A light-hearted video of a chiropractor treating a newborn baby has divided opinion on TikTok, with viewers split over the child’s safety.
Chiropractors are largely known for performing intense spine-cracking treatments which is, admittedly, not something you’d usually associate with a tiny bundle of joy.
The clip, posted by ProHealthChiropractic clinic in Texas and titled “just a normal day here at the chiropractic office”, shows a relaxed-looking practitioner using a massaging device on the infant.
“Right at 6 days old, Carter got his 1st adjustment and LOVED IT,” the caption states and, admittedly, the infant doesn’t appear in any distress.
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However, the 12-second video was quick to spark controversy, racking up more than 1.2 million views and nearly 120,000 likes since it was posted to TikTok in July.
@prohealthchiropractic Right at 6 days old, Carter got his 1st adjustment and LOVED IT🤩💚💙 #newborn #pediatricchiropractor #lovingit #babyadjustment
Concerned commentators included a paediatrician, who insisted “infants NEVER need” such spinal adjustments, with one responder chiming in: “That was my thought - they are just so… mushy that young.”
However, others were quick to defend the use of chiropractic therapy in young children, insisting that treatments can be used to relieve colic and reflux, as well as alignment issues caused during the birthing process.
One wrote: “My sister had a dislocated shoulder when she was born and [a] sore neck. Chiro definitely took care of it sir. They don’t need those cracks but it’s [helpful].”
Another commented: “My daughter went to the chiropractor before she was 1 and it helped her with sitting and her posture immensely.”
The practitioner in the clip, Dr Dustin Judd, responded to the debate in a follow-up TikTok, offering some context to the video.
@prohealthchiropractic Quick response to the last video.. did not think it would go VIRAL at all 🤩 in fact Dr. Judd didn’t know it was being recorded, but here we are! And we are using this platform to being awareness and educate on TRUE chiropractic care.. even PEDIATRIC CHIROPRACTIC CARE💚💙 keeping it real here at ProHealth #truechiropracticcare #pediatricchiropractor #viral #fyp #newborn #pediatrichealth #prohealthchiropractic #healthybabies #truehealth
Voicing his bewilderment at the impact of the recording, Dr Judd said he didn’t even know that he was being filmed and that, at the time, he was busy talking to the baby’s mother.
He explained that, as a personal trainer, the boy’s mum was “well-educated” on muscular-skeletal neurology, which informed her decision to take her son to the clinic.
Dr Judd added that he had been a professional chiropractor for 16 years, focusing predominantly on paediatric care since losing a baby himself in 2010.
He said around half of his patients are kids, with hundreds of babies treated at the clinic every week.
“Birth trauma is the number one reason we see kids,” he added in the clip, insisting that children need to be checked and “adjusted when necessary”.
“It needs to be from a gentle, specific, well-intentioned chiropractor,” he stressed.
Given how many TikTokers have been swooning over Dr Judd in the comments, it looks as though he has even more takers for his “gentle” treatments now.
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