One of the first and more well-known times a parent takes their infant to a Chiropractor is if the child is dealing with colic. The story below plays out all the time:

Your irritable and fussy infant has been crying almost non-stop for two weeks now. You take your child to the pediatrician who diagnoses your baby with colic. The pediatrician first prescribes Prilosec.

After three weeks and no change in symptoms, the pediatrician prescribes Zantac. After another 3 weeks with no change in symptoms, the pediatrician (now flustered) says there is nothing more they can do. Here they provide that all too often statement about your baby’s colic: “they will grow out of it.”

With the pediatrician’s hands now washed from the situation, you are now left irritable, fussy and searching for answers. You begin a frantic search on the internet for ‘alternative medical treatment for colic.’ On page two of your Google search, you come across a discussion post about Pediatric Chiropractic.

You read how someone took their infant to a Chiropractor and it cured their colic. You are flustered enough at this point to at least give it a try; even though you are skeptical how a “back cracker” is going to fix your baby’s colic. You apprehensively take your child to the Chiropractor.

The Chiropractor explains how a subluxation of the spine effects the Nerve system and could be contributing to undesirable function, presenting what has been diagnosed as colic. After a few visits and adjustments from the Chiropractor, the colic clears up and you choose to call if they need Chiropractic service again.

Should you as a parent wait until a subluxation contributes to abnormal function again before you see a Chiropractor? Or worse yet, wait until a disease is diagnosed before seeking care? Chiropractic and its adjustment don’t provide the same effects as medicine and its drugs.

There is no unique chiropractic treatment of colic or a specific adjustment that mimics Prilosec. Chiropractic is not meant to be an “alternative to medicine” even though that is too often perceived by our society. Even worse, propagated by some Chiropractors.

We need to stop presenting Chiropractic as a disease treating alternative to medicine. The Chiropractic adjustment does not “adjust” colic, or “adjust” ear infections or “adjust” asthma. The symptoms of a disease are not the result of a vertebral subluxation. Nor is the lack of symptoms the product of vertebral subluxation absence.

Symptoms are subjective effects of physical, chemical and emotional stresses. A subluxation is an objective cause of physical, chemical, and emotional stresses. Objective causes are more important to a Chiropractor than subjective effects.

This is not to say that Chiropractors are callous to a patient's symptoms. We don’t rely on symptoms alone, especially pain, as our only marker for health. This is because not only are symptoms subjective in nature, they can also be a sign of healthy function.

When the body can’t adapt to stresses OR if the body is trying to adapt to stress; that is when symptoms occur. The most common example of this is the symptoms associated with a fever. A fever is a natural, normal and healthy defense response to invading pathogens. Although the symptoms of a fever can be unpleasant and even painful, they should not be feared or subdued.

A subluxation does create abnormal tissue function. This abnormal tissue function can be painless. Over time, abnormal tissue function creates damaged tissue function.

Damaged tissue function can still be painless. Damaged tissue function can create symptoms. Symptoms can still be painless though.

Symptomatic tissue over time can lead to a crisis, with pain as the primary symptom. This is the point where the majority of people “try” Chiropractic for the first time; after they have tried all other alternatives, both medical and non-medical.

What if we utilize Chiropractic to its greatest potential? The biggest benefit that Chiropractic can offer to not only children but everyone, has nothing to do with symptoms or disease. It has everything to do with improving the adaptability of the nervous system.

A subluxation is not the precursor of disease as much as a cause of disruption. A Disruption results in a deficiency in adaptation. This is a less than ideal ability to adapt to internal and external stresses.

A subluxation lowers the resistance of the body to functional adaptation. The adaptability of the Nerve system is in direct relationship to its functional condition. You don’t need to have colic, ear infections, asthma or any other disease to receive the benefits of Chiropractic care. So, do you want to stop disease or start health?

- Dr. Jarek Esarco

Jarek Esarco, DC, CACCP is a pediatric, family wellness and upper cervical specific Chiropractor. He is an active member of the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (ICPA). Dr. Jarek has postgraduate certification in Pediatric Chiropractic through the ICPA. Dr. Jarek also has postgraduate certification in the HIO Specific Brain Stem technique through The TIC Institute. Dr. Jarek is happily married to his wife Regina. They live in Youngstown, Ohio with their daughter Ruby.