Chiropractic Articles

Traumatic Birth Syndrome

This is a subject nobody likes discussing. Dr. G. Gutmann, a German medical researcher, however, discovered that over 80% of the infants he examined shortly after birth were suffering from injury to the cervical spine, the neck, causing all types of health problems.

Traumatic Birth Syndrome is not a new condition. A researcher by the name of Duncan, measured the amount of force it would take to severely injure a baby's neck during delivery. He found that 90 pounds of force was enough to cause still birth, while less than that would cause the spinal joints to sprain. Duncan commented, "this is not what most obstetricians would consider a great force."

Dr. Abraham Towbin, from Harvard Medical School and the Department of Pathology, presented research at the Eighteenth Annual Meeting of the American Academy For Cerebral Palsy. In his research, he found that "the birth process, even under optimal conditions, is potentially a traumatic, crippling event for the fetus."

"Spinal cord and brain stem injuries occur often during the process of birth but frequently escape diagnosis." Dr. Towbin continues, "death may occur during delivery or, with respiratory function depressed, a short period after birth. Infants who survive the initial affects may be left with severe nervous system defects."

What about the babies that don't show immediate signs and symptoms of Traumatic Birth Syndrome? What if the signs and symptoms don't appear until later on in life? What is the effect on that infant? How does it interfere with those babies potential to express itself completely and wholly as a human being? What kind of symptoms and diseases could it cause later on in life?

The neck is an area of the body where you cannot afford to have an injury remain uncorrected. Since injuries here can affect the brain stem, all the vital functions of the body are inhibited. This can occur whether there are symptoms or not.

Do you remember what happened to Christopher Reeve, the actor who played Superman in the movies? He was riding his horse and fell forward on his head, breaking a bone in his upper neck.

In an interview he did with Barbara Walters, you could see that he was unable to breathe without the use of a ventilator machine. He also was unable to control his elimination system. Many of his other body functions were altered as well.

"Wait a minute, how could this be", you might ask." He didn't hurt his lungs, his bowel, or his bladder, he hurt his neck."

This is precisely the point. When the neck is injured, the entire body is affected. Similarly, when there is an injury to another part of the spine, the organs and systems supplied by those nerves become dysfunctional. These spinal injuries, called the vertebral subluxation complex, can alter the course of a person's life if they are not immediately corrected.

I am reminded of story about a little girl. When she was born her birth was complex and troublesome. After a difficult and long labor, as the child began to present, it was discovered that her umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck...three times.

Thanks to the quick thinking and skill of the doctor attending the birth, realizing the danger of the situation, he pushed her back up the birth canal before the cord strangled her. Then he reached up inside, cut the umbilical cord free from her neck, allowing her the gift of life. She survived.

But there was another problem. After the birth, she would stop breathing every time her mother attempted to nurse her and she would not start breathing again until she was resuscitated. This was occurring 15 to 20 times per day. In addition, she was restless, irritable and never slept more than one to two hours at a time. After six weeks in the hospital they could not let her go home because her chance for survival without medical interventions seemed doubtful.

A father myself; I could only imagine the agonizing experience that the young couple was going through.

I just know there is something you can do for her.

I replied that I didn't know if I could help her, but if the birth trauma caused injury to the upper neck - misalignment of bones in this area could affect her ability to breathe. It was a possibility and the medics had no explanation for the problem.

They entered our office late at night after a busy day of seeing patients. We were closed. My heart began to beat quickly; my palms became slightly sweaty. There she was, in her mother's arm with wires running from somewhere beneath her blankets to a briefcase-sized monitor with lights, buttons and knobs that dad was carrying on his shoulder. She was a beautiful little angel. But she also appeared distressed, uncomfortable, and had a furrowed brow. I prayed that I could help this child, this family.

I did our normal chiropractic pediatric exam on her to determine if there was any misalignment in the upper neck, causing interference to the nervous system. The tests were conclusive; it appeared that I might be able to help! We took x-rays of her upper neck and after careful study found a large misalignment of the top neck bone, most likely from her traumatic birth. Now came the moment of truth.

As the mother held her beautiful little girl, I carefully felt her neck once again. There it was, the tiny little bone that was choking off this child's life force. The adjustments that we give in our office don't twist or turn the neck; they are gentle and quick. There - it was done.

The transformation took place before all of our eyes. Within seconds, her brow unfurled. The tension in her little face melted away and she became uncommonly calm. Mother took her back to our resting area and nursed her. For the first time in her short and difficult life, she nursed without stopping breathing.

The simple miracle of a child's breath was something that we all came to appreciate a little more that evening.

On follow up visits the parents said that was the night that their daughter's life was turned around for the best. The breathing problems went from 15-20 times per day to 1-2 per month and then to a normal healthy little girl. This was a miracle not only for that family, but also for me because that could have been our wonderful daughter Alex or you child. Chiropractic holds a secret about life and health. Please share this information with somebody that you love and wish them better health.

My Chiropractic colleagues around the world all agree that we would much rather examine and adjust a newborn baby for the vertebral subluxation complex than do an autopsy. We would much rather adjust a newborn baby than wait 26 years and learn about young people having cancer or gall bladder disease in areas where their nerve systems had been injured and compromised since birth.

The human body was designed to function as a well-oiled machine until the ripe old age of at least 100. There are people who are living to be 100 years old in various parts of the world and they are functioning absolutely fine.

Traumatic Birth Syndrome, whether it causes symptoms immediately or just diminishes human potential over the course of a lifetime, must be dealt with and dealt with immediately.

Don't be fooled if your medical doctor says your baby is fine. Medical doctors get little to no training in the detection and correction of the vertebral subluxation complex and will almost certainly miss it.

Chiropractors, on the other hand, have been detecting and correcting Birth Trauma Syndrome and the Vertebral Subluxation Complex for over a 100 years through a simple and gentle exam.

All children should be examined by a Chiropractor immediately after birth. Take this critical step to ensure that your children are as healthy as they are designed to be.

-- by Dr. Cliff Fisher