What do you think of a newborn receiving treatment from a chiropractor? For those not aware of the event from this week, Melbourne chiropractor Dr Ian Rossborough found himself embroiled in controversy after a video emerged of him performing a procedure on a four-day-old baby, which caused a shocking ‘cracking’ sound and resulted in the baby crying.
The video, which has received almost one million views on YouTube, sparked a furore among many people, including parents and medical professionals, who were outraged over the ethics of performing chiropractic treatment on a newborn baby.
Melbourne paediatrician Dr Chris Pappas said, “The problem is that babies’ bones are soft and their joints are very flexible. Not only can these tissues be damaged, but other structures, such as the spinal cord, are at risk.”
Dr John Cunningham, an orthopaedic surgeon in Melbourne, said the footage made his “eyes water.
“I feel chiropractic care for infants and children should not be undertaken,” he said.
However, Dr Rossborough, who claimed his procedure was used to treat colic and reflux, has since hit back at the claims against him. In a second video, he defends his work and attempts to prove the validity of the procedure by demonstrating it on his own newborn daughter.
“We don’t crack anything, it’s not a crack, it’s a very specific, it’s the end of my fingers … and it’s about that much pressure,” he said while holding his week-old daughter. “What we do is we check the spine. We check the spine like you would check the hearing and check the vision and check anything else when the baby is born to make sure its functioning well.”
Where do you stand on this issue? Do you think chiropractic treatment on babies is acceptable? Why not watch both videos, have a read of this article and tell us your opinion?
