As the wealth of scientific information in the chiropractic field continues to build, your chiropractor wants to keep you up to date with the latest research. In this issue, we focus on chiropractic and children. With this knowledge, you’ll be able to make informed decisions about your child’s health.
Do Subluxations Cause Asthma and Allergies?
In this study, a seven-year-old patient was brought to a chiropractor for evaluation of recurring symptoms related to allergies and asthma (he was receiving medication for both). He had frequently suffered from symptoms of these ailments since the age of five months. After two weeks of chiropractic care, including full spine adjustments at all levels of vertebral subluxation, he was able to stop his allergy and asthma medications.
Here’s something fascinating to note. This child missed an average of one to two days of school per month. After initiating chiropractic care, the child did not miss a day of school for an entire year.
Can Chiropractic Help Autistic Children?
In a recent review on autism, the authors of the article cited a study of 26 autistic children treated with chiropractic adjustments. Significant positive changed were noted. Some of the children were able to stop medication. Other significant physician and behavioral improvements were achieved. Five of the autistic children were even able to attend regular classes at school for the first time.
Although some case studies have shown dramatic results with chiropractic treatments on autistic children, the review authors cautioned that more controlled studies are needed to draw a conclusion on the effectiveness of chiropractic for this disorder.
Two Promising Manual Methods for Treating Colic
In this study, 43 infants aged eight weeks or less were randomly assigned to two groups. To be included in the study, these children had to exhibit prolonged periods of crying (three+ hours per day) for at least four of the previous seven days.
One of the groups received two weeks of spinal manipulative therapy (SMT). The other group received treatment consisting of sacro-occipital technique (SOT). After only seven days of treatment, both groups exhibited significant improvement, with crying hours per day reduced by approximately two hours. By the end of the study, colicky symptoms in the SMT group were reduced by 82% and in the SOT group by 67%.
These results are encouraging for parents of colicky infants. However, future studies using a control group are recommended to increase scientific validity.
In another study, 16 infants were medically diagnosed with either acid reflux or colic. The infants also had cervical (neck) subluxations. They received upper cervical adjustments in accordance with the International Upper Cervical Chiropractic Association (IUCCA). The symptoms disappeared in all cases.
Is ADHD a Pain in the Neck?
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder affects approximately 3%-10% of children under the age of 18. It’s a collection of signs and symptoms that interferes with a child’s ability to remain attentive and control hyperactive behavior.
A five-year-old diagnosed with ADHD was brought to a chiropractor for assessment and treatment. The child was x-rayed and physically examined.
The chiropractor identified multiple areas of spinal restrictions and a reversed curve in the child’s neck.
Chiropractic treatments included spinal adjustments, plus specific exercises and traction according to Chiropractic Biophysics (CBP) protocols to return the cervical spine to a normal curvature. Following 35 treatments over eight weeks, the cervical spine curve changed by over 40 degrees. As well, the patient’s behavior also changed dramatically for the better.
As of the 27th treatment, the medical doctor stated that the child no longer exhibited signs of ADHD and took the patient off all medications.
More studies are required to determine if this treatment can be consistently helpful.