CHIROPRACTIC CARE

   Children And Adolescents

STUDY LOOKS AT CHIROPRACTIC CARE FOR CHILDREN

Pediatric chiropractic care is often inconsistent with recommended medical guidelines, and national studies are needed to assess its safety, efficacy, and cost, concludes an article in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. The authors studied chiropractic practices in Boston, MA, and surveyed 150 licensed chiropractors, of whom 90 responded. (All respondents were white, and 65% were men.) The survey was conducted in 1998. Two-thirds of the respondents reported receiving training in pediatric medicine, including pediatric courses in chiropractic colleges, postgraduate elective courses, or national conference workshops.

Findings include
Respondents had an average of 122 patient visits weekly, of which 13 (11%) were from children and adolescents. Seventy percent of the respondents recommended herbs and dietary supplements; For pediatric care, 30% of respondents reported actively recommending child immunizations; 7% recommended against immunization; and When presented with a hypothetical 2-week-old neonate with a fever, 68% of respondents said they would refer the patient to a doctor of medicine or doctor of osteopathy; 17% said they would perform a spinal adjustment; and 15% said they would take more history or perform further physical examination.

The authors write that in 1997 US patients visited more practitioners of complementary and alternative medicine than primary care physicians and that there are more than 50,000 licensed doctors of chiropractic (DCs) in the US, a number expected to double by 2010. About 30 million pediatric visits to DCs are made yearly in the US, with an estimated total cost of $1 billion. According to a 1994 survey, although most adults (85%) visited DCs for musculoskeletal problems, children consulted DCs for respiratory problems; ear, nose, and throat problems; and general preventive care. Common pediatric conditions treated by DCs include otitis media, asthma, allergies, infantile colic, and enuresis (bed wetting).

Study limitations include (1) the survey was confined to Boston and needs to be replicated with a larger national sample; (2) more of the respondents were members of chiropractic societies than the national average, and thus their responses may not reflect the views of the general chiropractic community; (3) there may be selection bias because of the length of the survey, and busier practices or those with few pediatric patients may not have responded; and (4) a broad definition of the general pediatric and adolescent population was used (under 21 years old).

The authors conclude that, although pediatricians may be unfamiliar or uncomfortable with chiropractic care, families are using it, and thus pediatricians should discuss chiropractic care with children, parents, and DCs. The authors write, "Our findings clearly indicate the necessity of strengthening collaboration and research between the chiropractic, medical, and public health communities."

Lee AC, et al. 2000. Chiropractic care for children. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine 154(4):401-407.

According to Alexander Tamasz, a Rockefeller University Microbiology professor, "There's a vast overuse of antibiotics," he says. "It's completely crazy." (4/94 New England Journal of Medicine).

New Federal Government guidelines recommend giving nature a chance with ear infections. Dr. Alfred Berg, co-chair of the federal panel of experts, said that in most cases the condition disappears within 3-6 months without medical treatment. Dr. Berg stated that antibiotics, frequently used in the past, are of very limited value in treating the condition. Dr. Berg also remarked that antibiotics could cause side effects and lead to the development of drug-resistant bacteria that can cause a more serious disease. Antibiotics are not the preferred option in the early stages of the condition.

Dr. Michael Poole, a professor of otolaryngology and pediatrics at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Houston, emphasized that most infants and young children with otitis media do not need antibiotics at all. "Ongoing studies at the University of Pittsburgh suggest that only about one out of seven children with otitis media should receive a prescription for an antibiotic. The disease usually gets well on its own."

WHAT IS CHIROPRACTIC?

Chiropractic is one of the western world's three major healing professions. The other two are medicine and osteopathy. Chiropractors specialize in the neuromuscularskeletal systems (nerves, muscles, and bone), detecting and correcting vertebral subluxations, or misalignments of the spine.  Subluxations adversely affect the nervous system and cause dis-ease within the body.  

The word chiropractic comes from the Greeks:  "chiros" means hand and "practic" means practice.  Many chiropractic techniques involve the use of the hands in gently restoring the vertebrae to their proper alignment and motion.   Free of subluxations, you are free to grow, develop, and become more than you are today.  Chiropractic is a lifestyle that more and more people are choosing for the rest of their life.  Many parents are discovering that their children are healthier and happier when they receive regular chiropractic care.

The following are the three fundamental principles of chiropractic.

1.  Importance of the nervous system:
The nervous system controls and coordinates ALL the functions of the body.  Everyone has the inborn ability to heal themselves as long as there is no interference with their nervous system, and therefore in their body¹s function.
     
2.  Spinal subluxations (misalignments):

Chiropractic doctors recognize that vertebral subluxations cause interference of the nervous system impeding the perfect expression of health.  Subluxations may or may not cause pain or other symptoms. Chiropractors are the only health care providers who specialize in locating, correcting, and preventing subluxations.
       
3.Chiropractic adjustments:

Chiropractic doctors recognize that when spinal nerve interferences are cleared by means of specific chiropractic adjustments of vertebral subluxations, the nervous system's normal flow of impulses can resume.  The fully functioning nervous system can once again direct the body's own healing mechanisms and help in the process of attaining optimum health.

WHAT IS A CHIROPRACTIC ADJUSTMENT?
A chiropractic adjustment is the art of introducing a specific force in a precise direction, applied to a vertebra that is subluxated or out of place. The Chiropractor identifies the location of the subluxation, determines the exact direction and the best way to correct the positioning. The adjustment itself is a movement of the spine that is done either by hand or with an instrument.  The movement may be quick or may be undetectable with low force techniques.   The adjustment assists the vertebra back into normal alignment and restores proper motion in order to relieve nerve interference. There are many ways to analyze and adjust the spine, so the actual adjustment will vary from chiropractor to chiropractor and patient to patient.
 
IS CHIROPRACTIC SAFE?
Yes!  Specific chiropractic adjustments are very safe since care is individually based only after a complete health history and chiropractic examination has been performed.  Then, depending on the state of health and age of the patient, an appropriate technique will be utilized.

In the pediatric population a peer reviewed study of the literature (Pistolese R. JVSR 2(2) 1998) was performed from 1977 to 1998 and found the risk to neurological or vascular complications from chiropractic care to be 1/250 million. It is important to compare this with something like the risk  of serious adverse injury from  taking an aspirin at 4/1000.  

A New Zealand government study found that adjustments are ³remarkably safe.²   By avoiding drugs and risky surgery, chiropractic enjoys an excellent track record.   In the adult population, unfortunately anyone who manipulates and injures a patient gets lumped in as a "chiropractic" statistic versus keeping professions as separate populations.  This poses a  problem for the chiropractors who perform specific chiropractic adjustments. Presently the cumulative risk from the professions who manipulate and adjust is approximated at between 1/3 million to 1/500,000.

Also consider that chiropractic malpractice insurance rates are a fraction of those for medical doctors. These rates are based on the risk of injury or death to patients caused by practice procedures.  

WHY DO CHILDREN NEED CHIROPRACTIC?
The normal birthing process places a tremendous amount of stress on the neck.  If the baby's head presents in any other than a posterior occiput position (the baby's face is down), this can cause added stress.  Any intervention such as vacuum or forceps causes additional trauma to the head and neck.  Cesarean section is also considered a traumatic birth when considering the effects on the spine.  Many obstetricians traction the head during a normal birth,  using between 40 and 70 pounds of pressure, in order to birth the shoulder.  This often causes damage to the cervical spine (neck) and the nerves that exit off the spine.

Even if you child came through the birth process without subluxations, they can be acquired afterwards.  Babies neck muscles are weak and are unable to support the head.  Infant car seats may be designed to protect a baby in the event of a crash, but they lack support of the neck.  Whenever you stop and accelerate the car their heads go forward and back and side to side, which can cause vertebrae to subluxate.

Throughout the first year, a baby's spine will grow 50%.  Whenever there is rapid growth, that is the time when things can go wrong.  Regular chiropractic checkups ensure that your child's spine is growing properly.  During the first year, they also develop the secondary curves of the spine in the neck and low back.  If these curves fail to develop, there is a greater chance that they will develop scoliosis, or curvature of the spine.

Towards the end of the first year they will be learning how to walk and will fall an extraordinary amount of times.  If you fell that often, do you think that your spine would feel the effects of the trauma?

As kids get older, they get even more active with more potential for physical trauma.  And, if they play sports, that potential increases.  And what about the child who sits at the computer or hunches over his hand-held game!  Making sure that their spines are subluxation free means that your children can endure more physical stress with a lesser risk of injury.

Physical trauma is the most obvious reason kids need their spines checked out regularly, but emotional and toxic stress can also cause subluxations in kids.  Many times children have accidents and parents may believe that they are fine because there is no external evidence of damage. Spinal subluxations sometimes don¹t signal an obvious symptom. The earlier children¹s spines are
checked, the earlier problems can be detected, preventing health problems from occurring and becoming serious. We recommend all children be checked regularly for nerve interference, even without symptoms present. Prevention is the best medicine.

Emotional stress, another cause of vertebral subluxation, is becoming a bigger issue for kids today as they try to cope with common scenarios like divorce, violence, and peer pressure.  Our world is also becoming more toxic with an increase in pollution, packaged foods, and the number of recommended vaccines.  Toxic overload can stress the body and cause subluxations.  Chiropractic can help children adapt to these stressors so that they can function at a higher level.

If you know a child who is not under chiropractic care and suffers from any of the following problems, please urge the child's parent to consider Chiropractic.

Fever
Colic
Croup
Allergies
Wheezing
Numbness
Stomach ache
Hearing loss
Ear infection
Nervousness
Neck/back pain
Irritability
Coughs/Colds
Asthma
Bed Wetting
Bronchitis
Constipation
Weakness/fatigue
Skin problems
Scoliosis
 Poor Posture

Headaches
One leg shorter
Learning disorder
Sinus problems
Eye problems
Leg/hip

Foot pain
Arthritis
Poor concentration
Hyper-activity/Attention deficit disorder

Just as it is recommended that children get regular medical and dental checkups, it is important for kids to have their spines checked from birth onward.  The only professional qualified to do this is a chiropractor.  More and more, educated parents are choosing to take thier children to chiropractors regularly, because they see that their children are healthier and happier!