Early Childhood
By Drs. Jennifer and Palmer Peet, Chiropractic for Kids and Adults, Shelbourne, Vermont
Doctors of chiropractic have included children in their wellness practices for more than a hundred years. Go to just about any chiropractor’s office in the world who adjusts children and you’ll find that in addition to the research, parents report that their children with ear infections, colic, bed-wetting, asthma, hyperactivity, and other conditions have improved with chiropractic adjustments.
Through the years, chiropractic techniques have evolved, improved, and been measured for effectiveness. It has been estimated that more than 25 million adjustments are given to children each year in the United States.
Considering all the falls, accidents, jars, jerks, and jolts that the average child faces, it’s no surprise that such a mass amount of children have faulty postures or curvature of the spine, which may cause headaches, auditory problems, dizziness, motor problems and other disturbances.
In fact a comparative study of kids raised under chiropractic vs. those raised under medicine showed that chiropractic kids are less prone to infections such as otitis media (inner ear infections), tonsillitis, and that their immune systems are better able to cope with allergens as compared to children raised under traditional medicine. The chiropractic kids also used less antibiotics and recovered more rapidly from injury or illness.
While findings in different areas of the world and inside the chiropractic profession clearly show the need for chiropractic care for children, unfortunately today, many U.S. patients continue to be harassed by their medical doctors for seeing a chiropractor. Some parts of the medical establishment are coming around and beginning to report on the importance of pediatric chiropractic for wellness.
One medical study wrote: “For many families in the U.S., Chiropractic care is no longer an alternative, but an integral part of regular health care, both for health promotion and the treatment of common diseases.”
Every child from birth onward should have access to chiropractic care to correct vertebral subluxations, which interfere with their ability to be as healthy as possible.
IMMUNITY*
Significant increase in circulating B-lymphocytes and immunoglobulins in 63 -75% of patients with skeletal conditions following chiropractic. B-lymphocyte changes were as high as a 200% increase and immunoglobulins increased concurrently with the patients improvement in their spinal condition.
Vora and Bates and Alcorn
LABOR TIMES*
65 women under Chiropractic from at least their 10th week of pregnancy through labor and delivery were found to have 24% – 39% less labor time than the statistically averaged mean labor.
Fallon
SENIORS *
Senior citizens using maintenance chiropractic care made approximately half of the visits to a medical provider compared to the national average, only 36% of patients reported frequent use of non-prescription drugs, reported fewer depressive symptoms, were more likely to report having strenuous levels of exercise, and 73.9% had not been hospitalized in 3 years.
Rupert and Coulter
DIABETES*
Spinal adjustments and interferential therapy on 31 diabetic patients revealed that 87% demonstrated increased circulation.
Dickinson
ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE *
24 athletes had a 6 – 12 % increase over control group of athletes not under chiropractic in the areas of agility, balance, kinesthetic perception, power, and speed reaction.
Lauro
Further research documents the positive effect of chiropractic care on:
Pulmonary function, ulcers, visual acuity, anxiety, cognitive brain function, strength, cardiac output, metabolism, optimizing blood lipid (cholesterol) levels, and the nervous system response.*
“Chiropractic adjustment has been shown to be effective for the treatment of low back pain in adults. Imperically the results have been at least equally good with children. It is the experience of many chiropractors that children respond more readily and favorably than adults.”
Caffey,J .(1972) On the Theory and Practice of Shaking Infants, American Journal of Diseased Child,124:161-169.
Non Musculoskeletal Responses to Chiropractic Intervention – Study of 5607 adult patients throughout 7 countries under Chiropractic Care. Patients were under care for various spinal problems, however, these patients reported other areas of body function improved.
Patients who began Chiropractic care without any musculoskeletal problems reported the following body faculties as definitively better: Allergies 11%, Breathing 27%, Circulation 21%, Digestion 26%, Asthma 17%, Hearing 13%, Ringing in Ears 19%, Heart Function 11%.
*Long Term Chiropractic care increases long term health improvements
*The longer the patients were under Chiropractic care the more positive changes they experienced.
Leboeuf-Yde C, Pedersen EN, Bryner P, et al. (2005) Self-reported non-musculoskeletal responses to chiropractic intervention. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics 28. 294-302
