A study published on March 12, 2015 in the Journal of Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health documents a case of a Down’s Syndrome boy with crossed eyes being helped with chiropractic.
The authors of the study begin by explaining, “Chiropractic is often mistakenly regarded as having a very limited scope of practice in general, i.e. neck pain, back pain and headaches. Yet, chiropractors and their patients experience a multitude of positive results beyond these musculoskeletal complaints, especially in children.”
The authors report that chiropractic care is the most common type of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) for children. Studies show that usage of chiropractic nearly doubled in a few short years, rising from 11% in the early nineties to 20% by the late nineties. They note that children represent between 8% and 11% of chiropractic care received.
The authors further explain, “Some of the common pediatric conditions addressed by chiropractors include scoliosis, infantile colic, nocturnal enuresis, constipation, otitis media, seizures, autism, ADHD, asthma, cerebral palsy and strabismus. However, one study revealed that wellness care was the highest ranking reasoning for pediatric chiropractic care.”
In this case, a 4-year-old Down’s Syndrome boy was brought into the chiropractor’s office along with his family for correction of any subluxations. The boy’s right eye was crossed inward. The mother reported that both the boy’s eyes were originally crossed and that surgery had been performed on the left eye in an attempt to return it to a more normal position.
After a chiropractic analysis, adjustments were initiated to correct the boy’s subluxations. After 12 visits, the boy’s parents reported to the chiropractor that their son’s right eye had completely returned to center. Additionally, his left eye, which had been surgically corrected, started to also correct and was therefore slightly divergent from center. This indicated that the surgery may not have been needed, as the eye may have attempted to correct itself with chiropractic.
In their conclusion the authors wrote. “The results of the reduction of vertebral subluxation in this case suggest that chiropractic care may be beneficial in the correction of strabismus. Had the patient not undergone the operation to repair the left eye, we propose that both eyes would have been centered in the neutral position.”
