Chiropractic safety for kids

When telling people that I adjust infants and children, I get this puzzeled look and one of two questions, "Why would a kid need an adjustment" and "Is that safe for kids?"

In answer to the first question, I will post some upcoming blogs about the effectiveness of chiropractic for various conditions, but the short answer is to get the body functioning at 100% to aid in healing such things as ear infections, colic, GI issues, immune function and many more. The second question is, yes, chiropractic is safe for children. The study below looked at the safety for children and as the conclusion states, 3 aggravations were reported by chiropractors from 5438 treatments and 2 aggravations in 1725 treatments by parents. Aggravations could mean soreness, irritability, etc, not that the child was injured. Think about those statistics versus those of medication and more invasive interventions such as tubes in the ears for ear infections. Do you think that only 3 aggravations occur with medication for almost 5500 treatments? Likely not. Chiropractic is a gentle, effective treatment of the vertebral subluxation that then allows the body to heal itself. So why not try something safe, effective and less invasive before turning to the more aggressive approach?

Here's to healthier lives for children!

The Safety and Effectiveness of Pediatric Chiropractic: A Survey of Chiropractors and Parents in a Practice-based Research Network

Abstract
Context: With continued popularity of CAM therapies for children, their safety and effectiveness are of high concern for both CAM and conventional therapy providers. Chiropractic is the most popular of the CAM therapies for children.
Objective: To describe the practice of pediatric chiropractic including its safety and effectiveness.
Design: Cross-sectional survey
Setting: Practice-based research network Patients or Other
Participants: Participants are chiropractors and parents of pediatric patients (≤18 years of age) attending chiropractic visits ranging from 1-12.
Intervention(s): N/A
Results: The indicated primary reason for chiropractic care of children was "wellness care." With respect to condition-based presentations, musculoskeletal conditions were the most common in addition to nonmusculoskeletal conditions of childhood. The most common technique utilized were Diversified Technique, Gonstead Technique, Thompson Technique and Activator Methods. Treatment-associated complications were not indicated by the chiropractic and parent responders. Chiropractor responders indicated 3 per 5438 treatment-associated aggravations from the treatment of 577 children. The parents indicated 2 treatment associated aggravations from 1735 SMT clinical encounters involving 239 patients. Both sets of responders indicated a high rate of improvement with respect to the patients' presenting complaints, in addition to salutary effects unrelated to their clinical presentations.
Joel Alcantara BSc, DC ^{1 2 *}, Jeanne Ohm DC ^{1 3} and Derek Kunz BS ¹

1. International Chiropractic Pediatric Association, Media, PA
2. Private practice, Alcantara Chiropractic Wellness Care, San Jose, CA
3. Private practice, Ohm Family Chiropractic, Media, PA