Even though I was not fortunate enough to grow up with
chiropractic in my own life, once I discovered the power and
significance of prenatal and pediatric chiropractic as an adult, I
vowed to make it my purpose. I was four years into practice and
had already adjusted a lot of kids, but I had not yet witnessed a
real “miracle”—one where you can see the path that a child is
on, and know that if they had not been in your office that day,
that their trajectory would have taken them down a very
different road.
Today I want to tell you Kelsey’s story, and how I witnessed the
true power of pediatric chiropractic. Kelsey started care at our
clinic when she was 7 years old. Her mother worked at the local
hospital and had been referred by a coworker who was a patient
at our office, and knew we worked with a lot of children.
The first time I met Kelsey, I noticed something unusual about
her right away. She looked sad—much more sad than any 7-yearold should look.
I remember her mom having a desperate look on
her face as well, like she wanted to help her child more than
anything in the world, but she just didn’t know how. Her mother
brought Kelsey in because she was having headaches and
nighttime bedwetting. Both of these conditions are unusual for a
7-year-old, so we dug into the details during her consult.
For the headaches, Kelsey had been taking quite a bit of Tylenol
daily over the past two years, with minimal relief. She would
have headaches about five days a week, on average. They spread
across her forehead, and she often had to rest in a dark, quiet
place.
Kelsey would also wet herself several times a night, every night.
She’d never had a dry night in her life. She had never had a friend
stay overnight, and had never stayed at a friend’s house for a
sleepover, because of sheer anxiety about having an accident.
She felt like she was losing friends, and that it was hard to make
new friends at school because of this.
During my review of her health history, I also discovered that
Kelsey had frequent stomachaches, IBS, and constipation. She
had been taking Miralax every day for the past 4½ months. She
was 67 pounds, and her mom told me that she had not gained
any weight in 1½ years.
Other notable parts of Kelsey’s health history included vaginal
delivery with epidural. Her tonsils and adenoids were removed
when she was 4 because she was sick all the time with chronic
sinus infections. Her mom told me she had about eight courses
of antibiotics a year until then.
Kelsey also had asthma and allergies, and used an albuterol
inhaler. She had frequent night terrors, as well. Her mom had
tried moving sugar, corn syrup, and most dairy from Kelsey’s
diet. She and Kelsey’s father had also recently divorced.
Upon examination, I noted that there were subluxations at
occiput, C1, T5, T7, L2/L3, and coccyx. Cervical range of motion
noted restrictions in many directions, and head tilt toward the
left side when extending backwards.
After talking to Kelsey, it became clear why she looked so sad the
day she came into my office. She was in a lot of pain. At 7 years
old, she had more pain daily than most adults experience in a
month, or even a year. She had chronic health problems and had
been on medications for most of her life. She felt constipated
and had troubling stomach problems, and had a hard time with
bowel movements. But above all, in her words, she could not be
“a normal kid” and have sleepovers with her friends because of
her embarrassing bedwetting issues. Her bedwetting was causing
her tremendous anxiety, and it was hard for her to be happy.
Kelsey’s parents had tried a number of things to help her stop
wetting the bed—limiting fluid intake in the evening, setting
alarms to wake her up throughout the night, reward systems,
etc. But all of these failed, and left her feeling like a failure. Not
to mention that she needed more hydration, not less; the alarms
disrupted her sleep patterns even more, and she felt like she was
letting herself and everyone else down with the rewards because
she literally had no control over the issue.
Kelsey was not a naughty child, and she was not looking for
attention. She wanted to stop the bedwetting more than anyone
else did. She could get past everything else if she could just be a
normal 7-year-old girl and not be so stressed out all the time. I
got it.
On her first visit, I adjusted her top cervical vertebrae
(which was literally the biggest subluxation at that level I had ever felt)
and her third lumbar. Due to scheduling conflicts (Kelsey traveled
between her parents’ homes), we were not able to see her again
until 10 days later. During that time, she had only a couple of
headaches, and they were less severe than before her
adjustment. She did not have any stomachaches over the
weekend. Bedwetting frequency had decreased from five to
seven times a night to once or twice a night.
On her third visit (two weeks after her first), Kelsey reported no
incidents of bedwetting for the past four nights. She was able to
wake up at night to use the restroom if needed, but some nights
did not need to wake up at all. Her IBS symptoms and headaches
also continued to improve.
When Kelsey came in for her fourth visit, I noticed something I
had not seen before: a huge smile on her face and a sparkle in
her eye that had not been there for a long time, if ever. Her
entire face looked different—less strained, more relaxed. Her
color had even changed. Her pale skin and dark circles were
replaced with rosy cheeks. She gave me a huge hug and handed
me a homemade card, and told me she had important news to
tell me. That weekend she was going to her first sleepover at a
friend’s house! I got tears in my eyes as I looked at her mom,
who also had the biggest smile on her face. This might not seem
like a huge deal, but to this little girl, it was literally everything!
Over the years, we continued to work on the headaches and
stomachaches. Some of her troubles seemed to follow a
pattern—when she stayed at her dad’s house her diet was
drastically different, and because of this, digestive upset and
headaches would often follow. We were able to help with those
conditions a lot, but she needed to be conscious of what she ate.
Kelsey never had another episode of nighttime bedwetting after
her second chiropractic adjustment. She also stopped having
night terrors, and eventually her asthma and allergies cleared up.
She was able to get off all medications, except the occasional
Tylenol for severe headaches. She also had a major growth spurt
and gained weight appropriately for her age. She enjoyed life,
school, dance, sports, family, and her friends.
Seven years later, I often think back to this young girl, who
showed me my first true miracle in chiropractic. As chiropractors,
we see so many amazing things in our practices that we often
take them for granted. When you first witness the power of
chiropractic and the amazing power of innate healing unfolding
before your eyes, you almost don’t believe it. But it is there. And
it is powerful. We have yet to grasp its full potential.
When I look back to Kelsey, I recognize that her full innate
potential was being hidden by subluxations. They were not
allowing her nervous system to fully express itself, and she was
paying the price. Once the stress on her nervous system was
unlocked, she was able to perceive her environment in a
completely different context, and became a different person—
right before my eyes.
Over the years now I have witnessed many chiropractic
“miracles,” but I also understand that they are not miracles at all.
They are simply the body’s innate power doing exactly what it is
supposed to do once the nervous system is functioning
optimally. We are born to survive and designed to thrive.
Anything less is diminishing our potential, dimming our shine,
and dulling our sparkle.
—Brenda Trudell, DC
