The International Chiropractic Pediatric Association's ground breaking study, “The Safety and Effectiveness of Pediatric Chiropractic: A Survey of Chiropractors and Parents in a Practice-Based Research Network,” was published this month in the prestigious, biomedical journal, Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing. The objective of this study was to describe the practice of pediatric chiropractic, including its safety and effectiveness.

The results of the study determined that “the indicated primary reason for chiropractic care of children was ‘wellness care.’ With respect to condition-based presentations, musculoskeletal conditions were the most common, in addition to nonmusculoskeletal conditions of childhood. The most common techniques used were Diversified Technique, Gonstead Technique, Thompson technique, and Activator Methods. Treatment-associated complications were not indicated by the chiropractic and parent responders. Chiropractor responders indicated three adverse events per 5,438 office visits from the treatment of 577 children. The parent responders indicated two adverse events from 1,735 office visits involving the care of 239 children. Both sets of responders indicated a high rate of improvement with respect to the children's presenting complaints, in addition to salutary effects unrelated to the children's initial clinical presentations.”