What Is Pediatric Chiropractic? A Guide for Parents

Written or medically reviewed by Liz Mojica, DC, CACCP — Webster Technique Certified. Last reviewed: September 4, 2026.

Pediatric chiropractic is chiropractic care adapted for growing bodies — infants, toddlers, children, and teens. The most important thing for a parent to understand is that it does not look like the adult care you may have seen. There is no twisting, no dramatic popping, and no forceful thrust. With a newborn, a chiropractor uses roughly the amount of pressure you would use to check a tomato for ripeness, applied with a single fingertip, usually while the baby stays in your arms or lies on your lap.

Parents most often bring children in for things like head-turning preference, tension and discomfort, difficulty settling, or general wellness care as a child grows. A pediatric chiropractor evaluates tension, movement, and nervous-system function. Chiropractic care does not diagnose or treat underlying medical conditions, and it does not replace care from your pediatrician.

How pediatric care differs from adult care

Adult chiropractic often involves a high-velocity, low-amplitude thrust — the technique that produces the audible pop most people picture. Children's care is different in three ways:

Force. The techniques used with children are gentle and low-force. With infants, contact is typically sustained fingertip pressure rather than a thrust.

Anatomy. A baby's spine is not a small adult spine. It is more cartilage than bone, the curves have not fully developed, and the joints are far more mobile. Care has to account for that, which is the entire reason pediatric-specific training exists.

Goal. Adults usually arrive with a specific complaint they want resolved. With children, the focus is more often on movement, comfort, and supporting development as the child grows.

This is also why credentials matter. A CACCP is a certification through the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association requiring roughly 200 hours of postgraduate coursework in the care of children and pregnant patients, beyond what chiropractic college covers. You can read more about Dr. Liz's training and credentials.

How visits are adapted by age

Newborns and young infants. Care usually happens with the baby in a parent's arms or on a lap. Sustained, light fingertip contact. Many babies sleep through it. Visits are short — often shorter than the intake conversation that precedes them.

Older infants and crawlers. Positioning shifts to accommodate a child who is now mobile and opinionated about it. Care is worked around play.

Toddlers and preschoolers. These visits are frequently negotiated. It is normal for a toddler to want to watch a sibling or parent go first. Nothing is forced; a child who says no is not adjusted.

School-aged children and teens. Care starts to resemble adult care more closely, though technique is still selected for the individual's size and development. Common reasons families come in include backpack and desk posture, sports, and growth spurts.

Recommendations vary by patient. Size, development, comfort, and what the child will tolerate on a given day all shape what a visit looks like.

Is pediatric chiropractic safe?

This deserves a straight answer rather than a reassuring one.

Serious adverse events in children receiving chiropractic care are rare. A 2015 systematic review searched the literature from the beginning of the available databases through March 2014 and identified 31 relevant articles, which together reported 15 serious adverse events across the entire published record, with no reported deaths from chiropractic care. Most reported side effects in children are mild and self-limiting — increased fussiness, crying, or temporary soreness.

At the same time, it is fair to say that the quality of the safety data is limited, and that a number of the serious events in the literature involved an undiagnosed underlying condition. That is the real risk to be aware of, and it is the reason a careful history matters more than technique: the danger is not usually the adjustment itself but a problem that should have been caught and referred out.

It is also honest to say that the evidence for chiropractic care improving non-musculoskeletal conditions in children is limited, and reviewers in the medical literature have said so directly. Any provider who tells you otherwise is overselling.

What we do in response: we take a thorough history, we screen for anything that warrants medical evaluation first, and we refer when referral is the right call.

What happens at a first visit

Most of the first appointment is conversation. We want the pregnancy and birth history, feeding history, sleep patterns, milestones, and what specifically prompted you to call.

Then comes examination: watching how your child moves, checking range of motion, and assessing tension through gentle hands-on evaluation. For children old enough to sit for them, we may run INSiGHT scans. In plain terms, these are non-invasive sensors that read patterns of muscle activity and nervous-system tone. Nothing is injected, and there is no radiation. They give us an objective starting point and a way to show you changes over time rather than asking you to take our word for it. You can read more about what the scans measure and how we explain them.

We then explain what we found and what we recommend, including whether we think another provider should see your child first. You are not expected to decide anything that day. More detail on what to bring and how long to plan for is on our new patient page.

When to see your pediatrician instead — or as well

Chiropractic care is one part of a child's health team, not a substitute for it. Please contact your pediatrician or seek medical care for:

• Fever in a newborn, or any fever that concerns you
• Poor feeding, dehydration, or inadequate weight gain
• A head injury, or any fall followed by unusual behavior
• Breathing difficulty
• A sudden loss of a skill your child previously had
• Any symptom that worries you, whether or not it appears on a list

We regularly work alongside pediatricians, lactation consultants, pelvic-floor therapists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, doulas, and midwives. If your child needs something we do not provide, we will say so and help you find it. Evaluation by a pediatrician or specialist may be appropriate alongside chiropractic care, and often is.

Questions parents ask us in the office

"Will it hurt?" Most infants sleep through care. Some fuss at being held still, which is usually about the holding, not the contact.

"How young is too young?" Babies are commonly seen in the first weeks of life. What changes with age is technique and positioning, not whether care is possible.

"Do I have to commit to a long plan?" No. We recommend what we think is reasonable, and re-evaluate rather than assuming the original plan was right.

"Can I stay with my child?" Always. For infants, you are usually holding them.

Come ask your questions

If you have been wondering whether pediatric chiropractic makes sense for your family, the useful next step is a conversation, not a commitment. We see families from Winter Springs, Oviedo, and the surrounding Seminole County communities, and a consultation is a chance to ask everything on your list — including the skeptical questions.

Request a consultation, or explore our approach to pediatric care first.

Sources

• Misra SM, Jaber O, Long C. Chiropractic Care in Children: A Review of Evidence and Safety. *Clinical Pediatrics.* 2025. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00099228241305202
• Todd AJ, et al. 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.
• National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Spinal Manipulation: What You Need To Know. https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/spinal-manipulation-what-you-need-to-know
• American Chiropractic Association Council on Chiropractic Pediatrics. Safety of Manual Therapy in Children. http://acapedscouncil.org/safety-of-manual-therapy-in-children/

*This article is educational and is not a substitute for evaluation by a licensed healthcare provider. Results and recommendations vary by patient.*