Babies Get Much-Needed Help From Chiropractic Adjustments

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (WCCO) — When Sydney Winkler encountered one of the biggest adjustments of parenthood, she brought 2-month-old Lily to the chiropractor. “She was really colicky, crying, fussy, we had a couple days there where she was screaming and not settled,” said the mother from Bloomington. Dr. Anne Spicer, a pediatric chiropractor at the Northwestern Health Sciences University in Bloomington, specializes in pregnant women and babies. “So, what I am noticing still too is she is still keeping her head turned left,” said Dr. Spicer, who first adjusted Lily at a few weeks old. Winkler said the first visit soothed both parents and baby. “She went home and slept that entire night,” said Winkler. Dr. Spicer said fussy babies often have a misalignment at the top of the neck, which appears to the case for Lily. She said misalignments put pressure on the nerves that cause symptoms elsewhere. It can often be the result of trauma often during birth. “If a delivery is fast, three hours or less, that is usually very forceful on a baby and on a mother and we tend to see more spinal misalignments and injury with a fast delivery,” said Dr. Spicer, who estimates about 20 percent of chiropractic care is focused on kids. A 2007 government report said nearly three percent of children in the United States were treated with chiropractic or osteopathic manipulation in 2007, making it the second-most common form of alternative medicine for children, according to the National Health Interview Survey by the CDC. The International Chiropractic Pediatric Association points to two studies that show estimates of growth in children visiting chiropractors.

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2012/05/14/babies-get-much-needed-help-from-chiropractic-adjustments/