I recently saw an Instagram post from a respected physical therapist and past teacher of mine. This particular post was bashing on chiropractic for adjusting children, presenting it as unnecessary and dangerous. Is this so? Or is this the lens through which PT is taught to understand when care is necessary?
Since I don’t adjust many children below the age of 10, I hesitated to comment on his post. I judged that I couldn’t be as eloquent as I would like to be, given that pediatrics is not my specialty. But it's not his either (by the way). My associate doctor has postgraduate training in pediatric and pregnancy care, and I see her adjusting this patient population often. Because of her focus, I see expectant moms, babies and young children coming and going to see her in our practice, and we see daily miracles as a consequence of her care.
Even though I am not a pediatric chiropractor, I can say with confidence that babies and toddlers are not adjusted in the same way or with the same forces as adults (even that depends on what technique the chiropractor uses - I use very low force on the cervical spine even on adults).
Adjusting the top vertebrae, called the Atlas (C1), directly stimulates the Vagus nerve, the longest nerve in the body, and directly stimulates the immune system. This is called the Innate Immune Response.
The brain needs to know the status of the body in order to thrive. This sensory input can be disrupted, leaving the brain to function and instruct the body incorrectly. Cognitive behavioral neuroscience research has shown that a chiropractic adjustment helps to restore this connection.
When proper body to brain communication is disrupted, even the sense of self (introception or internal awareness) can be disrupted. This adds to the allostatic load, which is the cumulative effect of chronic stress on the system. Do you think this would be good or bad for a baby or toddler?
Stress fires the brain stem, known as the Amygdala or lizard brain, which focuses on basic functions such as breathing and heart rate and survival in general. When this fires up, the Hippocampus, related to memory, is dampened as well.
Are children stressed? More than you may think! Three causes that lead to a dysregulated (STRESSED) brain are:
- TOXINS in our environment (EDC, BPA, PBDE, Drugs, Parabens, Heavy Metals (Hg, Al)
- TRAUMA: events & memories, abuse (physical or emotional), birth trauma, sports injuries, even mild concussions (Traumatic Brain Injury or TBI)
- THOUGHTS: Stress (physical or emotional), neurochemical
I liken the spinal cord to a circuit breaker. When there is an overload, often there is a related level of the spine that subluxates (goes out of alignment). Think of the chiropractic adjustment as resetting this switch.
Most children don’t come in with a backache like adults do, and chiropractic care, especially at major benchmarks of development, offers direct neuroplastic support (neuroplasticity is the brain's ability to change and adapt in response to experiences and stimuli).
Chiropractic care helps regulate the autonomic nervous system (think automatic, controlling things like digestion, heart rate, breathing), in particular by activating the parasympathetic system (think the break) to counter the activity of the autonomic nervous system (think the gas pedal).
I’ve been in practice for 24 years, and our son was born the week I opened my first office! When he was in preschool, I conducted a study of him and some of his preschool friends using electromyography (EMG) and Thermography (heat) to read the effects of stress on the spinal cord, spine, muscles and organs.
The EMG showed muscle function (Dysponesis - the abnormal energy expenditure that can cause functional disorders) and the thermography showed autonomic function (Dysautonomia - a condition that affects the autonomic nervous system (ANS), which controls many automatic bodily functions).
The findings across the board were surprising at the very least! With all the kids, there was significant over-activity throughout the spine in both studies, suggesting that there was significant stress in the nervous system. None of these kids complained about pain.
So is chiropractic care appropriate for children? It depends on what you are looking for. An allopathic model looks at pain and pathology - if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. A salutogenic model looks at the origins of health and optimization.
So which is appropriate for your child? Chiropractic or Physical Therapy? They’re both noble professions with well trained and well intentioned practitioners. But each field has a different understanding of what health is and different goals and means to get you there.
For more information about chiropractic care for pregnancy and pediatrics, I recommend the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association website, https://icpa4kids.com
