Babies, Birth and Upper Cervical Care

Was Your Baby Injured During the Birth

by Dr. Bill Davis


Many new Moms and Dads will ask if it is possible for an infant to be misaligned during the birth process. Good question!

Modern birthing methods of having the Mom push the baby out without gravity working to your advantage, laying flat on your back is a prescription for increased force into the head and neck of the baby in and of itself. But then you introduce all the drugs used during the birth process, which includes an epidural which numbs the area that a woman typically would feel when pushing. And the introduction of drugs like pitocin to induce delivery often before the baby is ready for delivery, can lead to prolonged labors and an increase likelihood of birth trauma. Also practice of a doctor pulling during delivery with 50-70 pounds of force into the infant’s head from the birth canal and instruments like forceps and vacuum extraction can lead to a variety of different birth injuries. C-sections can also be very traumatic as the baby is pulled out of a small incision. (Check out this blog for helpful info and resources on nonintervention birthing)

So much so that women are told things like “yes your baby fractured their clavicle during the birth process, but that is normal.”

What?! What is normal about a fracture during birth? It may be common…but that doesn’t make it normal.

Now an important consideration is that not all infants are misaligned. In fact, in my experience even with the severity of forces that are used in the majority of American births, most babies are not misaligned. On average, of the babies that I have checked over the years only about 10-20% are misaligned at birth.

But if a child is misaligned at birth it is critical to get that misalignment corrected as soon as possible.

A misalignment of the Atlas, the top bone in the neck (the most likely bone to misalign during the birth process) has been linked to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, colic, ear infections, acid reflux and many other neurological conditions related to brain stem dysfunction and accompanying symptoms.

So what are some ways that a parent may assess their own child to determine if their baby should be evaluated for an upper neck misalignment?

The easiest situation would be if your child begins to develop symptoms of any kind. Such as ear infections. If a child is having ear infections a frequent cause is a misalignment in the upper neck that leads to poor drainage of the ears because the nerves that control the ears begin in the upper neck.

Or if your baby has colic. Colic is frequently related to a vagus nerve irritation from an upper neck misalignment during birth. Once the misalignment is corrected. The colic often will go away immediately.

Or a variety of other symptoms that most pediatricians and parents will think that the child needs medications to cover up rather than seeking an underlying cause.

But if you have a seemingly healthy child who has not developed any symptoms yet then you can look at a few different things. Such as when the baby lays flat on their back do they have a tendency to always have their head turned in one direction? Or can you feel if the musculature in the lower back area near the pelvis is symmetrical from side to side? Or can you feel that one side is much tighter than the other?

If you are unsure about any of these things find a local upper cervical doctor in your area to check your baby as soon as possible. It can make all the difference in the world for the growth, development and the health of your son or daughter.

The other wonderful aspect of finding problems early in the life of your child is that the frequency needed of an correction. A infant corrected at birth of within the first year of life may be able to hold that one correction for months if not years. So get your kids checked…there really is no downside to having a properly aligned spinal column and properly functioning brain and nerve system.

And a skilled upper cervical doctor will be able to correct this misalignment without any popping, cracking or twisting of the spine. A gentle and precise force to realign the atlas is the key.

(Editor's note: Remember the objective of upper cervical care is to correct head neck misalignment that is interfering with proper brain to body communication. When this is corrected the body functions at a higher level and can often correct other problems more efficiently on its own. Please do not confuse upper cervical care as a treatment for any condition, disease or symptom.)

The Highlight of Practicing Upper Cervical Care

Earlier today I had the pleasure of checking a cute little bundle, a baby not quite two weeks old. The parents are firm supporters of upper cervical care and several weeks before the birth had asked me if I would be willing to check their baby once she was born. "Of course!", I said "It would be an honor."

Background -

The upper cervical spine is crucial because as Dr Gott. MD notes, "The head weighs between eight and 14 pounds. It must remain in perfect alignment in order to prevent interference in every brain-to-body function. Misalignment can result from automobile accidents, poor posture, falls and countless other causes. When the head becomes misaligned, it reacts adversely with pain and poor health. This is where upper-cervical chiropractic intervention comes into play. There is no forceful twisting or pulling of the neck. Muscles relax, blood circulation increases, and healing begins." The only thing I would add as a potential cause would be trauma during the birth process. It is also understood that the 8 to 14 pounds refers to adults and newborns/children have much lighter heads. However a newborn's/infant's ratio of head weight to body weight is much greater (heavier heads relative to body weight) and when you take that into consideration along with the diminished control of the head and neck in a newborn/infant it makes this area even more clinically significant.

History -

The mother had some minor issues near the end of pregnancy but birth went smoothly. The baby's presentation was normal and the baby was born vaginally. They opted for a hospital birth and there was no induction of labor or forceful pulling or twisting of the baby's head and neck during the birth. The baby came out fairly quickly with the last push bringing the head and the rest of baby with it. Some normal cone shape to the skull was present at birth which quickly molded to normal over the next 24 hours. Slight bruising to the back left portion of the skull from perhaps pushing against the pubic bone prior to birth. From the mother and father's perspective there was no indication of any trauma during or immediately following the birth. The baby is breastfed and the parents noted that she moves her head with a fair amount of control for her age. Other than a bit of issue from time to time staying latched on when feeding she appears to have no problems.

Analysis -

Upon checking the baby, head was very symetrical and bruising on back of head had healed. Baby was alert and content with no obvious signs of discomfort. Muscle tone in neck was good bilaterally and no sensitivity or irritation from analyzing the area was noted. Bilateral measurements of temperature in the atlas fossa (divet just behind ear lobe) were within an acceptable range and general muscle tone throughout the remainder of the spine was good and symetrical even when the upper cervical spine was stressed. Reversed Fencer's was performed and no abonormality was detected.

Outcome -

Based on the history and the analysis, x-rays were not indicated and no upper cervical correction was needed at this time.

Conclusion -

This provides additional evidence that the nature and progression of the birth process appears to play a significant role in the initial stability of the upper cervical spine. It has been observed that when there is abnormal baby presentation (breech, brow breech, footling) and/or more invasive methods (c-section, forceps, vacuum extraction, or forceful pulling or twisting of the head by hand) are utilized to birth the baby there is a significantly greater possibility of trauma to the upper cervical spine. More research in this area is warranted because not only do we, as upper cervical doctors, make corrections to this region but also those things that prevent them from occuring, especially during the birth process, could drastically reduce the need for care over the course of one's life time.

Remember it is holding/not needing a correction that gets and keeps people well, not correcting them.