In Australia there are more than 12 million visits to chiropractors each year. Over 1 million of these (approximately 8.6 per cent of visits annually) are paediatric visits. (1)
In accordance with WHO (and other) guidelines techniques that are applied to newborns, infants and young children vary considerably, or are significantly modified from those taught and used on the adult population (2).
Typical chiropractic care of infants and young children involves the use of low-force low-amplitude techniques in contrast to those used on the adult population which typically involve more high velocity, low-amplitude thrust in combination with a variety of low-force low-amplitude treatment procedures. (3,4,5,6,7)
Chiropractic care has an excellent safety record with children and is delivered by educated, regulated healthcare professionals. (8) In addition, given the patient-centric nature of chiropractic care, there is high expressed satisfaction by parents/guardians seeking care of their children.
References
- Lee AC, Li DH, Kemper KJ. Chiropractic care for children. Archives of Pediatric Adolescent Medicine. 2000;154(4):401-7.
- World Health Organisation. WHO guidelines on basic training and safety in Chiropractic 2005.
- Marchand AM. Chiropractic care of children from birth to adolescence and classification of reported conditions: an internet cross-sectional survey of 956 European chiropractors. J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2012;35(5):372-80.
- Vallone S, Miller J, Larsdotter A, Barham-Floreani J. Chropractic approach to the management of children. Chiropractic & osteopathy. 2010;18(16):1-8.
- Miller J. Demographic survey of pediatric patients presenting to a chiropractic teaching clinic. Chiropractic and Osteopathy. 2010;18.
- Mykietiuk C, Wambolt M, Pillipow T, Mallay C, Gleberzon BJ. Technique systems used by post-1980 graduates of the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College practicing in five Canadian provinces: a preliminary survey. The Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association. 2009;53(1):32-9.
- Gleberzon BJ, Arts J, Mei A, McManus EL. The use of spinal manipulative therapy for pediatric health conditions: a systematic review of the literature. The Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association. 2012;56(2):128-41.
- Todd AJ, Carroll MT, Robinson A, Mitchell EKL. Adverse events from chiropractic and other manual therapies for infants and children: A Review of the Literature. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics. 2015 IN PRESS.
