On 31st October 2019 Safer Care Victoria (SCV) released its independent review of “Chiropractic Spinal Manipulation of Children Under 12”.
The main findings were:
99.7% of parents reported a positive experience;
98% of parents said that their child improved after treatment;
There were no patient complaints;
There were no practitioner notifications related to significant harm to a child from spinal manipulation.
The SCV undertook this review earlier in the year. It was in response to media coverage of spinal manipulation of children. It was presented to the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Health Council (CHC) on 1st November.
The review received 21,824 submissions from members of the public who had used spinal care for a child under 12 years.
This is the largest number of submissions received to date for any public consultation.
A major focus of this study is on a type of spinal manipulation known as High Velocity Low Amplitude (HVLA).
It should be noted that we don’t do this type of adjusting in our clinic. We exclusively use instrument adjusting which people report feels gentle and comfortable.
A major finding of the review is the lack of research into chiropractic treatment of children. This has been widely acknowledged by the profession and further research is very much welcomed.
The full report can be found here. If you have any questions relating to chiropractic treatment of children our practitioners will be more than happy to talk to you.