Sources and Further Reading

What this list is, and what it is not

This is source material. It is not a reading list of people who agree with ChiroWatch.

The arguments on this site are built on documents produced by the chiropractic profession itself — its associations' letters and statements, its course listings, its regulators' agendas and rulings, its practitioners' own advertising. Those sources are cited on the pages where they matter, at the point where they matter.

What follows is the wider body of work a reader may want to check for themselves: the peer-reviewed literature, the position statements of medical bodies, the journalism, and the standing reference collections. Several of the authors here disagree with each other on scope, tone and remedy. Some are chiropractors. That is as it should be.

Primary documents

The most useful material on paediatric chiropractic is the profession's own. These are the documents the arguments on this site rest on.

• Public Statement on Chiropractic & Pediatric Care in Canada Canadian Chiropractic Association · 5 July 2019. Concedes that a 12-hour course confers no expertise, that there is no recognized paediatric specialization in Canada, and that the birth-canal claim is not supported by current scientific evidence.
• Chiropractors respond — Dr. David Peeace, Chair, CCA National Post · 16 May 2018 · via PressReader. The association's public defence, signed.
• The Essentials of Chiropractic: Adjusting the Infant and Education in the Perinatal Period International Chiropractic Pediatric Association course page. Instructors, the baby-doll requirement, and the 2019 schedule including Toronto and Vancouver.
• ICPA open response to the National Post International Chiropractic Pediatric Association · 2018. Asserts there is no question among chiropractors that more than 80% of newborns require adjustment after birth — the claim the CCA disavowed the following year.
• California Board of Chiropractic Examiners — chargesPDF 26 October 2006. A regulator's own itemisation of the paediatric and pregnancy claims the field advertises routinely.
• Standard of Practice S-015 — immunization, draftPDF College of Chiropractors of Ontario.

Peer-reviewed research

Safety and adverse events

• Vohra S, Johnston BC, Cramer K, Humphreys K. "Adverse events associated with pediatric spinal manipulation: a systematic review." Pediatrics 2007;119(1):e275–e283. doi:10.1542/peds.2006-1392 PMID 17178922. Canadian-led, in the AAP's own journal. Fourteen direct injuries, nine serious, two deaths, plus twenty cases of delayed or inappropriate care including two meningitis deaths. Still the most comprehensive review of its kind; the prospective surveillance study it called for has never been done.
• Ernst E. "Adverse effects of spinal manipulation: a systematic review." Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 2007;100(7):330–338. 75 references; the paper that prompted the British Chiropractic Association's public response.
• Ernst E. "Vascular accidents after chiropractic spinal manipulation: myth or reality?"PDF Perfusion 2010;23:73–74. Held on this site.
• 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. doi:10.1186/s12998-020-0299-y Commissioned by the College of Chiropractors of British Columbia; authored from Ontario Tech and the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College, part-funded by chiropractic research bodies. Read alongside the CCBC's conclusion that SMT in children poses no significant risk to the public.
• Todd AJ, Carroll MT, 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. One of two references the CCA cited in 2019.

Effectiveness

• Husereau D, Clifford T, Aker P, Leduc D, Mensinkai S. "Spinal manipulation for infantile colic."PDF CCOHTA systematic review. No convincing evidence that manipulation alone affects the duration of colic symptoms. Held on this site.
• Balon J, Aker PD, Crowther ER, et al. "A comparison of active and simulated chiropractic manipulation as adjunctive treatment for childhood asthma." New England Journal of Medicine 1998;339:1013–1020. No benefit over usual medical care in children with mild or moderate asthma.
• Olafsdottir E, Forshei S, Fluge G, Markestad T. "Randomised controlled trial of infantile colic treated with chiropractic spinal manipulation." Archives of Disease in Childhood 2001;84:138–141. Blinded, placebo-controlled, run by paediatricians with a chiropractor. Manipulation no more effective than placebo.
• Hawk C, Schneider MJ, Vallone S, Hewitt EG. "Best practices for chiropractic care of children: a consensus update." JMPT 2016;39(3):158–168. Cited by the CCA in support of favourable paediatric outcomes. Its own text states that the scientific evidence for effectiveness and efficacy in children is not plentiful or definitive.

What is being advertised

• Ninkov A, Benedetti P. Analysis of 800 Ontario chiropractor websites. Roughly a third mention subluxation; more than half refer to asthma; nearly a third mention colic. Reported in The Globe and Mail, November 2018.
• Caulfield T, et al. Review of 80 commercial chiropractic clinic websites across Canada. ADHD and ADD 37.5%; allergies 37.5%; premenstrual syndrome 32.5%; bed-wetting 30%.
• Caulfield T, et al. Study of complementary health practitioners' websites in ten major Canadian cities, 2016. 38% of chiropractors claimed to diagnose and/or treat asthma.
• Busse JW, et al. On the growth of anti-vaccination attitudes among CMCC students. CMAJ 2002;166(12):1531.
• Campbell JB, Busse JW, Injeyan HS. "Chiropractors and vaccination: a historical perspective." Pediatrics 2000;105:e43.

What the professional bodies have said

• Spigelblatt L, Canadian Paediatric Society, Community Paediatrics Committee. "Chiropractic care for children: Controversies and issues." Paediatrics & Child Health 2002;7(2):85–89. doi:10.1093/pch/7.2.85 Reaffirmed, most recently in 2018, and now absent from the CPS website. Cite the journal, not cps.ca — see Chiropractors and Children for the full account of its withdrawal.
• Homola S. "Pediatric chiropractic care: the subluxation question and referral risk." Bioethics 2016. A retired chiropractor's conclusion that manipulating the immature, cartilaginous spine of a neonate or small child to correct a putative subluxation should be regarded as dangerous and unnecessary.
• Chiropractic Board of Australia — interim policy on spinal manipulation for infants and young children. Prohibition on manipulation under two, imposed 2019, quietly lifted November 2023, and reinstated 17 June 2024 at the request of Australia's health ministers.
• Safer Care Victoria — independent review of spinal manipulation in children. Commissioned by the Victorian health minister after the 2018 video of a two-week-old infant.
• College of Chiropractors of British Columbia — efficacy claims policy, December 2019. Bars registrants from claiming they can turn a breech fetus, give a fetus more room in the uterus, produce a healthier baby, or help a woman avoid caesarean, forceps or suction delivery.
• A Statement by the Chairmen of the Departments of Pediatrics of Pediatric Hospitals in Canada. Canadian Journal of Pediatrics 1995;2:v–vi. The chiefs-of-paediatrics statement referenced elsewhere on this site. Hard to obtain; a library copy may be needed.

Investigative journalism

• Benedetti P, MacPhail W. "Chiropractors at a crossroads." The Globe and Mail · November 2018. The vitalist leadership of the Ontario regulator, 60 complaint decisions, and the CCA chairman's internal directive. The most substantial Canadian investigation of chiropractic regulation to date.
• Kirkey S. "Pediatricians alarmed by chiropractic treatments for babies." Postmedia · 8–9 May 2018. Mack on the nut-allergy children, CHEO, Clay Jones, Vohra, Homola, and the CCO's reply.
• Kirkey S. "'This. Hurts. Babies': Doctors alarmed at weekend courses…" National Post · 2 July 2019.
• Adhopia V. "Chiropractic critics being monitored by Ontario's College of Chiropractors." CBC News, Second Opinion · March 2018. Includes the registrar confirming the Council agenda item, and the CCO's 2011 revocation of its ban on chiropractors giving vaccination advice.
• Benedetti P, MacPhail W. Spin Doctors I and II · CANOE.CA The original two-part investigation. Largely offline; archived copies exist.

Standing reference sites

These are maintained archives rather than individual articles, and are the fastest route to primary documents on a given practitioner, technique or claim.

• Chirobase Stephen Barrett, MD and Samuel Homola, DC. A skeptical guide to chiropractic history, theories and practices, with an extensive document archive — board actions, court decisions, professional correspondence and technique analyses.
• Quackwatch — chiropractic section Stephen Barrett, MD. Includes convictions for financial crimes, the Wisconsin FTC price-fixing settlement, board fact sheets and the subluxation literature.
• Science-Based Medicine — chiropractic archive Clay Jones MD writes most of the paediatric material; Harriet Hall and Steven Novella cover the broader field.
• Post-Truth Health Ryan Armstrong, PhD. Canadian-focused, with particular attention to regulatory failure. See Chiropractic: A Modern Threat to Canadian Health, Chiropractors and the Fetus, Chiropractic Pediatrics Vs. Reality, and The Failure of Self-Regulation of the Chiropractic Profession is an Urgent Public Health Crisis.
• Edzard Ernst's blog Continuing commentary on manipulation research and adverse events from the first professor of complementary medicine.

Practical guides

• How to file a complaint — provincial directory ChiroWatch. Every province's regulator, with contact details.
• How To: Complaints Against Canadian Health Professionals Ryan Armstrong, PhD · 4 September 2018. Written by someone who has filed more than a dozen and knows what the process actually requires.
• Report health fraud ChiroWatch. Where to report by country.

Books

• Benedetti P, MacPhail W. Spin Doctors: The Chiropractic Industry Under Examination. Dundurn. The essential Canadian account.
• Homola S, Barrett S. Inside Chiropractic: A Patient's Guide. Prometheus. A retired chiropractor on what the profession can and cannot do.
• Long PH. The Naked Chiropractor: Insider's Guide to Combating Quackery and Winning the War Against Pain.
• Homola S. The Chiropractor's Self-Help Back and Body Book.
• Ernst E. Healing, Hype or Harm? A Critical Analysis of Complementary or Alternative Medicine. Imprint Academic, 2008. Dr. Polevoy contributed the chapter on chiropractic.
• Chotkowski LA. Chiropractic: The Greatest Hoax of the Century.

Chiropractors and Children Neck Manipulation & Stroke