KISS in Infants and Chiropractic Care

I’ve been asked by many mothers in the past if they should get their children in to get checked sometime and that answer is always a definitive yes. Not all children will need to get an adjustment, of course, but they should absolutely be checked since they can’t report what’s wrong like an adult can. Many people think of getting adjustments as being primarily for pain, but there’s so much more that’s improved in the body with an adjustment. This is truer still when correcting the body of a baby who is still in the middle of developing their body. However, even infants can be in pain that chiropractic can help with, but can’t let you know, even by crying because they instead react to pain by moving into positions that alleviate it. One particular condition common in infants is known as KISS.

KISS stands for Kinematic Imbalance due to Sub-occipital Strain. Kinematic refers to general motion, and sub-occipital means the area under the skull. Essentially, it’s when there’s a strain in the infant’s skull or first two vertebra that result in balance and posture changes such as torticollis and decreased ranges of motion in the neck. Because the infant is still developing, continuing along while having these changes eventually leads to what’s known as KIDD. KIDD is KISS Induced Dyspraxy and Dysgnosy. Dyspraxy is essentially poor motor control and disgnosy is impaired ability to think and learn.

As the old adage goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. While there are some studies out there showing improvement from learning disorders in school-children from chiropractic care, how many perhaps had KISS that developed into KIDD because it was left uncorrected early on? Like most chiropractic conditions, infants usually get better much faster than adults because their bodies haven’t had time to adapt to, and simply ‘deal with’ subluxations. In fact, research suggests that in 81% of KISS cases, a single manual manipulation such as a chiropractic adjustment is all that’s needed. 16% have required two adjustments leaving only 3% left requiring more.

So if you’re a new mother or know somebody who is, recommend bringing their child in to get checked. They may not even need an adjustment, but if they do, it can mean a world of difference in development.

--Joshua J. J. Jorde

Although not a study this time, the primary article referenced is “Manual medicine of functional disorders in children” in Medical Veritas: The Journal of Medical Truth 2006; Vol. 3; pp. 803-814

Read the abstract here