Many chiropractors are saying that all babies need to have
their spines checked to determine if vertebral subluxations
are present. Subluxations may exist at birth, or they might
even be produced by the birth process. New studies now
indicate that many newborns have spinal nerve
involvement that could threaten their health and, in some
cases, their lives.
Abraham Towbin, M.D., a Harvard University pathologist,
found evidence of spinal injury as a result of the birthing
process. He called it “precipitous delivery techniques,”
meaning excessive intervention—both mechanically and
physically. Modern obstetrics seems to emphasize speed
of delivery.
Dr. Towbin further states that he found evidence of spinal
injury in many cases of unexplained crib deaths and
respiratory conditions. He quotes an earlier study by
Mathew Duncan, who discovered that it took 90 to 140
pounds of pull pressure on an infant to produce spinal
damage.
Dr. Towbin states that this amount of pressure is not
uncommon in the normal delivery process. According to
his work, the birth process, under even the best controlled
conditions, is possibly a traumatic event for the newborn.
Robert Mendelsohn, M.D., states that obstetricians are
trained to intervene, and adds that, in a substantial
percentage of cases, this interference adversely affects the
physical or intellectual capacity of the child for the rest of
his or her life.
Can Chiropractic Help Children?
The effectiveness of chiropractic care for children has
been a long-standing premise in our profession, and
clinical results supporting this have been obtained for
years. With the establishment of the Kentuckiana
Children’s Center by Lorraine Golden, D.C., in Louisville,
Kentucky, clinical data became more organized and the
cases more dramatic. The center accepted more serious
cases for care, and achieved results.
Dr. Golden broke new ground in accepting serious cases—
such as intellectual disability, cerebral palsy, Down
syndrome, etc.—on a regular basis and getting
positive results. She was chastised by the medical
profession and, to some extent, even by the
chiropractic profession.
Now, more than ever, both chiropractic and medical
sources are using research to document both the need
and the effectiveness of chiropractic care for children.
G. Gutmann, a German M.D., concluded in a paper
published in 1987 in Manuelle Medizin that blocked nerve
impulses at the atlas cause many clinical features, from
central motor impairment to lower resistance of
infections, especially in the ear, nose, and throat. He
stated, “Chiropractic and radiological examinations are of
decisive importance for diagnosis of the syndrome.” He
further wrote that chiropractic can often bring about
amazingly successful results.
Dr. Gutmann reported examination and adjustment of
more than 1,000 infants with atlas blockages or
subluxations, including three case reports. One report
describes an 18-month-old boy with early relapsing
tonsillitis, frequent enteritis, therapy-resistive
conjunctivitis, frequent colds and earaches, and increasing
sleeping problems—fear of lying down or sleeping, falling
from exhaustion, screaming during the night. After the
first specific adjustment of the atlas, the child demanded
to be put to bed and slept peacefully until morning. The
conjunctivitis cleared completely, and his previously
disturbed appetite returned to normal.
From this and other German medical studies, Dr. Gutmann
concluded that approximately 80 percent of all children
are not in autonomic balance and that many have atlas
blockages or subluxations. He has been “constantly
amazed how, even with the lightest adjustment with the
index finger, the clinical picture normalizes, sometimes
gradually, but often immediately.”
He reported that his colleague, Viola Frymann, examined a
random group of 1,250 babies five days postpartum and
found that 211 suffered from vomiting, hyperactivity, and
sleeplessness. Manual examination revealed cervical strain
in 95 percent of them. Release of this strain by specific
manipulation “frequently resulted in immediate quieting,
cessation of crying, muscular relaxation, and sleepiness.”
Dr. Gutmann’s highly significant conclusions are:
“Observations of motor development and manual
control of the occipito-atlanto-axial joint complex should
be obligatory after every difficult birth.”
With any developmental impairment, this joint
complex should be examined and, if required, specifically
adjusted. “The success of adjustment overshadows every
other type of treatment.”
Dr. Towbin, in his paper “Latent Spinal Cord and Brain
Stem Injury in Newborn Infants,” writes, “…forceful
longitudinal traction during delivery when combined with
flexion and torsion of the vertebral axis is thought to be
the most important cause of neonatal spinal injury.” It is
evident that a close relationship exists between the
traction stress applied and the occurrence of subluxations.
He further states, “These injuries occur often during the
birth process, but frequently escape diagnosis.” Modern
techniques of obstetrics seem to emphasize the speed of
completion of a birth, often at great cost to the newborn’s
cranial and cervical biomechanics.
When All Else Fails…
In my own personal experience, chiropractic was the
solution to my health problem. As a 3-year-old child, I had
chronic asthma and pneumonia complications on a regular
basis. After being dismissed from the hospital with a poor
prognosis for my life, my father took me to a chiropractor
as a last resort. After a brief period of care, my asthma
disappeared and the complications ceased.
I can relate case after case in which chiropractic was
successful after all else had been tried. Consider the
following examples:
A 7-year-old boy who was never supposed to develop
beyond the mental age of 3 had six months of chiropractic
care. Afterward, the child was enrolled in school in a
normal curriculum.
A 6-year-old girl, whose IQ was measured at 40, had
two months of chiropractic care. Then her IQ was
measured at 80 by an independent agency that specialized
in testing for intellectual disability.
A 4-year-old boy who had Down syndrome could not,
upon entry, walk, dress himself, or vocalize. After two
months of chiropractic care, he began to talk, and after
four months of care, he began to dress himself. After six
months of care, he said his first words. My ego wanted the
words to be “chiropractic” or “Dr. Webster,” but it was not
to be so. His first words were to request his favorite food;
prior to that, he could only grunt and point.
Chiropractors all over the world are caring for these cases
and others like them, often obtaining dramatic results. The
statement “you haven’t tried everything until you’ve tried
chiropractic” is unquestionably true. It is no longer
conjecture whether children can be helped under
chiropractic care. Chiropractic can change lives.
Just think of the thousands of lives it has changed. No
longer are children suffering.
What about the burdens being lifted from parents who
searched and searched for answers and found them in
chiropractic?
My life was changed through chiropractic, and there is a
need for every child’s spine to be checked on a regular
basis. Research proves it!
—Larry Webster, DC
