Yes for most children and most pregnancies, provided the chiropractor is trained for those patients and examines them first. At our Holt office the force used on a child is a small fraction of an adult adjustment, published safety reviews report serious problems as rare, and anything outside our scope is sent to your pediatrician or OB.
Families from Holt, Mason, Dimondale, Okemos and the rest of the mid Michigan communities we serve ask this question on the phone long before anyone books. It deserves a straight answer rather than a comforting one. Dr. Moriah Severance, DC, ND is Webster Certified through the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association, her work centers on women’s health, children’s health and pregnancy, and she is a mother herself. Dr. Jessica Coleman, DC cares for families across the same age range at the Holt office. Below is what changes when the patient is a child or an expecting mother, what the safety literature actually reports, and the symptoms that send you to a physician before a chiropractor.
What a Pediatric Adjustment Actually Involves
Parents picture the adult version: a quick thrust into a stiff joint, often with a pop. That is not what happens to a child here.
- An infant is worked on with light, sustained fingertip contact, frequently while lying across a parent’s lap.
- There is no twisting of the neck or trunk, and no audible release to expect.
- The contact used on a school-age child stays far below adult force and rises only with size and maturity.
- The doctor picks the approach after the exam, describes it to you first, and you stay beside the table if you want to.
None of that is improvised. A panel of 29 international experts published updated best-practice recommendations for chiropractic care of children, and the point they return to is that examination and treatment are matched to the child’s age, size and stage of development.[1] An eleven-year-old who came off a bike, a toddler holding their head to one side and a newborn are three different visits, not one protocol applied three times.
“Both Doctors, and the staff, have been wonderful to my young adult autistic son. They do a great job with the adjustments, and are very accommodating to him.” - Melanie M. (Holt)
The Pediatric Safety Record, Stated Plainly
Three pieces of published work carry most of the weight here, and we would rather quote them accurately than round them up:
- A chiropractic teaching clinic recorded 5,242 visits by 697 children under age 3. A reaction was reported roughly once in every 749 treatments, and those reactions were mild: a spell of crying or some soreness.[2]
- A 2020 rapid review covering children under 10 landed in the same place, with temporary fussiness or tenderness as the usual complaint. It also states the limit out loud: serious events are reported too seldom for anyone to put a rate on them.[3]
- A 2015 review that swept decades of literature across every manual therapy profession found 15 serious adverse events in children, and most of those children had an underlying condition nobody had identified before treatment.[4]
Seldom reported is not the same as impossible, and we say that to parents in the room. The third finding is the reason the exam is never skipped and the reason a child leaves here with a note for their pediatrician when something we find does not belong to us.
Pregnancy Care in Holt: Positioning, Comfort, Webster Certification
Low back pain and pelvic pain are common companions to pregnancy, as the Cochrane review on the subject documents.[5] Most of the usual remedies come off the table at the same time, which is why a drug-free option gets a second look in the second and third trimesters.
The safety picture is qualified in the same honest way as the pediatric one. Reviewers who searched the published literature for adverse events after spinal manipulation during pregnancy and the postpartum period assembled seven reported cases in total, from passing soreness to rare serious injury.[6] That is not proof of zero risk. It does mean documented complications are uncommon, and it puts the weight on how the visit is run. In practice that means:
- Side-lying, supine or prone positioning on tables with thoracic and abdominal drops, chosen for the trimester you are in.
- Lower force than an adult non-pregnant adjustment, with pressure kept off the abdomen.
- The Webster Technique where it fits, a pelvic and sacral adjustment developed for pregnancy that aims to ease tension in the surrounding muscles and ligaments. It is documented in the chiropractic literature, and the evidence behind it is case series and practitioner report rather than controlled trial, so we describe it as what it is and promise nothing about your delivery.[7]
Dr. Moriah carries that certification through the ICPA. More on how the visits are structured is on our prenatal chiropractic page.
“Dr. Moriah is great with my postpartum issues and with our baby’s adjustments. Our visits have helped us immensely!” - Rachael S. (Jackson)
What Holt Parents Book Their Children In For
The reasons that come up in our intake conversations are consistent: colic, torticollis, sports knocks from the local leagues, growing pains that flare at bedtime, and the general once-over when an older sibling is already a patient.
Colic is where honesty matters most. We do not promise to cure it, and a practice that does is telling you something the evidence cannot support. What we offer instead is a gentle option with a good safety record, careful notes on what shifts between visits, and a plain account of what we see. Some families notice a difference. Some do not, and we will tell you when that is the case rather than book you further out.
Musculoskeletal complaints are more straightforward ground: a young athlete sore after a tournament weekend, a toddler favoring one side of the neck, a back that aches through a growth spurt. Those are joint and spine problems, which is the work this profession was built around, and the 2016 recommendations cited above address them directly. Our pediatric chiropractic page covers how we approach them, and family chiropractic covers the households that come in together.
“Very nice and professional staff. They are great with the whole family, adults and kids.” - David L. (Holt)
Symptoms That Belong With a Physician First
Our care runs alongside your pediatrician, your OB and your midwife, never instead of them. Some situations are ours and some are not, and the second list is short but firm.
Take a child to their pediatrician, urgent care or an emergency department before calling us if there is:
- Fever, unusual limpness or unusual sleepiness
- A refusal to eat or drink
- A significant fall, collision or other trauma
- Sudden weakness in an arm or leg
- Any symptom that is getting worse by the hour
Call your OB or midwife now, not a chiropractor, if you are pregnant and notice:
- Vaginal bleeding or leaking fluid
- A severe headache, particularly with vision changes
- Noticeably reduced fetal movement
- Contractions before term
Screening for exactly these things is part of a first exam here. The serious pediatric injuries in the literature cluster around conditions nobody had identified yet, which argues for more coordination with your physician, not less.
Your First Visit at the Holt Office
Nobody goes on a table first. The visit opens with history and an exam, the doctor tells you what they found, and only then does a recommendation follow. You will hear what the technique is, what it feels like and what we are watching for before anything is done to your child or to you. Our what to expect page walks through the same sequence in more detail.
Two questions are worth asking any chiropractor who takes children and expecting patients: what is your training in pediatric technique, and are you Webster Certified? You should get specific answers. Ours are the published pediatric best-practice standards our doctors work from and Dr. Moriah’s Webster certification through the ICPA.
If a toddler woke up unable to turn their head, or your back gave out at 34 weeks, waiting is miserable. Our Holt hours are Monday and Wednesday 9am to 6pm, Thursday 2pm to 6pm, and Friday 9am to 3pm. Call (517) 699-2646 or send a note through our contact page and someone will get back to you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you adjust infants at your Holt office?
Yes, after an exam and a conversation with you about what we find. An infant is worked on with light, sustained fingertip contact, often while lying across a parent’s lap, and published pediatric guidelines expect the approach to be matched to the child’s age and size. Anything the exam flags goes to your pediatrician instead.
Does an adjustment hurt a child?
It should not. The contact a child receives is a small fraction of the force used on an adult, without the twisting or the audible release that adults associate with the word adjustment. Most children in Holt treat the visit as unremarkable, and you are welcome to stay beside the table the whole time.
Is chiropractic care safe while I am pregnant?
For most pregnancies, yes. Reviewers who searched the published literature for complications after spinal manipulation in pregnancy and the postpartum period turned up very few reported cases. We adapt the table setup and the amount of force to your trimester, and we keep pressure off the abdomen throughout.
Which Holt doctor is Webster Certified?
Dr. Moriah Severance, DC, ND holds the Webster certification through the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association, and she is a mother herself. Dr. Jessica Coleman, DC also cares for children and families at the Holt office. Call (517) 699-2646 if you would like your appointment scheduled with a particular doctor.
Will chiropractic fix my baby’s colic?
We will not tell you that it will, and we would question anyone who does. Colic is one of the reasons Holt-area parents call us, so what we offer is a gentle option, an honest read on what we find, and notes on what changes between visits. If nothing changes, we say so.
Do I need a referral from my pediatrician or OB first?
No referral is needed to book with us, though we are glad to talk with your physician and we encourage you to loop them in. Chiropractic care sits alongside well-child visits and prenatal care, never in place of either. Any fever, injury or pregnancy complication belongs with your physician first.
References
- Hawk C, Schneider MJ, Vallone S, Hewitt EG. Best practices for chiropractic care of children: a consensus update. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics. 2016;39(3):158-168. PubMed ↩
- Miller JE, Benfield K. Adverse effects of spinal manipulative therapy in children younger than 3 years: a retrospective study in a chiropractic teaching clinic. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics. 2008;31(6):419-423. PubMed ↩
- Corso M, Cancelliere C, Mior S, Taylor-Vaisey A, Côté P. The safety of spinal manipulative therapy in children under 10 years: a rapid review. Chiropractic & Manual Therapies. 2020;28(1):12. PubMed ↩
- Todd AJ, Carroll MT, Robinson A, Mitchell EKL. Adverse events due to chiropractic and other manual therapies for infants and children: a review of the literature. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics. 2015;38(9):699-712. PubMed ↩
- Liddle SD, Pennick V. Interventions for preventing and treating low-back and pelvic pain during pregnancy. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2015;(9):CD001139. PubMed ↩
- Stuber KJ, Wynd S, Weis CA. Adverse events from spinal manipulation in the pregnant and postpartum periods: a critical review of the literature. Chiropractic & Manual Therapies. 2012;20:8. PubMed ↩
- Pistolese RA. The Webster Technique: a chiropractic technique with obstetric implications. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics. 2002;25(6):E1-9. PubMed ↩
