Chiropractic Offers Hope for Autism
Two separate papers published in two scientific journals hold hope for children with autism through
chiropractic care. One paper published in the March 2006 issue of
Clinical Chiropractic reviews past studies on
Chiropractic and Autism. This paper recounts in clinical studies where children with autism are helped with chiropractic care. Most of the studies reviewed speak of problems in the
upper cervical (neck) spine.
In addition to the Clinical Chiropractic paper, a study published in the March 9, 2006 Journal of Vertebral Subluxation (JVSR) compares two groups of children with autism and their response under chiropractic care. In this study 14 children diagnosed with autism were studied undergoing chiropractic care. Seven of these children received one form of chiropractic adjustments focusing on the entire spine while the other seven received a form of chiropractic adjustment focusing on the upper cervical spine.
The children in this study were diagnosed with autism at the Child Evaluation Center at the University of Louisville Medical School. The evaluation of any progress made was done by using the Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC) created by the researchers at the Autism Research Institute of San Diego, California. According to the JVSR study, the ATEC is a one-page questionnaire designed to be completed by parents, teachers, or caretakers. It consists of 4 subsets: I. Speech/Language Communication (14 items); II. Sociability (20 items); III. Sensory/Cognitive Awareness (18 items); and IV. Health/Physical/Behavior (25 items).
Each of the children in this study were scored according to the ATEC evaluation. Then, twice each week for the following 3 months, the children were checked and adjusted as indicated. Follow up ATEC evaluations were performed each month to monitor the progress.
The results showed that improvement of ATEC scores occurred in six of the seven children under upper cervical adjustment and in five of the seven children under full spine adjustment. The children in the upper cervical group did show greater score improvements overall.
In this group, two of the children improved so much that they no longer met the criteria to be classified as autistic. Overall, the study noted that the most common clinical aspects of improvement were in communication, verbal skills, eye contact, mood, and physical sport skills.
innate intelligence of the body can heal itself when given the right tools. Notice in this story they did not say that Max had back or neck pain. Max was a child that had interference in his nervous system that was not allowing the body to function and express itself as it was designed to do. The chiropractor simply removed this interference in the nervous system, through an adjustment, and allowed Max’s body to express itself fully.
It’s like taking your child from a 40-Watt light bulb to a 100-Watt light bulb. Both produce light and have energy, but one is able to express itself in a greater capacity and exude more energy and light. Chiropractic kids are functioning at 100-Watts, “normal” children are at 40-Watts … what would you like your for your growing child?
Autism & Chiropractic Care (Video)
