Chiropractic Helps Child With Seizures - A Case Study

In the Volume 6, No. 3, 2005 issue of the peer reviewed Journal of Clinical Chiropractic Pediatrics is a scientifically reported case study of an infant suffering from seizures who was helped by chiropractic.

The child in this case study was a  5 month old boy who, according to his parents, cried continuously, slept minimally, and experienced up to 8 seizures per day. Additionally, the child recently had surgery to close sutures on the left side of his head.  The mother also noted that her son had a constant head tilt to the left and could not rotate his head and neck to the right.

The chiropractic examination on the child was difficult as it was noted that the infant was in severe distress and cried during the entire procedure.  However, it was determined that there were problems (subluxations) in various areas of the neck, mid back and lower spine.

Regular chiropractic adjustments were started and continued for several weeks, followed by periodic follow ups. The outcome of the care was immediately positive as the number of seizures started decreasing after the first adjustment.  Several weeks into the care the child seemed to have a regression for one day as he experienced five seizures in that day.  However, following this episode he was seizure free for the next week.  This was the first week of his life that he was seizure free.

By the sixth week of care the child's life had been drastically changed for the better.  He was having no seizures between adjustments, he was sleeping all night and he was eating properly for a child his age.  The case study noted that these improvements represented a significant improvement to the child's quality of life.

The author of the study, Nancy Brown, D.C., notes that each year approximately 150,000 children and adolescents have a seizure. She points out that seizures are a sudden onset of abnormal electrical discharges within the brain.  She further points out that the medical approach is to medicate in order to suppress the abnormal electrical impulses. However, she points out that there is no way to suppress the abnormal impulses without suppressing the normal ones which would be needed for normal function and development.  She states, "A chiropractic approach may therefore be of more benefit as it will correct the abnormal impulses not just suppress them."