hear from adults in the Express Chiropractic Keller office is “Should I bring my child to the chiropractor?”

The efficacy and safety of chiropractic in kids is a heavily researched topic.

Questions parents commonly have when thinking of taking their child to a chiropractor:

  1. Is chiropractic safe for kids?

  2. What conditions can chiropractic help in kids?

On young kids, the misaligned or stuck spinal bones are corrected with pressure typically equal to that you might use to check the ripeness of a tomato.

In other words, the pressure is very light.

There are a myriad of conditions that misaligned or stuck (a.k.a. subluxated) spinal bones can lead to.

However, chiropractic care doesn’t treat pain specifically (that is more or less the role of pain medications). Instead chiropractors focus on the misaligned spinal bones (a.k.a. Subluxations) that can often lead to the pain.

Sub-lux-a-tions are slight misalignments and/or loss of proper motion in spinal bones resulting in pressure on the disc, nerves and joints in the surrounding area.

Chiropractors are the only health care providers specifically trained to detect and correct subluxations.

There are many studies showing the positive impact a chiropractic adjustment can have on various childhood illnesses / issues.

Below is a short list.

WHAT THE STUDIES SHOW

1. A group of 12 ADHD students receiving medication were compared to a group of 12 ADHD students receiving chiropractic care. In the group receiving chiropractic care both the hyperactivity and attentiveness improved.

In the medicated group, the hyperactivity and attentiveness improved only initially and the medication effectiveness decreased requiring higher doses.

Note – The study concluded that the chiropractic care was 20-40% more effective than medication for improving ADHD

Brozozwske WT, Walton EV: The effects of chiropractic treatment on students with learning and behavioral  impairments resulting from neurological dysfunction. J of Aust. Chiro. Assoc . 1980; 11(7)13-18

 

2. A study of pediatric patients with asthma revealed that 7 out of 8 patients showed significant improvement in their symptoms and were able to reduce or eliminate their medication.

Peet, JB, Marko SK, Piekarczyk W. Chiropractic Pediatrics Vol. 1, No. 4, May 1995, Pages 9-13.

 

3. A controlled clinical trial of 46 children suffered from enuresis (bed wetting). After 10 weeks of care 25% of the treatment group had at least a 50% reduction in wet nights while none of the controlled group had such reduction.

Reed WR, Beavers S, Reddy SK, Kern G. Chiropractic Management of  Primary Nocturnal Enuresis; JMPT Vol. 17, No 9 Nov/Dec 1994.

 

4. A large study where 171 children who suffered from enuresis received chiropractic care. The average number of bed-wetting reduced from an average of 7 to 4 per week.

LeBoeuf C, Brown P, Herman A, Leembruggen K, Walton D, Crisp, TC Chiropractic care of Children with Nocturnal Enuresis: A prospective Outcome Study. JMPT, 14 (2) 110-115, 1991.

 

5. 332 children who suffered with otitis media (ear aches) received chiropractic adjustments. The results showed there is a strong correlation between chiropractic adjustments and the resolution of otitis media for children.

Fallon JM, The role of chiropractic adjustment in the care and treatment of 332 children with Otitis media. Journal of Clinical Chiropractic Pediatrics, Vol 2, No. 2 1997 Pages 167-183.

 

6. Van Breda, et al, interviewed 200 pediatricians and 200 chiropractors, to determine what, if any, differences were to be found in the health status of their respective children. He found that 69% of the chiropractic children never experienced otitis media, compared to 80% of medical children who did.   That is a reduction of 258% between groups!

Note – They found a significant decreased history of antibiotic use among the chiropractic children, “indicating a lower susceptibility to bacterial infections as a result of greater immune system response.”

A Comparative Study of the Health Status of Children Raised Under the Health Care Models of Chiropractic and Allopathic Medicine. Journal of Chiropractic Research 1989;   5 (Summer):   101–103

—

Dr. Stegall is a Keller Chiropractor with more than 25 years experience caring for infants to the elderly. You can learn more about Express Chiropractic Keller at our website https://expresschiropractickeller.com/