ADHD, Learning Disability, and Social Behavior Disturbance Helped with Chiropractic

Research published in the September 15, 2014, issue of the Annals of Vertebral Subluxation Research documented a case study of chiropractic helping a patient with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, learning disabilities, and social behavior disturbances. The authors begin by noting that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that approximately 12% of children are affected by ADHD.

Since there is no physical test for diagnosing ADHD, the authors note that according to the National Institutes of Health, "No single test can diagnose a child as having ADHD. Instead, a licensed health professional needs to gather information about the child, and his or her behavior and environment."

The general medical care for this difficult to diagnose condition is drug intervention. This type of approach is both controversial and uncertain due to the negative long term effects.

In this case, an eight-year-old boy was brought by his mother to the chiropractor. The boy had been diagnosed seven months earlier using psycho-educational testing with ADHD (inattentive type) and learning disability regarding working memory and processing speed. His mother brought him to the chiropractor looking for an alternative method of care for her son.

The boy's condition was causing him problems in school as his frustrations would lead to outbursts in class. His mother did not believe the medications her son was given represented a long term solution. She also reported that his medications appeared to be ineffective, causing nausea, heart palpitations, and low appetite.

A chiropractic examination was performed which included a postural analysis, spinal palpation, thermographic (heat) study, and spinal x-rays. From the findings, it was determined that subluxations were present and a specific course of chiropractic care was started.

The study records that, according to the boy's mother, her son started to show improvement after the second chiropractic visit. Several months into care, the boy's parents reported that he was improving considerably with his mood swings, social interaction, temper, energy, memory, and immune function.

The boy's mother commented that her son showed "...a complete turnaround in mood. [He] has made lots of friends and is not having any social difficulty. He is smiling and laughing and appears normal now. We have yet to see how well his grades are affected, but he is staying in class and keeping up with work and expectations!"