Adverse Effects of SMT in Children

A recent issue of The Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics contained an article from a chiropractic teaching clinic which looked back at its records for problems associated with adjusting children. Adjusting kids is a big issue within the profession of chiropractic; probably next to the stroke issue, there is none more controversial. That statement needs to be put into context though. The controversy isn't within the profession, but rather outside of it; hence, there is a growing body of research examining both topics to hopefully inject some hard science into what chiropractors as a profession have been saying for 100 years: Chiropractic is safe and effective, even for children.
The study by Miller and Banfield examined 781 files of children under 3 years of age who were treated at a British chiropractic college. The authors found a rate of adverse reaction to be one per 100 pediatric patients, or 1 every 749 treatments (keeping in mind that most patients are treated multiple times), none of which lasted longer than 24 hours or required hospital care. It should be mentioned here that the side effect rate for headaches alone is 18 of 100 for Singular and 14 of 100 for Concerta, two of the most commonly prescribed drugs for children in the US.
This article supports the evidence that chiropractic care is both safe and effective (85% of parents reporting improvement) for children under 3 years of age. An interesting note: A 3 year-old would be considered “old” for the majority of the patients adjusted in this review; almost ¾ of the patients were 3 months old or younger.
Reference:
Miller, JE, Benfield, K. (2008) "Adverse Effects of Spinal Manipulative Therapy in Children Younger Than 3 Years: A Retrospective Study in a Chiropractic Teaching Clinic." Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, 31 (6) pp. 419-23.