According to the American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology, roughly 8.3% of children in the United States had asthma as of 2016, and the number keeps climbing. At Van Every Family Chiropractic Center, we support the nervous system function that controls breathing itself, not just the symptoms of an attack.
Your ability to breathe freely comes down to nerve signaling between your brain and your respiratory system. The phrenic nerve, which drives your diaphragm, exits the spinal cord in the mid-neck at C3, C4, and C5. The nerves to your ribs, lungs, and bronchial tubes exit lower, from the thoracic spine. When spinal misalignments interfere with these signals, breathing difficulty, inflammation, and airway reactivity tend to follow.
How Asthma Shows Up
Asthma rarely looks the same from one person to the next. Some deal with classic wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath. Others notice breathlessness that only flares during exercise, a chronic cough that lingers for weeks after everyone else has recovered, shallow breathing patterns that never quite fill the lungs, or a cycle of bronchitis and respiratory infections that keeps coming back. In kids, it can look like one cold after another, with frequent coughing and wheezing that never fully resolves between illnesses.
Possible Contributors
Asthma has many potential contributors: emotions, exercise, irritants in the air, medications, respiratory illness, and weather all play a role. That raises an obvious question: why wouldn't every child living in the same house, breathing the same air, be affected equally? The answer usually comes down to how each individual nervous system is functioning.
The Spine-Breathing Connection
Research published in the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research followed 81 children with asthma receiving chiropractic care. Over two months, the group saw a 45% decrease in the number of asthma attacks, and 31% of the children voluntarily reduced their medication.
That tracks with what we see in the office. Asthma involves the nervous system's inflammatory response overreacting to triggers that shouldn't cause this much airway constriction. Reducing interference in the spine helps re-establish proper nervous system control of the lungs and calm that inflammatory response, supporting better function rather than just easing a single flare-up.
Different Adjustments for Different Triggers
Exercise-induced asthma and asthma without an obvious cause get adjusted differently. For exercise-induced symptoms, we do a lot of work in motion through the chest, sternum, and ribcage, front and back, since that area directly innervates the lungs and takes on more stress with every twist of the shoulders during a run or a workout.
For childhood asthma without a clear trigger, the focus shifts more toward the neck, along with a diaphragm release to support that specific area of breathing. Using Koren Specific Technique (KST) and Talsky Tonal Chiropractic (TTC), our doctors adjust gently and precisely, with no cracking or forceful manipulation, whether the patient is a child or an adult.
Our Approach
Before we ever adjust, we complete a thorough history and consultation along with INSiGHT neurological scanning, which measures thermal patterns, heart rate variability, and sEMG readings along your spine. This gives our doctors an objective picture of how your nervous system is functioning and where stress is stuck, rather than guessing from the symptom pattern alone.
From there, care is light, nervous system focused, and specific to what the scans and exam reveal. Beyond adjustments, we are glad to talk through breathing habits, posture, and lifestyle factors that support respiratory health, and we coordinate with your pulmonologist or allergist whenever that is useful.
The Asthma-Ear Infection Connection
We see a strong correlation between kids who had multiple ear infections early on and the onset of asthma a few years later. It is almost as if the same nervous system pattern drives deeper into the body over time, showing up first in the ears and later in the lungs.
The good news is that asthma tends to respond quickly to this kind of care, in kids and adults alike. Parents often report easier breathing, fewer flare-ups, better sleep, and less reliance on rescue inhalers within the first several visits.
Take the First Step
You are never too young or too old to get help with breathing. Schedule a visit with our doctors in Royal Oak.
Common Questions
How does chiropractic care help with asthma?
What is actually causing my child's asthma symptoms?
Can children with asthma benefit from chiropractic care?
Should my child stop using their inhaler once we start care?
Is the care different for exercise-induced asthma versus asthma without a clear trigger?
How quickly will I notice a difference?
Related: Allergies & Respiratory Support · Immune System Support · Ear Infections · Anxiety & Stress · Gentle Chiropractic (No Cracking)
