Birth Trauma and Chiropractic

Treatment of Birth Trauma Injuries and Chiropractic
Science is now starting to document something chiropractors have been observing and warning about for years. For decades chiropractors have been warning the public of the danger to newborns from  common birth processes. 

Birth is a natural phenomenon that should not be viewed or treated as a medical condition. However, in an attempt to “manage” the birth process, many problems are created.  The effects, frequency and overt damage of birth trauma is perhaps the easiest way to understand why all children need to be checked for spinal misalignments and cranial distortions.

Dr. Abraham Towbin, medical researcher on spinal injury says, '"the birth process, even under optimal, controlled conditions is a traumatic potentially crippling event for the fetus."     

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine revealed startling data. It reports: difficult labor itself and the method of delivery may lead to brain injuries and deaths in babies. Brain injuries were found in:      

• one out of every 664 infants delivered with forceps;
• one out of every 860 deliveries by vacuum extraction and
• one out of every 907 infants delivered by c-section.

The most prevalent danger chiropractors have been warning about when it comes to the birth process is the creation of subluxations. Numerous articles and symposiums have relayed scientific documentation of damage that occurs to the nervous system in the neck of newborns during the common birth process. This damage ranges from mild subluxations in the upper neck to more serious subluxations involving spinal cord damage and central nervous system problems.

Gottlieb, a medical researcher said, "Birth trauma remains an underpublicized and, therefore, an undertreated problem. There is a need for further documentation and especially more studies directed toward prevention. In the meantime, manual treatment of birth trauma injuries to the neuromusculoskeletal system could be beneficial to many patients not now receiving such treatment, and it is well within the means of current practice in chiropractic and manual medicine."

Two Contributing Factors

Many authorities suggest that the position of the mother coupled with the pulling from the delivering physician has a lot to do with the creation of these subluxation related problems. When the delivering mother is lying on her back she is not only working partially against gravity but she has reduced the pelvic opening size. These two factors then require the attending physician to pull harder on the head of the child. This increased pulling and twisting during the birth process, coupled with a decrease in the pelvic opening and a non alignment with gravity often set the stage for birth trauma, subluxation and the resulting problems.

Health consequences to the newborn from birth trauma range from immediate and severe to hidden problems that may take years to surface. Some of the more immediate and tragic results that have been documented are spinal cord and brain stem injuries, brain bleeding and swelling, neurological deficits, breathing problems and even sudden infant death syndrome.

The long-term consequences are as varied as the nerve system itself. Some of the more commonly mentioned problems that have been linked to traumatic birth are learning disabilities, headaches, visual and hearing problems, certain palsies, and a host of immune functional problems.  Clinical and neurological investigations of 174 children with similar birth injuries revealed pathogenetic relations between birth trauma of the spine, the medulla and the intestinal tract.

Experts are suggesting that birth be handled as a normal and natural process. Many experts suggest the birthing position of choice is in an upright position of either sitting or squatting. The less force used, if any, the better. 

Can My Child's Pediatrician Find and Treat These Problems?

This is a reasonable question for parents to ask, since the community generally considers the medical profession to have all the answers to every medical problem. Unfortunately, when it comes to subtle spinal problems, your child's pediatrician is not a trained specialist. The medical profession does have doctors who specialize in spinal problems, known as orthopedic surgeons, but these doctors generally work on the more serious spinal conditions. Few medical doctors, be they orthopedic specialists or pediatricians, are trained to recognize the subtle spinal problems which can cause the conditions listed above.

     

Chiropractors have been stressing for years the importance of having a newborn checked for vertebral subluxations. 

The importance of a developing child being free from nerve interference from subluxation can not be understated.  Dr. Larry Webster states that, "New studies are now indicating that the birth process may be one of the foremost causes of Vertebral Subluxation." "With the new studies of the Vertebral Subluxation Complex coming to the forefront - in that it takes less trauma than ever suspected before to produce the Vertebral Subluxation Complex, and that pathology starts faster after the Vertebral Subluxation Complex than ever suspected, it behooves a chiropractor to emphasize the correction of the Vertebral Subluxation Complex in .the child to the parent more than ever before."

How Are Children's Spinal Problems Treated?

The first thing your chiropractor will do is to conduct a careful and thorough evaluation of your child's spine. Most chiropractors are trained to evaluate pediatric spinal problems and will use gentle, specific skills to identify, evaluate, and treat any involved spinal areas.

What Does the Treatment Involve?

Spinal adjustments for infants and young children involve very light finger-tip adjustments to correct malfunctioning spinal structures. A light spinal adjustment, using no more than two pounds of pressure, is usually sufficient to restore mobility to spinal joints which have become locked and are causing interference with the normal function of the nervous system. Most adjustments make a "popping" sound when the spinal joints are moved, however this sound is not always heard when children's spines are adjusted.

Does It Hurt?

Generally, no. However, very young infants sometimes take momentary fright at the sudden movement, and may cry for a few seconds.

How Many Treatments Are Required?

Children's spines are a lot more mobile than those of adults and as a result, usually require only a few adjustments to restore normal function. The actual number of adjustments, however, may vary depending on the length of time that the condition has been present.

What Risks Are Involved in Having My Child's Spine Adjusted?

The risk of a child suffering a permanent injury from a spinal manipulation is extremely rare. Chiropractors have been adjusting children's spines for most of the 100 years since chiropractic was first established, and has an excellent safety record. A check of some of the largest insurance carriers, who provide malpractice insurance coverage for chiropractors in the United States, has identified that despite the recent adverse media coverage, not one claim for injury to a child has been filed in the past five years.

What Now?
It is quite possible that your infant suffered acute birth trauma during the birthing process.  In many cases medical procedures rely more on the ease of the birthing process for the medical staff than on the natural positioning of the mother and therefore lead to the unintentional trauma including subluxations. 

Schedule an appointment with your chiropractor to have your child checked and to begin treatments if necessary.  Call Dr. Hoglund today at 435-232-0732!







Sources:
 J Manipulative Physiol Ther 1993 (Oct);16 (8):537-543

Towbin A. Latent spinal cord and brain stem injuries in newborn infants. Develop Med Child Neurol. 1969; 11, 54-68

Adams C, et al. “Spinal cord birth injury: value of computed tomographic myelography,” 1998 Depts of pediatric neurology and radiology: University of Toronto         

Rossitch E, Oakes J. Perinatal spinal cord injury: clinical, radiographic and pathological features. Pediatr Neurosurg 1992; 18: 149-152         

Michailov MK, Akberov RF. Radiol Diagn (Berl) 1989;30(6):669-74 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=2608901&dopt=Abstract