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Baby Girl Saved From Cranial Surgery Because of Chiropractic

A study published in the April 10, 2010 issue of the scientific periodical, the Journal of Pediatric, Maternal and Family Health, documents the case study of a 3 week old baby girl who was saved from head surgery due to timely specific chiropractic care.

In this case study, a 3 week old girl who was medically diagnosed with craniosynostosis was brought to a chiropractor in an attempt to help avoid skull surgery. According to the website WebMD, "Craniosynostosis is a problem with the skull that causes a babys head to be oddly shaped. A baby's skull is not just one bowl-shaped piece of bone. It is made up of five thin, bony plates that are held together by fibrous material called sutures . The sutures let a baby's skull expand as the brain grows. Over time, the sutures harden and close the skull bones together. When a baby has craniosynostosis, one or more of these sutures close too soon. The head doesn't form a normal shape."

The research article starts off by noting that a baby's head growth is largely determined by the growth of the brain. At one year of age, the infant brain reaches approximately 90% of its adult size and by 6 years of age, the brain is 95% developed, and is essentially complete by age 7. Craniosynostosis not only affects skull shape but can also affect brain development creating serious issues.

In this case, a mother brought her 3 week old baby girl to a chiropractor following a medical diagnosis of craniosynostosis by her obstetrician and pediatrician. According to the patient's mother, she was advised that the medical care plan was to monitor her child for 3 months and if craniosynostosis progressed further, surgery would have to be performed on her baby's skull. The baby girl had no other health issues at that time.

A chiropractic examination revealed the presence of subluxations, and a course of specific chiropractic care was initiated for correction. Measurements of the size of the baby's skull were regularly taken and showed that once chiropractic care was initiated, the skull started to show normal growth. After 6 chiropractic visits, the little girl was 10 weeks old and her skull had grown from 34.5 cm, to 39.2 cm. After approximately three months of care the girls mother reported that her daughter's cranial development had progressed so well that she would not require skull surgery.

Dr. Joel Alcantara, a chiropractor and Director of Research for the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (ICPA) and the lead author of the paper, noted, "In this case we have a defect in the infants skull that did not require a planned surgery following a trial of chiropractic care of the spine and skull." He concluded, "The research shows that not only is chiropractic for children extremely safe but it is also highly effective."

Hands-on therapies were top-reated by 14,000 consumers

Well adjusted

Chiropractic care has kept Albert McCann's back pain to a minimum.
Photograph by Dutertre2

This article is the archived version of a report that appeared in May 2009 Consumer Reports Magazine.

About 80 percent of U.S. adults have at some point been bothered by back pain. The Consumer Reports Health Ratings Center recently surveyed more than 14,000 subscribers who had lower-back pain in the past year but had never had back surgery. More than half said pain severely limited their daily routine for a week or longer, and 88 percent said it recurred through the year. Many said the pain interfered with sleep, sex, and efforts to maintain a healthy weight.

Back pain can be tough to treat. Most of our respondents tried five or six different treatments. They rated the helpfulness of the treatments tried and their satisfaction with the health-care professionals visited.

Hands-on therapies were among the top-rated. Fifty-eight percent of those who tried chiropractic manipulation said it helped a lot, and 59 percent were "completely" or "very" satisfied with their chiropractor. Massage and physical therapy were close runners-up.

Many of those who tried spinal injections found them to be very helpful, although the techniques their doctors used varied. Most respondents had used some type of medication. Forty-five percent of those who took prescription drugs said they helped a lot, double the percentage of those who said they were helped by over-the-counter medications.

Who helped the most?

The percent of people highly (completely or very) satisfied with their back-pain treatments and advice varied by practitioner visited.