What are the Traumatic Effects of Birth?
Birth may be your baby's first trauma — atlas misalignment from delivery can cause earaches, torticollis, and colic that most parents never connect to the spine.
Key Takeaways
- Birth — especially C-sections — can misalign the atlas (C1 vertebra), making it the earliest and most overlooked physical trauma in a person's life.
- A misaligned atlas shifts the eustachian tubes to a more horizontal angle, preventing proper drainage and leading to chronic ear infections in infants and children.
- Torticollis, colic, and recurring earaches in babies may all share a common root cause: upper cervical misalignment from the birthing process.
- Most newborns are never evaluated for spinal alignment, but a gentle atlas-specific chiropractic check can identify and correct issues before they compound.
- Early correction of atlas misalignment may help children avoid chronic ear infections, surgical interventions like ear tubes, and longer-term neurological issues.
Overview
The Hidden Trauma of Being Born
Most parents would be surprised to learn that the birthing process — particularly C-sections or difficult deliveries — is one of the most physically stressful events a person ever experiences. As the baby emerges, the head is rotated, the neck is twisted, and significant force is applied to the upper cervical spine. This can result in a misalignment of the atlas (the very first vertebra at the top of the neck), setting the stage for a range of health issues that can persist well into childhood if left unaddressed.
How Atlas Misalignment Affects Infants
When the atlas is out of proper alignment, it doesn't just create a structural problem — it creates a neurological and mechanical one as well. Common conditions linked to birth-related atlas misalignment include:
- Torticollis – abnormal tilting or rotation of the head/neck
- Chronic ear infections – a misaligned atlas causes the eustachian tubes to shift from a more vertical to a more horizontal position, impairing drainage and creating a breeding ground for infection
- Colic – persistent, unexplained crying and fussiness that may have a neurological root
Most infants are never evaluated for spinal alignment after birth, and many parents don't realize that a gentle chiropractic check — specifically an atlas-specific assessment — could prevent years of recurring health struggles.
The Case for Getting Your Child Checked Early
Atlas-specific care is a precise, gentle approach to identifying and correcting upper cervical misalignment. Catching a misalignment early means you can potentially spare your child from chronic ear infections, tubes, medications, and the downstream effects of an undetected neurological issue. As Dr. Wilkerson shares from personal experience — growing up with chronic earaches and tubes in his ears, without ever being checked by a chiropractor — early intervention can make all the difference.
Full Transcript
I want to ask you guys, do you know what the biggest trauma in your life is? It is coming into this world and being born. When you're coming out of the womb, your head is turned and your neck is twisted and you have to be pulled, especially if it's a C-section, where there is damage at the top of the neck. And we see that in kids where they have torticollis, they have chronic earaches because the birthing process have their atlas misaligned and they'll get chronic earaches, ear infections, torticollis, even colic can be symptoms from the trauma of being born. Most kids are never checked. They don't even, you know, the parents don't even think that the kid should go to the chiropractor to be checked to see if everything's aligned right. But if it's not, we can have neurological issues like these. We have mechanical issues with the eustachian tubes, with the earaches, because if your atlas is misaligned, the eustachian tubes will go more horizontal than more vertical. So they're not draining properly when the atlas is out of alignment. I'm an atlas specific doctor that can check your child's atlas to make sure it's lined up perfectly so they don't run into these issues. I had issues as a kid with ear aches, tubes in my ear, and my dad was a medical doctor so I didn't go to the chiropractor and subsequently later not in the life I had ear problems that got resolved but if you get your kit checked you can avoid all these issues