Chiropractic from a parent's point of view

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, April, 2007 by Christine Elliott

My youngest son is nearly four years old. He visits our chiropractor, Craig, every month. What's wrong with my son? Nothing. In fact, he is in fantastic health because of his visits to the chiropractor. Since Liam was born, he has attended the chiropractor weekly, and then fortnightly, depending on his health at various times. Most parents shudder when I inform them Liam visits a chiropractor regularly. Their faces show their shock, and their thoughts are easily read on horror-stricken faces. So why do we do it? Because each and every time we attend our chiropractor, I can connect Liam's subluxations with his behavior, moods, etc. And Craig's accuracy in determining what behavior or moods my son has experienced challenges the notion that chiropractic care is sheer "quackery," as suggested by so many of my friends and family.

I first became familiar with chiropractic five years ago. My partner had been going for some time and suggested I also try it. By the time I agreed to start treatment, I presented with monthly menstrual migraines (which were not only worsening but becoming more frequent--almost fortnightly); lower back problems; and the occasional sore neck. Within two months of commencing treatment, the menstrual migraines had eased and so too had the lower backache which had regularly accompanied my period. My cycle became regular, and the migraines and lower back pain eventually disappeared completely.

Within months of commencing treatment, my reproductive cycle was re-balanced, and I conceived and bore a son. Labour was difficult and ended with an emergency caesarean section. My partner's horror at the way Liam was pulled from my womb left an indelible imprint on his mind, and as a result, he was determined to remedy whatever spinal misalignments were caused by Liam's traumatic birth. I was almost forty when Liam was born.

Liam is a big boy. Eight pounds and average length at birth, he thrived on breastfeeding and consistently grew 1 cm per week and gained 250 grams per week. At ten months old, he weighed around twelve kilos and was 82 cm long. Besides being heavy to lift, he was in great health. His size was at odds with his developmental age, and this could conceivably have created its own problems. However, with the care he received from his chiropractor, he has progressed through the natural sequences of development which are appropriate for his age without injury to himself. According to literature on common childhood illnesses, most babies have three colds in their first year. Liam had one cold in his first year. I believe this is due, in part, to the chiropractic care he has received since he was ten days old.

At nine weeks old, Liam started to posit. This was unusual as he was not a baby who had posited before. I called my local maternal and child health care nurse and was advised this was normal. I did not believe it and worried that his spine was misaligned. My partner believed I should follow up on my instincts and phone for an interim appointment with the chiropractor. I was relieved when Craig told me Liam's spine was "out" at a point connected with his stomach. Within twenty-four hours, Liam stopped positing. At six months, Liam was extremely irritable and kept placing his hands behind his head in a manner similar to the way adults do when they interlock their fingers behind their heads. At the next appointment, Craig discovered a misalignment (subluxation) at the back of Liam's skull which could cause a dull headache, explaining why Liam was irritable and repeatedly placing his hands where he did. At other times, Craig has pointed out the location of the subluxations, and I have been able to connect the misalignment with a behavior--such as poor sleeping, irritability, or lots of wind--or an event such as pasty bowel motions where they had previously been solid. The latter was noticeable before Liam began teething.

Liam now attends a creche for two days a week. Imagine my surprise when he came home one day complaining of a sore back. When I questioned him, I asked him if could show me where his back was sore. He promptly leaned over the coffee table and placed both of his hands behind his back in the middle area. 1 immediately called our chiropractor and organized an emergency appointment. Craig confirmed Liam had two ribs out of place and his pelvis was twisted. I was so thrilled that my son was so accustomed to feeling aligned that he was able to communicate his discomfort clearly enough for us to remedy his misalignments.

As a parent, I do not understand why so many parents decry chiropractic care for their children, when my experience with it has been nothing less than spectacularly reassuring. I knew nothing of chiropractic when my eldest son was a baby. He is now 18 years old, and as a baby, he had at least three ear infections in his first year as well as two bouts of bronchiolitis. Upon reflection, I believe those illnesses could have been avoided had he attended regular chiropractic care from the same age as Liam. And when my grown daughter has her children, I will be insisting on chiropractic care for my grandchildren, too.