From newborns to teenagers, our chiropractors at My Chiropractic Place provide thorough, gentle spinal care for children across Melbourne — at our Richmond and Caroline Springs clinics.
Most parents don’t think about their child’s spine until something goes wrong. But the truth is, the spine begins to experience physical stress from the moment of birth.
Whether your child arrived naturally, by caesarean, or with the help of forceps or ventouse, the birthing process places real force through a newborn’s neck and spine. And that’s just the beginning.
On average, a child aged seven will have experienced approximately 2,500 falls. Before the age of three, most children will have three significant falls — from change tables, cots, or stairs. By school age, add heavy backpacks, hours of screen time, and weekend sports to the mix, and you have a spine working hard just to keep up.
Minor spinal misalignments — known as vertebral subluxations — can affect the nervous system in ways that aren’t always obvious. Children are resilient, but resilience isn’t the same as being unaffected. Early assessment can identify issues before they become harder to address.
Our Melbourne chiropractors assess for spinal and nervous system dysfunction that may be contributing to your child’s presenting concerns. Chiropractic is not a direct treatment for the conditions listed above.
The first visit isn’t about jumping straight to an adjustment. It’s about understanding your child — their history, their habits, and what’s actually going on.
We start by talking with you. Birth history, developmental milestones, the presenting concern — all of it matters. You know your child better than anyone. We listen first.
There’s no rush, and no pressure. If your child is nervous, that’s completely normal. We work at their pace.
Every child receives an individual assessment. That includes observation of their posture, gait, and movement; gentle palpation of the spine, pelvis, cranium, shoulders, and hips; and nerve function assessment using Gonstead instrumentation — one of the most specific assessment systems in chiropractic.
X-ray is only considered where it is clinically appropriate and age-justified. It is not routine for children.
Before anything else happens, we explain what we found. You’ll understand exactly what we’re seeing and why.
We never pressure you into a care plan. We never place children (or anyone) on prepaid packages. You decide what happens next, with full information in front of you.
If an adjustment is indicated, the technique is chosen based on your child’s exact age, size, and spinal findings. Every child is different, and the approach reflects that.
For infants, the pressure involved is often described as no more than you’d use to check if a tomato is ripe. It’s that gentle. For older children and teenagers, we use modified techniques appropriate to their stage of spinal development.
Most children tolerate adjustments well. Plenty of them actually look forward to coming back.
Before you leave, we’ll give you practical, take-home guidance. That might be advice on school bag weight, screen ergonomics, sleep positioning, or a simple exercise if it’s clinically appropriate. Our job doesn’t stop at the adjustment table.
A 1998 study by R. Pistolese — Risk Assessment of Neurological and/or Vertebrobasilar Complications in the Paediatric Chiropractic Patient — reviewed all available medical literature over 31 years, specifically focusing on chiropractic safety in children.
The finding: in over 31 years of worldwide medical literature, only one reported case of injury to a child as a result of chiropractic care. The estimated risk of an adverse event was approximately one in 250 million paediatric chiropractic visits.
A 2008 study by J. Miller and K. Benfield analysed 697 paediatric patients undergoing 5,242 chiropractic treatments and concluded that chiropractic is a safe form of therapy in the treatment of patients under the age of three.
A 2002 study on Reported Adverse Drug Events in Infants and Children Under 2 Years of Age found that drug therapy was associated with an average of 243 reported deaths annually over a 38-month study period.
A 2001 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that the preventable adverse drug reaction rate in paediatric inpatients was three times higher than in adult hospital studies.
The comparison isn’t made to alarm you. It’s made to give you an accurate picture of relative risk — one that the data consistently supports in favour of chiropractic care for children.
Dr Nam Nguyen and Dr David Addie have been caring for children — from newborns through to teenagers — for a combined 49 years of clinical practice. Both hold double bachelor’s degrees in Chiropractic Science from RMIT University, and both have been members of the Australian Gonstead Chiropractic Society for more than 20 years.
That depth of experience matters when you’re bringing in a child who can’t fully describe what they’re feeling, or an infant who can only communicate through behaviour and movement. Reading children takes time, patience, and a clinical eye that develops over decades — not months.
Dr Nam Nguyen opened the Richmond clinic in 2005 and, two years later, became the first chiropractor to serve the Caroline Springs community. Both clinics see children regularly, and both are set up to
My Chiropractic Place has two Melbourne clinics, both well-placed for families across the city.
Both clinics offer flexible appointment times, including early morning and after-school slots, to work around school and work schedules. If you have a question, you can reach us directly. You won’t be bounced between reception staff or left waiting days for a callback.
Getting started is straightforward. Book an appointment at our Richmond or Caroline Springs clinic — no referral needed, no prepaid plan required. Just a thorough, honest assessment from practitioners with nearly five decades of experience between them.
If you have questions before booking, call us directly. We’re easy to reach.
Pistolese RA. Risk assessment of neurological and/or vertebrobasilar complications in the pediatric chiropractic patient. J Vertebral Sublux Res 1998;2(2):73-81.
Vange B. Contact between preschool children with chronic diseases and the authorized health services and forms of alternative therapy. Ugeskr Laeger 1989;151(28):1815-8
Crawford JP, Byoung YH, Asselbergs PJ, Hickson GS. Vascular ischemia of the cervical spine: a review of the relationship to therapeutic manipulation. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 1984;7(3):149-55.
Dvorak J, Baumgartner L, Burn JB, et al. Consensus and recommendations as to the side effects and complications of manual therapy of the cervical spine. J Manual Medicine 1991;6:117-8.
Fossgren J. Complications in manual medicine. J Manual Medicine 1991;6:83-4.
Anrig, C. Chiropractic — Is It Safe for Children? Dynamic Chiropractic – September 7, 1998, Vol. 16, Issue 19
Marchand, AM. Chiropractic care of children from birth to adolescence and classification of reported conditions: an internet cross-sectional survey of 956 European chiropractors. Jun;35(5):372-80. doi: 10.1016/j.jmpt.2012.04.008. Epub 2012 May 22.
Alcantara J, Ohm J, Kunz D. The safety and effectiveness of pediatric chiropractic: a survey of chiropractors and parents in a practice-based research network. Explore (NY). 2009 Sep-Oct;5(5):290-5. doi: 10.1016/j.explore.2009.06.002.
Vohra, S, Johnston B, Cramer K, and Humphrey K. Adverse Events Associated With Pediatric Spinal Manipulation: A Systematic Review. DOI: 10.1542/peds.2006-1392