Press Release: "New Research Sheds Light on Chiropractic and ADHD" -- No It Doesn't!

Michael McCoy, a chiropractor who has a number of enterprises going,  including McCoy Press, i  founded a new journal in 2009, the  Journal of Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health - Chiropractic.  It sounds sciency, doesn't it?   It isn't. 

One thing McCoy is excellent at is propagating press releases touting their "studies". Here's one of the first:

New Research Sheds Light on Chiropractic and ADHD

Recent research reporting on improvement in a 3 ½ year old boy undergoing chiropractic care reveals that chiropractic may play an important role in managing children with ADHD and related neurodevelopmental disorders.

It's not research.  It's a single case study.  In addition to chiropractic manipulation,  the child was subject to several other modalities.  Any one of the efforts may have resulted in a change in behavior.

The National Resource Center on ADHD reports:

No research has been done to support the effectiveness of chiropractic approaches for the treatment of AD/HD.

Even the American Chiropratic Association admits that

currently no studies comparing chiropractic neurological and medical treatment for ADHD are available

Using chiropractic for ADHD "treatment" is therefore uncontrolled experimentation on children.   What is ethical about that?  As was written on an article on autism treatments

"They really should be seeing treatment of patients with unproven therapies as dangerous experimentation," said pediatrician Dr. Steven Goodman, a clinical trial expert at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. "The problem with uncontrolled experiments ... is that it is experimentation from which we can learn nothing."

Here's the abstract:

Objective: To investigate the chiropractic care of a child with ADHD and review the related literature.

Clinical Features: A 3½ year old male child diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and a history of birth trauma and ear infections presents with signs of vertebral subluxation.

Interventions and Outcomes: Vertebral subluxations were addressed using toggle recoil adjustments to reduce an Atlas subluxation. Dietary advice, supplements and proprioceptive exercises were given to the patient as part of the care plan. Patient's mother and teachers reported a decrease in hyperactivity and an increase in attention. Paraspinal thermal scans improved after one month of care.

Conclusion: While research on chiropractic care for children with ADHD is limited, some studies have shown improvement in these children while under such care. This is an important area in need of further study and should include the investigation of a combination of chiropractic, nutrition, exercise, and other CAM treatments.

Stone-McCoy, P.A. & Przybysz, L.(2009)  Chiropractic Management of a Child with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder & Vertebral Subluxation: A Case Study
Journal of Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health - Chiropractic 1 (1)p.1-8

Comments

[Biologist25]

While I agree that a single case-study is not evidence of anything...and rather should be seen as a source of questions (eg: how, why, can we test it properly) I am at odds with many statements made in this opinion article.
That the child was subjected to many "modalities" makes it difficult to determine what might have caused any improvement in symptoms of the disorder... but this is the underlying problem with researching chiropractic in general. Chiropractic is not manipulation, it is a combination of manipulation, dietary, postural and exercise advice, physiotheraputic modalities, and placebo effects (eg: doctor patient interaction). This is what sets Chiropractic apart from traditional allopathic medicine, a chiropractor will spend time with a patient, talk to them, advise them, manipulate them, etc. I question if any of these components alone should be expected to have the same benefit of complete chiropractic care.

As for the idea that the treatment of patients with unproven therapies as dangerous experimentation, I might agree for some conditions, but not in this case. ADHD is not a life threatening, nor extremely time critical condition, and I suggest it may be a great idea, and perhaps a sign of responsible parenting to try anything conservative (tested or not) before condemning a child to a lifetime of medication. The meds are always available if the conservative alternative didnt work as hoped.

[Dr. Carly]

Great post, Biologist25. As for the original post, the author does not claim to "TREAT" ADHD. In fact, chiropractors don't claim to "treat" any diseases. What we do is look to the spine for misalignments, which in turn cause dysfunction in the nervous system. When the nervous system is not working at 100% of its optimal level, many symptoms and possibly diseases are bound to occur. Why no take this study as a positive finding?! A combination of chiropractic care, dietary changes, supplements, and exercises actually helped the child's condition improve! These are all NON-invasive ways that a chiropractor helped change this child's life for the better. Maybe more children with ADHD should try this method, instead of psychotropic drugs whose long term effects are unknown. Is it so hard to believe that many times our bodies are capable of healing and improving naturally, without the help of drugs or surgery? Does that really classify as "dangerous experimentation?" I think not...

[Zeno]

There are quite a few chiropractors in the UK that have made claims about ADHD without one jot of evidence to support them.

And in the UK, the mere mention of a medical condition in an advert is deemed to be a claim to treat that condition by the Advertising Standards Authority. Quite right too. The ASA is there to protect the public from misleading claims.

Any chiropractor mentioning ADHD in an advert would have an complaint against them upheld unless they were able to provide evidence from peer reviewed, double blinded randomised controlled trials. Do you think such evidence is available? Have these trials of chiropractic been done? If not, don't you think that making health claims without GOOD evidence is unethical and possibly verging on the criminal?

But you've then got to ask why these trials have not been done. The usual answer is that trials cost lots of money. But wouldn't you think that all those concerned, caring chiropractors around the world making a very nice living thank you ut of their chiropractic businesses would be desperate to make sure that what there were doing was, indeed, efficacious and the best treatment available?

Then there's the slight problem that there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever for subluxations: Science-Based Medicine » The End of Chiropractic. Please note that the paper referred to in that blog was written by four chiropractors.

[Biologist25]

"Then there's the slight problem that there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever for subluxations: Science-Based Medicine » The End of Chiropractic. Please note that the paper referred to in that blog was written by four chiropractors."

It should be noted that this review article simply examined the existing evidence. Their conclusions were that there are very few studies examining subluxations, those that exist are weak, and thus there is no good exidence to support the chiropractic subluxation. Of course lack of evidence is not anything close to the same as evidence for a lack of existence. So dont jump to too many conclusions :)

[houston chiropractor]

his is the underlying problem with researching chiropractic in general. Chiropractic is not manipulation, it is a combination of manipulation, dietary, postural and exercise advice, physiotheraputic modalities, and placebo effects

[soft cialis]

I think that a good nutrition is the key to avoid the most devastating illness and diseases.