EAST BAY - A few days after she was born, Shannon Ganser was diagnosed with acid reflux disease. Her pediatrician prescribed the drug Zantac.Shannon began taking the drug, but her parents weren't comfortable having their baby dependent on medication. They brought her to Dr. Ron Marsh, a chiropractor in Portsmouth, when she was just 5 weeks old.

Six week later, Shannon was taking half the medication prescribed. After 12 weeks she was off the prescription entirely.

Shannon is now 14 months old, and she sees Dr. Marsh twice a month for regular adjustments. "She's a really healthy kid," said Kelly Ganser, Shannon's mother. "Actually, she's the healthiest kid I know."

What is chiropractic care?

Chirpractors are nerve doctors trained to deal with the fine mechanical problems in the nervous system. What a chiropractor does is check the spine for any distortion (also called subluxation) caused by the bones of the spine moving out of line or position. This distortion, which is often painless, irritates the spinal nerves, which in turn causes dis-ease within the body in some way — often manifesting itself in a person's physical and emotional health.

This happens because if you interfere with the signals traveling over nerves, parts of your body will not get the proper nerve messages and will not be able to function at 100 percent of their innate abilities. In other words, some part of your body will not be working properly. Once the chiropractor finds the subluxation, he corrects it with a series of adjustments.

It's pretty easy to understand why adults would have these sorts of problems, since they have spent years developing poor posture habits, lifting heavy loads incorrectly and simply moving in ways the body was not designed to.

What's not as clear is why children, especially young ones, develop subluxations. The answer, however, is pretty simple.

"Infant spinal nerve problems arise from two major things: The trauma of the birth process and the toddler phase," explained Dr. Marsh. "The birth process is very traumatic," agreed Dr. Michael Malik, a chiropractor in Barrington, "and can certainly cause enough pressure for a subluxation to occur." Plus, once the baby is born, "its nervous system is constantly changing. Babies sit up, lean their head to one side or the other and fall over all the time," said Dr. Malik.

Dr. Marsh even compares some of these motions to whiplash, a pattern you can see when you watch a toddler continuously fall over and then get back up again. So sometimes, Dr. Marsh said, you'll see a previously healthy baby reach the toddler phase and start to get sick. "So I check for subluxation."

Dr. Marsh and Dr. Malik both believe that if you correct these subluxations early in a child, the problems are usually easy and quick to fix. "If we can treat the children and clear up any subluxations early on, then hopefully we can prevent a lifetime of health problems."

Dr. Marsh also emphasizes that chiropractic care is not the diagnosis or treatment of disease, but rather the promotion of health. "Health is a concrete entity, and most human beings have the capacity for 100 percent health. Our job is to elevate a patient's level of natural health to the point where they get sick less often."

Prevention is the best medicine

Both doctors encourage parents to bring their children, as young as a few days, in for regular adjustments or check-ups to keep them healthy. "Preventive chiropractic care is identical to preventive dentistry," said Dr. Marsh. "Stress happens every day, and just like your teeth are under stress, so is the spine." Both doctors believe regular visits can pay set the stage for a lifetime of good health.

"We see tons of kids, from as young as the first week they are born," said Dr. Malik. "They come in with respiratory problems, ear infections and colds; and we can help them."

As much as they believe in the success of their chiropractic care, neither doctor believes in interfering with a patient's medical care at all. "We are in no way anti-medicine," said Dr. Malik. "We are simply pro-health. We just believe in trying a basic, natural approach first."

"I would never interfere with a patient's medical care," Dr. Marsh said. "I would do the adjustments as an additional treatment to whatever else their doctor is doing."

A gentle pressure

Though it may sound extreme, infant chiropractic care is nothing like that of an adult's. In fact, Dr. Malik says that a chiropractic adjustment for a child is just a tiny light pressure, "like checking the ripeness of a tomato. It's very gentle, very safe and very effective."

Both doctors also say there are no downsides to chiropractic care — for children or adults— and that safety is unsurpassed.

"I've never heard of any adverse effects from it in children," said Dr. Malik. "It's very safe, the adjustments are so tiny and light, so why not try the conservative and least invasive approach to health first? There are no drugs, no side effects ... it's more natural."

"The parents tell us that their kids are healthier," Dr. Marsh said. "They don't have to take medicines and they get fewer colds and infections than other children." And when these children do get sick, the parents say they get better much faster.

"I honestly would never have thought that I would be bringing my child to a chiropractor," said Kelly Ganser, Shannon's mom. "In fact, a lot of people are incredulous that I bring her to one. But I can't say enough good things about it. It's so gentle and natural and non-invasive, why wouldn't I do it? It's a great way to stay healthy without using medicine; all it requires is a little maintenance."

Ms. Ganser said she will continue bringing Shannon in for regular visits until she goes to college. "A few minutes a visit is all it takes, and if she stays as healthy as she is now, it will be more than worth it."

The cost of chiropractic care

Most insurance companies cover a certain number of chiropractic visits per year per member, including children; co-payments vary, depending on the plan. If you don't have insurance or if yours doesn't cover chiropractic care, most doctors will work with you on the fee. For example, for adults whose insurance covers it, Dr. Marsh typically charges $75 for an initial visit, and $35 thereafter; he doesn't charge for children if one parent is under his care. If insurance doesn't cover it, he charges $25 per adult visit. If he is only going to treat your child, the fee will be less.