A recent study reviewed the clinical records of 145 infants, ages 0–12 months, who presented for chiropractic care in a single-practitioner practice. The findings help characterize the patterns commonly seen in infants entering chiropractic care, including feeding dysfunction, torticollis, plagiocephaly (flattened head), tongue-tie-related concerns, and findings involving the cervico-cranio-mandibular (head/neck/jaw) complex.
The study found that breastfeeding difficulty was the most common presenting complaint, reported in 113 infants, or 77.93% of the cases reviewed. Other common findings included torticollis, posterior tongue-tie diagnosis, gassiness, plagiocephaly, infantile colic, reflux or spitting up, tummy-time difficulty, stooling difficulty, and fluid in the ear.
The paper also highlights the importance of birth history. Many of the infant files included labour and delivery factors commonly associated with birth stress, strain, or trauma, including prolonged labour, extended pushing, recumbent labour and delivery positions, Pitocin use, epidural anesthesia, dystocia or failure to progress, malpresentation, malposition, vacuum extraction, forceps delivery, nuchal cord, and premature rupture of membranes.
That matters because birth is not always a benign event. While birth is natural, the forces involved in labour and delivery may place stress on the infant’s spine, cranium, jaw, and related soft tissues. In this study, the physical examination findings frequently included hypertonic neck muscles, swelling of the neck joints, head tilt and/or rotation, facial wincing with palpation, digastric muscle restriction and hyoid elevation, TMJ dysfunction, cranial asymmetry, unilateral lymph node swelling, and asymmetric anterior cervical skin creasing.
Taken together, the findings point to an important clinical pattern: infants presenting with feeding dysfunction and related challenges may also show signs of birth stress and obstructions involving the head/neck/jaw complex.
These presenting findings, if left uncorrected, can become a foundation for delayed development, immune and digestive system dysfunction, emotional dysregulation and poorer general health.
This paper is especially important because it helps document what many chiropractors who care for infants observe in practice. Babies struggling with breastfeeding, head turning, cranial asymmetry, tension, reflux, colic-like symptoms, and related challenges deserve careful evaluation. Their birth history matters. Their spinal and cranial function matters. Their nervous system matters.