Cranbourne chiropractor’s video showing treatment on two-week-old baby sparks probe

The chiropractor at the centre of the latest baby back-­cracking controversy has agreed to no longer treat children after he was filmed performing controversial spinal treatments on a two-week-old baby, including hanging the child upside down.

The chiropractor at the centre of the latest baby back-­cracking controversy has agreed to no longer treat children after he was filmed performing controversial spinal treatments on a two-week-old baby.

Andrew Arnold of Cranbourne Family Chiropractic will refrain from assessing or treating children aged up to 12 years old.

The chiropractor will also refrain from advertising his treatments for children, according to an undertaking published on the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency website.

It comes as a probe was launched into Dr Arnold, who went to ground on Wednesday as medical groups intensified calls for the treatments to be outlawed.

MORE NEWS: PARENTS SUE SCHOOL OVER SON’S CAMP DEATH

HOW TO AVOID PAYING VOLUNTARY SCHOOL FEES

AFTERMATH OF BEAUMARIS BLAZE REVEALED

Andrew Arnold of Cranbourne Family Chiropractic is at the centre of the latest baby back-­cracking controversy.

The doors to his Cranbourne clinic were locked throughout the day, with patients having to shout through a glass door to identify themselves to gain entry for appointments.

Arriving at work, Dr Arnold declined to comment on his treatment of the baby in a video revealed by the Herald Sun on Wednesday.

The video, posted on the Cranbourne clinic’s Facebook page, showed Dr Arnold treating a baby boy described as two weeks old, including holding him upside down, tapping him on the head and using a spring-loaded device on his spine.

Prof Don Cameron, a senior gastroenterologist at the Royal Children’s Hospital, said the treatments in the video had no scientific basis.

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners president Harry Nespolon said the video of the baby’s spinal manipulation was “horrifying”, and he called on authorities to outlaw the practice.

Despite widespread calls for action, the Chiropractic Board of Australia refused to discuss the controversy on Wednesday.

Chiropractor Dr Andrew Arnold uses a tool he describes as an “activator” — a spring-loaded chiropractic thumping device — on its most gentle setting during the filmed consultation.

Chiropractor Dr Andrew Arnold briefly raises the infant by the ankles while checking its neck, before asking another person off camera to help cradle its neck as he lays it back on the examination bed.

A staff member at the Cranbourne clinic on Wednesday defended Dr Arnold to reporters gathered outside, calling him “a brilliant chiropractor”.

A receptionist and another employee left the complex about 12.15pm.

Despite spending the morning sitting behind the front desk of the clinic, the receptionist told reporters she was not an employee and was a patient.

The clinic bookkeeper arrived a short time later. She refused to comment on how Dr Andrew Arnold was.

While the use of the techniques on ­infants is not illegal, they have proved highly divisive within the medical profession.

Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos confirmed she had written to the Chiropractic Board of Australia and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, ­demanding they “take the necessary action”.

“This vision is deeply disturbing — it’s appalling that young children and infants are being ­exposed to such potential harm,” she said.

“The Chiropractic Board of Australia must condemn this practice as unprofessional and unacceptable, and the AHPRA must act quickly to stop these rogue practitioners in their tracks.”

DO YOU THINK THIS TREATMENT IS ACCEPTABLE? HAVE YOUR SAY BELOW

Chiropractor Dr Andrew Arnold briefly raises the infant by the ankles while checking its neck, before asking another person off camera to help cradle its neck as he lays it back on the examination bed.

The Chiropractic Board of Australia warned members it would take action against those failing to engage in safe practices when a similar video emerged in 2016.

The Herald Sun understands the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency and the Chiropractic Board have launched a confidential investigation into Dr Arnold’s actions, however a spokeswoman said the regulators were prevented from discussing individual cases.

After viewing the Cranbourne video — posted on Facebook last August — the Australian Medical Association’s Victorian president, Professor Julian Rait, said ­reviews into the research of ­infant spine manipulation found such treatments were not valid, while other studies found they could cause harm.

“There is no evidence of this working, which really makes this a dangerous procedure and therefore something that the medical profession would very seriously criticise,” Prof Rait said.

“We would be very much alarmed if people were allowed to do this, given there is evidence of potential harm and no evidence of efficacy.

“We would condemn anyone who is engaged in this sort of practice, and would encourage the regulator to deal with them appropriately.”

Cranbourne Family Chiropractic on Tuesday told the Herald Sun Dr Arnold could not be contacted in time to comment about the video.

Chiropractor Dr Andrew Arnold uses the palms of his hands to push on the baby’s skull, describing the action as being like “pushing on a balloon”.

At the beginning of the filmed consultation, a baby identified as a “two-week-old” has his legs folded into his hips until the chiropractor feels a click, when he warns the off-camera parents “don’t force it, but be sort of gently firm”.

Dr Arnold then briefly holds the baby upside down by its ankles to check its neck before laying it down and using an “activator” — a spring-loaded chiropractic device — to apply a gentle pulse to the baby’s jawline. As the bub starts to cry, Dr Arnold warns: “He is going to squawk a bit”.

As the video progresses, Dr Arnold applies another technique he claims synchronises the baby’s bowels with its brain, wiggling his fingers into the baby’s abdomen while tapping it on the head.

He later pushes at the base of the baby’s spine, claiming to be moving the cerebrospinal fluid.

On its web page, Cranbourne Family Chiropractic states it uses “non-crack techniques” for babies, including “brain training and kinesiology”.

The latest controversy comes less than two years after Parkdale chiropractor Dr Ian Rossborough was banned by AHPRA from treating infants or manipulating the spines of children under six, amid the fallout of a viral video in which he cracked the back of a visibly distressed four-day-old infant.

[e-mail]

Want more stories like this? Sign up for a free newsletter direct to your email inbox. 11 to choose from including latest news every morning and afternoon, food, footy, crime and tomorrow's Herald Sun front page. Click here to sign up