To think a chiropractor might be able to help an immune system?

[Kangaroosjump]

I thought they did spinal adjustments that were meant to strengthen an immune system?

Due to an ongoing issue with my tot that doesn't seem too serious - drs not worried, but I'm seeing a few things and thinking they could be connected in a bigger holistic picture I thought we might try one for him...

Have I got the wrong thing? My mum is telling me they just sort bad backs...

What alternative health treatments (except homeopathy thanks) would be likely to help a toddlers over stressed immune system? There's a few behavioural issues im convinced are linked but it's just not enough to concern my doc... (Thankfully)

Thanks!

Quint, I understood perfectly well what the chiropractor I saw told me. The sole explanation no was that one of my legs was longer than the other which meant my pelvis was squint. He proposed a course of many expensive treatments to straighten my pelvis. The fact that my actual problem was ruptured discs was not even on his radar.

Babies and children should not have any spinal manipulation.

Oh, a chiropractor will be able to come up with lots of lovely ideas about holistically connecting everything about your child. I'm sure I could quite happily do the same for someone else's child in return for a big fat cheque. Only I wouldn't because 99% of chiropractic is about as valid as any hacky theories I could come up with whilst staring into the bottom of an empty wine glass. I could even throw in some nice smells for a few quid.

By 'over stressed' do you mean your DS gets ill often? Or does he have asthma/eczema/IBS or similar?

The first is the immune system responding to the environment (might also be a bit unlucky in what he happens across), the second is autoimmune, which is quite different.
Has he had a serum titre to measure circulating antibodies, or a white blood cell count, and if so, what did the tests show?

Along the lines of both grumpysquash, and more (in that behaviour worsens when symptoms worsen and vice versa - understandably)

Never had that done though no, it's something I can request the GP does? Not been mentioned... We keep going back

When my small baby DS had awful excema we went to a herbal medicine person and he drank this horrible tisane for a while. Then his excema disappeared and he's been fine for the past 9 years. I have no idea if it would have disappeared anyway, but I don't think it did any harm and it wasn't money we couldn't afford. She was v clear that herbal medicine is utterly different from homeopathic bollocks

My daughter spent her early years with tonsilitis, other infections and constant Tummyache (all put down to 'reflux' except the reflux medication made no difference.) She wouldn't sleep well, swung between starving and then over eating. We tried cranial osteopathy (I'm a fan myself) and for a few days after she seemed more relaxed but then returned to her normal.

However, we happened to stumble across a holistic clinic (celestine in Kent) where by dd holding a metal stick attached to a computer they told us she was gluten intolerant. We thought the whole thing was absurd but had no other plan so cut the recommended food group out. It was a bloody miracle.

Day by day we noticed a difference and after a month the tummyaches were few and far between, then 6 months later we realised she hadn't needed antibiotics since we cut out wheat. It completely changed her. 3 years later we haven't looked back.

I'm not saying your child is gluten intolerant but I am saying you are right to feel you may not have got to the bottom of what is unsettling your child. Eventually you will 'crack' it and your attitude to looking for the answer is admirable. Our paed laughed in our faces when we showed him the clinic recommendations but the fact is, they did more to help her than his recommendations did. I don't care about the science behind it, they gave us an idea of what might work for our child.

Good luck, I'm guessing times are testing at the moment but you will all get through it.

Ps- if they have a bad fall or have aches and pains, the osteopath is our first port of call.

I can vaguely imagine how this could work, possibly in connection with clearing toxins from the body through the proper functioning of the lymphatic system.

Osteopaths have a very thorough understanding of the body in relation to their field of practice. Although there are doubtless as many rotten ones as there are crap GPs, a good osteopath can make a big difference. In particular, I have a lot of time for cranial osteopathy in children because quite simply it can work. Chiropractors not so much.

Fadedred As it was explained to me an 'over-stressed immune system' is another term for being 'run down'; the immune system may function less effectively for a number of reasons (stress, malnutrition, illness, antibiotics). Unless something changes in this picture, this can worsen over time as the body requires increasing resources to do the same job at fighting disease, often less effectively. One aspect of this may be that the body uses precious resources to 'over-react' to perceived threats (allergies). A tired body (which may be reflected in the functioning of the immune system) may have a sluggish lymphatic system that could be contributing to the problem by allowing toxins to hang around in the body. Osteopaths work on tissue as well as bone structure and claim to be able to stimulate a sluggish and congested lymphatic system.

I had my immune system utterly destroyed by two x high dose chemo. the only way to bring it back quickly was to give me my own stem cells back. after that I just had to wait for it to get better.

my point being - doctors don't have magic fix it drugs for immune systems yet, if chiropracticers could fix it I'd have been sent there. all you can do is avoid getting ill as far as possible (dietary restrictions and drugs). if there was a magic cure I'm pretty sure I'd have been given it by now.

I would suggest 13 kinesiology treatments, 42 reflexology, 6 homeopathy sessions (or maybe 7 depending on the response) and then an exorcism.

Thank you for the detailed explanation OP.
After 40+ years as a HCP I admit I don't know everything.
You are getting lots of conflicting advice from others posters so ultimately it's up to you what you spend your money on. Though if you really believe there is problem with the immune system, then an Immunologist would seem to me more sensible choice than alternative stuff.
But never underestimate the power of the placebo.

I can vaguely imagine how this could work, possibly in connection with clearing toxins from the body through the proper functioning of the lymphatic system.

Except the lymphatic system doesn't "clear toxins" from the body.

In my experience, the very phrase "clearing toxins" is an excellent woo-indicator.

Oh, and antibiotics don't make the immune system less effective either. Neither does having "a tired body"

Chemotherapy though, as explained by itsmeitscathy, that'll affect the immune system all right.

Oh, and antibiotics don't depress the immune system. Neither does having a tired body.

oops!

Along the lines of both grumpysquash, and more (in that behaviour worsens when symptoms worsen and vice versa - understandably)/
DC who don't feel well get grumpy and play up that's common sense and not a symptom of any immune problem.

However, we happened to stumble across a holistic clinic (celestine in Kent) where by dd holding a metal stick attached to a computer they told us she was gluten intolerant. We thought the whole thing was absurd but had no other plan so cut the recommended food group out. It was a bloody miracle.*

Holding metal sticks cannot diagnose anything, kinesiologists tell every body the same thing, they may get it right once in a while.

Chiropractic and osteopathy are BOTH quackery. Don't waste your money.

Chiropractic and osteopathy are BOTH quackery. Don't waste your money.

Utter nonsense.

Quackery. No evidence chiropractic works and plenty of evidence it can be harmful (neck arteries have been damaged by manipulations, lleading to strokes etc.)

Ditto acupuncture, cranial osteopathy etc... All woo. Anything that tries to tell you you have 'toxins' that need flushing is woo.

Can you expand a bit on what you mean by an over stressed immune system? If you feel there's something not quite right with your toddler I'd certainly go with instinct and request a more thorough work up from your GP, with referrals if necessary. Please don't go the alternative medicine route though - all you'll get is the usual "intolerant to wheat/dairy/needs detox" crap they feed everyone. and a nice invoice at the end.

If your child genuinely has a gluten intolerance (which is much rarer than the current fads would have you believe, but can be serious and needs proper assessment) they need to be properly diagnosed - you cannot do this with metal sticks/sweat tests/hair tests etc.

If 'alternative' medicine worked, we'd be using it. The scientific community is very open minded - bring us a plant compound and we'll run with it and test it. Show us peer reviewed properly blinded studies that x works and we'll use it.

I think people may be confusing them with osteopaths (who are a bunch of charlatans IMO)

I think you may be confusing osteopaths with something else.

(Although my personal jury is out on cranial osteopathy and some of the airy fairy claims)

Utter nonsense.

Can you cite the studies showing otherwise, please?

The concept and theory of Chiropractic and osteopathy at utter nonsense and quackery.
Some of them are underqualified physios at best. But some of them do sometimes pick up a few things from experience, and make a diagnosis, or point someone towards proper diagnostic channels (like x-ray).
Just like my dog walker picked up mild hip dysplasia in one of my dogs, despite not being a vet, and the vet having missed it at an earlier appointment.

But that doesn't validate either of them as legitimate, and certainly nothing that can help a 'stressed' immune system.
What is a stressed immune system anyway?