Why Do Infants and Children Need Chiropractic Care?

The U.S. ranks the lowest of twenty nations for child mortality rates from all causes.1 Although drastic breakthroughs have been made in the past fifty years, we are still falling short in our pediatric care as a nation. We currently have the sickest and most medicated children in history with 1 in 10 children diagnosed with ADHD1, 1 in 31 with autism2 (up from 1 in 10,000 in 19803), 1 in 15 with asthma4, 1 in 7 with depression and anxiety5, 1 in 5 with childhood obesity6, and 1 in 25 with high blood pressure7! Our current model for healthcare is failing our children. Instead of focusing on what is causing the issue, medicine is focused on treating the disease. This is exactly why chiropractic care for children is more important now than it’s ever been. 

Chiropractic care is focused around the nervous system; the master control center for the entire body. Spinal misalignments can distort signals going from the brain to the body and from the body to the brain. The average adult human body has around 41 miles of nerve fibers, but only 18% or so of those nerves are for pain. This means the majority of the time this neurological interference is usually painless and negatively impacts the function of the body. Spinal misalignments can happen from major traumas like car accidents, repetitive traumas like being hunched over on a phone for hours a day, but the most common way this occurs is from the birth process. 

In the first 24 months of life the cerebellum of the brain increases in size by 240% and the cortex of the brain increases in size by 110%.9 This is the fasted period of brain development. The primary driver of brain development during this time is sensory information that travels to the brain from the body. If a spinal misalignment is present it will distort these signals and alter brain development. Thankfully we know that the brain is malleable and can be changed and re-wired through a process called neuroplastic remodeling. However, the older an individual is the less neuroplastic change is available – think of the colloquial saying “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks”. So the sooner a child is checked by a pediatric chiropractor the easier it is to get them on the right track for ideal neurodevelopment. 

References: 

  1. Thakrar A, Forrest A, Maltenfort M, Forrest C. Child mortality in the US and 19 OECD comparator nations: a 50-year time-trend analysis. Health aff. 2018 Jan; 37(1):140-149.
  2. Centers for Disease Control Nov 19, 2024; https://www.cdc.gov/adhd/data/index.html
  3. Centers for Disease Control May 27, 2025; https://www.cdc.gov/adhd/data/index.html
  4. Barbaresi WJ, Colligan RC, Weaver AL, Katusic SK. The incidence of clinically diagnosed versus research-identified autism in Olmsted County, Minnesota, 1976-1997: results from a retrospective, population-based study. J Autism Dev Disord. 2009 Mar;39(3):464-70.
  5. Centers for Disease control May 10, 2023; https://www.cdc.gov/asthma/most_recent_national_asthma_data.htm
  6. Centers for Disease Control June 5, 2025: https://www.cdc.gov/children-mental-health/data-research/index.html#:~:text=Based%20on%20US%20data%20from,and%206%25%20of%20females).
  7. Sanyaolu A, Okorie C, Qi X, Locke J, Rehman S. Childhood and Adolescent Obesity in the United States: A Public Health Concern. Glob Pediatr Health. 2019 Dec 1;6:2333794X19891305.
  8. Bell CS, Samuel JP, Samuels JA. Prevalence of Hypertension in Children. Hypertension. 2019 Jan;73(1):148-152. doi: 10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.118.11673. 
  9.  Rosen M. Pediatric certification series class 1A. Conference proceedings at: Peak Potential Institute, Apr 23-24, 2022; Boston, MA.