Chiropractic Helping More Children

An article in USA Today on January 19, 2009 talks about the fact that more children are using chiropractic. On February 07, 2009 a release by the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) adds more information on the benefits of chiropractic for children. And on December 14, 2008 the International Chiropractors Association Council on Chiropractic Pediatrics completed their International Conference on Chiropractic & Pediatrics held in the Grand Bahamas. The focus of these articles and event was children’s health benefits through chiropractic care.

The USA today article starts off by featuring the story of a 3 month old boy, Mac, who was having difficulty with nursing because he could only turn his head and neck to one side. Mac’s mother, Melanie Booth, brought her son to a chiropractor, and explained the events of that first visit as her son got his first chiropractic adjustment, “he began to quiver and shake, and it kind of scared my husband and me,” Booth says. “But she explained (she) was releasing energy that was stored up incorrectly in his body and particularly his spine. And almost immediately, we saw a change in his ability to move his neck.”

The USA article noted that in 2007, about 3% of children in the USA were treated with chiropractic or osteopathic manipulation. The American Chiropractic Association noted in their release that Survey data indicates that the percentage of chiropractic patients under 17 years of age has increased at least 8.5 percent since 1991.

Elise Hewitt, DC, a Portland-area doctor of chiropractic and president of the American Chiropractic Associations Pediatrics Council, noted, “The vast majority of parents report that their children enjoy their chiropractic adjustments and look forward to subsequent visits. They also report that their children experience a greater level of health while under regular chiropractic care.”

Dr. Jeanne Ohm, a chiropractor in Media, Pa., and executive coordinator of the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association, noted that most children come to a chiropractor based upon someone referring the child’s parents to the chiropractor. Parents “are usually referred by someone whose asthma went away or whose ear infections went away,” she says. In the USA Today article Dr. Ohm noted that chiropractic does not directly treat the illnesses, but rather sets up the circumstance to allow the body to heal itself, “Taking stress and tension off the nervous system affects their whole physical body and their mental state. We look at the whole person”.

Source: Chiropractic and Health, Research and Articles, www.chiropracticresearch.org