July 2021

• Parents Very Satisfied with Chiropractic for Children
• Resolution of Urinary Incontinence in a 75-Year-Old Female Undergoing Chiropractic Care
• Resolution of Colitis, Breastfeeding Issues and Multiple Health Problems in Infant Under Chiropractic
• More Screen Time Equals More Spinal Pain According to Study

A dissertation by Genevieve M. Keating and released by Fielding Graduate University in 2021 has the title "Do Children in Australia Benefit from Chiropractic Care?" This paper is an exhaustive look over a ten year period at the responses of parents whose children underwent chiropractic care in Australia. The author of this paper looked at data from the Review of Chiropractic Spinal Care for Children that was conducted in 2019 by Safer Care Victoria on children under 12 years of age.

In explaining the purpose for this paper and study, the author noted, "Infant and early childhood development have significant impacts on long term health and wellbeing. This early development sets the scene for life-long health, wellbeing, and competence, and early preventative intervention in the health and educational fields can be very valuable." She goes on to explain that "Chiropractors work with infants and children who have postural and musculoskeletal issues. It is important to address these issues early because they may impact breastfeeding, settling, sleeping, and development."

The goal of this study was to answer a number of general questions concerning chiropractic care for children. The questions included, "Why do parents seek chiropractic care for their children?", "Who else do they consult for these concerns?", and "How satisfied were parents (or their children) with the care they received?". The data was from the results obtained from 22,043  parents whose children under 12 had received chiropractic care in the last ten years.

The results of the study showed that 48% of those parents who sought chiropractic for their children did so for musculoskeletal complains. In most of those instances, the parents were concerned about their child's development. Of these children, 77.5% of them were also under care of another health professional for the same issue.

Almost universally, 99.16% of the parents felt well-informed and involved in their decision about chiropractic care for their child. However, being well-informed at such a high rate was not the study's most surprising statistic. The study also showed that 98.4% of the parents stated that their child showed improvement from their chiropractic care, and 99.6% of parents said chiropractic care benefited their child.  These high levels of satisfaction and report of benefit is unprecedented anywhere else in healthcare.

On June 18, 2021,the Annals of Vertebral Subluxation Research research journal published the results of a case study documenting positive results of chiropractic care for an elderly woman who was suffering from chronic urinary incontinence (UI). According to the NIH National Institute of Aging, "Urinary incontinence means a person leaks urine by accident. While it may happen to anyone, urinary incontinence is more common in older people, especially women."

This study describes this condition and how common a problem it is by noting, "It is characterized by involuntary urine leakage from the bladder and affects a significant number of adults. An estimated 13 million Americans have urinary incontinence, and women compose about 85% of those affected. UI is reported to cause an estimated $16.3 billion in annual health care expenses."

In this case study, a 75-year-old woman suffering with UI went to a chiropractor to see if she could be helped. Her UI problem began six years ago after she suffered an automobile accident and had a subsequent surgical mesh procedure. The woman reported that she would urinate up to three times per night which prevented her from getting a peaceful night sleep.

A chiropractic examination was performed which included a postural analysis and postural spinal x-rays. It was concluded that subluxations were present and a plan of specific chiropractic care over a series of visits was initiated. At the completion of the initial plan of care, a re-evaluation was performed to access the structural and symptomatic changes.

The results showed that the woman's spine had made significant changes and improvements over her initial examination. More importantly for the woman, she reported a compete resolution of her UI and was now able to sleep through the night without having to awake to urinate.

The Urinary Care Foundation describes the normal function of the urinary system by noting that "The muscles in the lower part of the pelvis hold the bladder in place. Normally, the smooth muscle of the bladder is relaxed. This holds the urine in the bladder. The neck (end) of the bladder is closed. The sphincter muscles are closed around the urethra. The urethra is the tube that carries urine out of the body. When the sphincter muscles keep the urethra closed, urine doesn't leak. Once you are ready to urinate, the brain sends a signal to the bladder. Then the bladder muscles contract. This forces the urine out through the urethra, the tube that carries urine from the body. The sphincters open up when the bladder contracts."

From a chiropractic understanding, the message from the brain that controls this process must arrive at the bladder and sphincter without any interference. If these signals are altered by subluxation the resulting tissues, such as the bladder and sphincter, will not function properly and incontinence could result. Correction of subluxations would allow the system to function properly.

The authors of this study highlight the role of subluxation in patients with UI by stating in their conclusion, "The improvements in this study support the consideration of vertebral subluxations and chiropractic co-management in urinary incontinence."

The Journal of Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health Chiropractic published the results of a case study documenting the resolution through chiropractic care of allergic colitis, colic, plagiocephaly, and breastfeeding challenges for an infant who suffered a traumatic birth process. Plagiocephaly is an unevenly shaped infant's head with some sort of flat spot.

In this study, the authors begin by giving an overview of the purpose of chiropractic. "The purpose of chiropractic is to help patients, families, and communities express their innate human potential. Doctors of Chiropractic help patients realize this by establishing an optimal neural connection between their brain and body as it relates to the structure and function of the spine."

In short, chiropractors accomplish this by correcting vertebral subluxations that interfere with nerve signals between the brain and the body tissues. The authors further explain subluxation by stating, "Vertebral subluxation is defined by the Association of Chiropractic Colleges as '...a complex of functional and/or structural and/or pathological changes that compromise neural integrity and may influence organ system function and general health'."

In this case, a 2-month-old infant boy was brought to the chiropractor by his parents. The boy was suffering with a variety of health issues which included allergic colitis, an inability to latch and feed properly, and an irritability during the day which was much worse at night and described as inconsolable.

The infant had a traumatic birth which his mother described as "horrific." The mother suffered from pre-eclampsia and a decision was made to induce the birth at 38 weeks. At the birth, it was reported that the umbilical cord was wrapped around baby's body, resulting in a vacuum extraction birth. When the boy was born, he was not breathing and was completely cyanotic and needed to be resuscitated.

An age and size appropriate chiropractic examination was performed to assess the presence of subluxations. From this examination, it was determined that subluxations were present at the top and bottom of the baby's spine. With this information, specific forms of pediatric chiropractic adjustments were performed almost daily for the first few weeks.

Within the first three weeks, the study reports that the boy experienced profound changes in his gastrointestinal system and moderate changes in his emotional distress. The boy's pediatrician also noted on a visit at this time that there was no longer any blood in the boy's stool which had been present prior to the beginning of chiropractic care. The pediatrician noted the baby's improvement and cancelled all prescriptions that had been given to the baby.

By the 6-12 week mark, all symptoms related to the digestive system and the emotional distress had resolved. The baby was now happy and could even sit in a car seat without crying. By the 12-20 week of chiropractic care, the study reports that all symptoms and problems had resolved and the baby boy was healthy and normal.

In their discussion section of this study, the researchers explain the chiropractic approach by saying, "Chiropractic care has been a vitalistic health care intervention for over 120 years. All vitalistic health care providers acknowledge a similar primary value for the healing power stored within the body. Chiropractors call this Innate Intelligence. Chiropractors recognize the primacy of the nervous system as the source of the self-healing, self-regulating and self-adapting system within the body. This is a much different premise than allopathic medicine whose primary premise is that the body has a genetic predisposition for illness and failure."

In the conclusion the authors state, "This case study demonstrates the successful management of vertebral subluxation over an 8-month period in an infant who had experienced birth trauma with resulting health challenges."

A study published in BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders (BioMed Central) on April 26, 2021, showed that an increase in screen time for children is directly associated with an increase in spinal pain. This study, titled "Spinal pain in pre-adolescence and the relation with screen time and physical activity behavior" was conducted at the Section of Epidemiology, Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health and Medical Science, University of Copenhagen, in Denmark.

The stated purpose of the study was "To investigate how screen time and physical activity behavior were associated with spinal pain in pre-adolescence." To accomplished this, the researchers sent web-based questions to children and their mothers. The children were asked how much of their leisure time did they spend in front of the computer, on computer gaming such as PlayStation, XBox, PSP, Nintendo and Wii, or watching TV or movies.

The scale of this study was large as the researchers obtained results from 45,555 children between the ages of 11 and 12. In addition to screen time, the researchers questioned the participants about their physical activity and how much time they engaged in sports. The researchers used the WHO's definition of physical activity which includes activities such as games, playing, sports, transportation, recreation, physical education and planned exercise in the context of family, school and community activities. The children were also asked to rate how much spinal pain they may have experienced using a scale from 1 to 6 with 6 being the most pain.

The results showed that almost half of the children spent between 2 and 4 hours per day in front of some sort of screen. A smaller amount, 22%, spent less than 2 hours per day in front of a screen, and 9% spent more than 6 hours per day in front of screens. As expected, those with more screen time engaged in less physical activity.

The researcher found that those children with more screen time were proportionality more likely to have spinal pain. The more time a child spent in front of a screen, the less activity they engaged in and the more spinal pain they suffered. Children who spent more than six hours per day in front of screen were significantly at risk for spinal pain according to the researchers.

In their conclusion the researchers noted, "Findings indicate that both duration of screen time and physical inactivity are correlated with spinal pain in pre-adolescents with the strongest associations for screen time. Reducing screen time or increasing physical activity might help preventing spinal pain in pre-adolescents, particularly among high frequent screen users."

Dr. Robert Braile, chiropractic practitioner and past president of the International Chiropractors Association commented on the findings in this study by saying, "Our bodies and spines are made to move. This is especially important in the developing skeletal system of a child. Screen time has become a part of our children's culture. We must, however, balance this with inclusion of physical activity for children. The results of a sedentary lifestyle for kids is resulting in numerous health issues both short-term and long-term."