Experts have sounded alarm bells over an online trend that sees chiropractors “adjusting” the backs of newborn babies, putting the little ones at risk of joint, spine and tendon damage.
Parents have shared clips on social media of their children, some just weeks old, on chiropractic tables as health professionals manipulate their tiny limbs, putting pressure on their spine, neck and shoulders.
A video shows Texas chiropractor Jason Roberts briefly turning a baby onto his stomach during a consultation.
These manipulations can cause damage to blood vessels and the spine in adults, which can lead to paralysis and, in rare cases, death. However, chiropractic professionals claim that these complications have never been recorded in children.
“I would advise parents not to allow this type of practice to be performed on their children,” said Dr. James Best, a pediatric family physician with a private practice in Australia.
She called the practice “deeply disturbing” and was part of a group of providers calling for it to be banned in children under two.
Dr. Best told Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that the spine of babies is especially susceptible to injuries that could theoretically cause permanent damage to their nervous system.
For example, in 2022, Caitlin Jensen, recent college graduateJensen, then 28, was paralyzed after receiving a routine neck adjustment at a Georgia chiropractor. Doctors who examined Jensen said her chiropractor had severed arteries in her neck, causing her to have a stroke.
Because of risks like these, Dr. Best publicly opposed the use of chiropractic techniques on newborns, as part of a collective effort seeking to ban spinal manipulation of newborns in Australia. The ban was reinstated in June 2024.
“Ultimately, there’s no way to get improvement in a newborn through manipulation,” said Dr. Sean Tabie, an orthopedic surgeon at Children’s National Hospital. Washington Post.
“The only thing you could do is harm,” Dr. Tabie added.
Chiropractic organizations oppose doctors like Dr. Best and Dr. Tabie. They claim the practice is safe and can help relieve persistent crying spells, constipation, vomiting, and musculoskeletal problems in young children.
“Chiropractic care for children is very delicate and it’s not about ‘baby cracking’,” David Cahill, president of the Australian Chiropractors Association, told the ABC.
Instead, it’s common for these pediatric sessions to include pedaling the baby’s legs, massaging the baby’s abdomen, using fingertips to press on the baby’s neck, spine, and hips, and sometimes using vibrating massage guns.
Other times, appointments involve instructing parents on how to hold their baby in a way that helps them stretch, as Jen Rousseau, a Nashville-based chiropractor, shared in a TikTok with over 6000 views.
These social media posts seem to have caught the public’s attention. Google Searches Prices for the term “baby chiropractor” have been steadily increasing since 2010, peaking in July 2022 and stabilizing since then.
These include people like Dustin Dudd, a Texas-based chiropractor, shared a TikTok of his service to a patient of only six days old.
The video, which has more than 1.3 million views, shows the practitioner using a vibrating instrument on the baby’s back.
Comments are divided. Some, like user Julia Thompson, said: “A six day old baby? That should be illegal.”
Others, like user Naomi Altizer, said, “Taking my newborn baby to the chiropractor was the best decision I ever made.”
Chiropractors are generally not medical doctors: they do not have to go to medical school to earn their degree.
But they are typically required to complete at least three years of undergraduate study and four years of a graduate program in chiropractic to become Doctors of Chiropractic (DC). All states require practicing chiropractors to be licensed.
Chiropractic is often advertised as an alternative to drugs or surgery for conditions such as chronic pain, headaches, arthritis and stiffness in adults, and is popular in holistic health circles.
Still, the fact that they are not doctors has sparked public anger, especially after controversial cases.
For example, in 2014, a 30-year-old Oklahoma man named Jeremy Youngblood died of a stroke shortly after visiting a chiropractor’s office. The Corner said his death was caused by spinal manipulation.
In response to this tragedy, Dr. Bill Kinsiger, chairman of the Oklahoma Board of Medical Licensure and Oversight, called chiropractors “snake oil salesmen.”
He told FOX13‘They (chiropractors) use neck manipulation for things that have nothing to do with the neck: lower back pain, knee pain, and all kinds of organic diseases like ear infections in babies, colicky babies, and PMS in women.’
Studies of chiropractic in children have yielded lukewarm results, which critics also point out.
He American Academy of Chiropractic Pediatrics He acknowledged that evidence on the effectiveness of his practice is mixed, saying, “There are a lot of articles biased both for and against chiropractic.”
A 2021 study A team at the University of Southern Denmark investigated the treatment of 185 babies with colic, a condition in which babies cry inconsolably every day for hours, for weeks at a time, with chiropractic treatments.
The researchers gently pressed on the babies’ spine or neck to see if that helped calm them.
At first, when the data was analyzed, it seemed that the treatment might have helped babies cry less, but further analysis showed that the results were not strong enough to conclude that the practice improved infant colic.
TO 2019 Study A 2000 study of British mothers found that 82 percent of them believed chiropractic treatments improved their babies’ eating habits and sleeping problems and helped them cry less.
Most insurance providers do not cover treatment for children and prices vary widely from practice to practice, averaging between $60 and $200 per session. according to GoodRx.
Even with the mixed evidence and price, it is a popular practice.
One reason people might bring their children to these specialists is because we’ve confused normal developmental stages with medical problems that need solving, Dr. Michael Milobsky, a pediatrician with a primary care practice in Colorado, told the Washington Post.
He said colic, for example, is a natural stage that many children face and overcome on their own, not a condition that needs treatment.
But colic “has been sold as something that can be treated or fixed, rather than understanding that it is simply a developmental period that has a wide spectrum of presentations.”
There are virtually no traditional treatments for this condition, which understandably leads weary parents to seek alternative solutions, such as a chiropractor, Dr. Milobsky said.
Still, there are few, if any, doctors who recommend it. Dr. Mutahir Farhan an internal medicine physician practicing in Riverside, California, said.
Dr. Farhan added: “I guarantee you there is no organization of OB/GYNs or pediatricians that actually supports this type of medicine, I don’t even know if I would call it medicine.”