Doctors warn of ‘disturbing’ BABY chiropractors who crack newborns’ bones to stop them from crying

Experts have raised the alarm over an online trend that sees chiropractors ‘adjusting’ the backs of newborn babies, putting the babies at risk of damage to their joints, spines and tendons.

Parents have shared videos on social media of their children, some just weeks old, on chiropractors’ treatment tables as providers manipulate their tiny limbs and press on their spines, necks and shoulders.

A video shows Texas chiropractor Jason Roberts briefly turning a baby upside down during a consultation.

These manipulations can cause damage to blood vessels and the spine in adults, leading to paralysis and, in rare cases, death. However, chiropractors say these complications have never been reported in a child.

“I would advise parents not to allow this kind of practice with their child,” said Dr James Best, a paediatrician with a private practice in Australia.

He called the practice “deeply disturbing” and was part of a group of health care providers calling for it to be banned in children under the age of two.

Dr. Best told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that babies’ spines are particularly susceptible to injuries that could theoretically cause permanent damage to their nervous systems.

In 2022 for example, recent graduate Caitlin Jensenthen 28, was left paralyzed after undergoing a routine neck adjustment at a Georgia chiropractor. Doctors who examined Ms. Jensen said her chiropractor had severed arteries in her neck, leading to a stroke.

Because of these risks, Dr. Best publicly opposed the use of chiropractic techniques on newborns, as part of a concerted effort to ban spinal manipulation on newborns in Australia. The ban was reinstated in June 2024.

“Ultimately, there is no way to improve a newborn through manipulation,” Dr. Sean Tabie, an orthopedic surgeon at Children’s National Hospital, told the Washington Post.

“The only thing you can potentially cause is damage,” Dr. Tabie added.

Chiropractic organizations oppose doctors like Dr. Best and Dr. Tabie. They say the practice is safe and claim it can help relieve persistent crying, constipation, vomiting and musculoskeletal problems in young children.

“Chiropractic care for children is very gentle and not like ‘cracking babies,’” Australian Chiropractors Association president David Cahill told the ABC.

Instead, it is common for pediatric sessions to consist of kicking the baby’s legs, massaging the tummy, using fingertips to apply pressure to the baby’s neck, spine and hips, and sometimes using vibrating massage guns.

Other times, the appointments include instructing parents on how to hold their babies in a way that helps them stretch, as Jen Rousseau, a Nashville chiropractor, told a TikTok with more than 6000 views.

It seems that these social media posts have caught the public’s attention. Google searches the term “baby chiropractor” has steadily increased in popularity since 2010, peaking in July 2022 and stagnating since then.

This group includes Dustin Dudd, a chiropractor from Texas, a TikTok shared of his service to a patient who was only six days old.

The video, which has been viewed more than 1.3 million times, shows the practitioner using a vibrating instrument on the baby’s back.

It’s divided among commenters, with some, like user Julia Thompson, saying: ‘A 6 day old?! 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 doctors. They do not have to go to medical school to get a degree.

However, they must typically complete at least three years of undergraduate study and four years of chiropractic graduate program to become a Doctor of Chiropractor (DC). All states require practicing chiropractors to be licensed.

Chiropractic is often promoted as an alternative to drugs or surgery for conditions such as chronic pain, headaches, arthritis and stiffness in adults. Chiropractic is popular in holistic health circles.

However, the fact that they are not doctors has led to public anger, especially after controversial cases.

For example, in 2014, a 30-year-old Oklahoman named Jeremy Youngblood died of a stroke shortly after visiting a chiropractor. The angle 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 Supervision, called chiropractors “snake oil salesmen.”

He told FOX13: ‘They (chiropractors) use neck manipulation for things that have nothing to do with the neck – low back pain, knee pain, and all kinds of organic diseases like ear infections in babies, colic in babies, and PMS in women.’

Studies of chiropractic in children have shown moderate results, which is also emphasized by critics.

The American Academy of Pediatric Chiropractic acknowledged that the evidence for the effectiveness of their practice is mixed, saying, “There are many biased articles, both pro and anti chiropractic.”

A 2021 study from the University of Southern Denmark investigated the treatment of 185 babies with colic, a condition in which babies cry inconsolably for hours every day for weeks on end, with chiropractic treatments.

Researchers had to press lightly on the spine or neck of babies to see if it helped calm the babies.

Early in the analysis of the data, it seemed that the treatment might have reduced the babies’ crying. But further analysis showed that the findings were not strong enough to conclude that the treatment improved the babies’ colic.

a Study 2019 Of the 2,000 British mothers, 82 percent said they believed chiropractic treatments improved their babies’ eating habits, helped with sleep problems and reduced crying.

Most insurance companies do not cover treatment for children, and prices vary widely from practice to practice, averaging anywhere from $60 to $200 per session. according to GoodRx.

Despite the mixed evidence and high price tag, it is a popular practice.

One of the reasons people take their children to these specialists is because we confuse normal developmental stages with medical problems that need to be addressed, Dr. Michael Milobsky, a pediatrician with a primary care practice in Colorado, told the Washington Post.

He said that colic, for example, is a natural stage that many children experience and grow out of on their own, and that it is not a condition that needs to be treated.

But colic is ‘sold as something that can be treated or solved, rather than being thought of as just a developmental period with a broad spectrum of manifestations.’

There are virtually no traditional treatments for this condition, which understandably leads weary parents to seek alternative solutions, such as a chiropractor, Dr. Milobsky says.

Yet there are few doctors who recommend this, if any. Dr. Mutahir Farhan an internist practicing in Riverside, California.

Dr. Farhan added: ‘I can assure you that there is no organization of gynecologists or pediatricians that actually supports this kind of medicine. I don’t even know if I would call it medicine.’