It’s hard to watch - a crying, defenceless baby in the hands of someone who isn’t a paediatrician or a GP. Videos have surfaced across the internet of chiropractors treating infants as young as four days old.

The footage has exposed a growing number of chiropractors whose work, experts say, has now ventured well outside and above their level of medical expertise.

In many cases, chiropractors claim they can help cure asthma, ADHD, colic, bed-wetting, and even ear infections in children. It’s started an all-out war between trained medical practitioners and so-called cowboy chiropractors with controversial and dangerous views.

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"There's no need to see a chiropractor as a child," spinal surgeon John Cunningham tells Sunday Night's Alex Cullen. "You're putting children at unnecessary risk, you're taking money off people, and offering them what can only be placebo."

Children and chiropractors

Melbourne chiropractor Simon Floreani has been working with children for 20 years. According to Simon, helping a child’s spinal fluid flow more freely is the key to good health.

"A chiropractor looks at the spine like an electrician looks at a fuse box," Simon explains. "The fuses control everything that happens in the house. So the first thing we look to is the spine."

Parents like Erin used to take their sick kids to the local GP. But now, a growing number of children are under the care of the local chiropractor instead.

"Recently we've been sick with this flu-like thing," Erin reveals. "We've been coming more regularly to try to really flush through any viruses, bad bugs that we've got."

It’s now reached the point where Australian chiropractors receive one million visits from babies and children every year.

"The parents are the guardians," Simon says. "You need to find someone that you trust. We're in a trust industry."

Simon also believes chiropractors are able to assist children who have problems like asthma. "There's no harm in getting a check-up from a chiropractor to see whether that's of benefit," he decrees.

"'They just keep coming.'"

Simon is confident in the loyalty of his patients. "They just keep coming. [They've] been doing it for 20 years. They keep coming and they keep coming and they keep coming."

John Cunningham has been a spinal surgeon at Melbourne’s Epworth Hospital for the last eight years. He’s calling out therapy he believes is completely unnecessary – or worse, may give parents a false sense of security.

"When a chiropractor says that they can treat conditions such as asthma [or] bed-wetting with spinal manipulation, you could be forgiven for describing it as quackery," he says.

"I've got four children of my own and I love them dearly, and I know that as a father and as a spinal surgeon there’s just no place for that. These babies are perfect, they’re just fresh out of the oven. Causing pain to that baby, it’s simply unnecessary."

"'This is akin to snake oil salesman.'"

"It defies belief; it defies logic. It defies what we know about how the world works. This is akin to snake oil salesman."

"The people keep turning up," explains Simon. "Their vote’s much more important than any other quack in the industry who’s pretending they know the answers."

But Simon also admits his work won't necessarily fix his patients. "No, but I can try my best to help you."

Butting heads

Simon invites John Cunningham to his practice to find out for himself whether, in fact, chiropractic therapy helps sick kids get better.

Simon’s first patient is young Ajax, whose parents say has colic and reflux. They’ve been seeing Simon for years now and swear by his work.

"He's got a bit of a magic touch, very gentle as well," Ajax's father explains.

Simon gets to work massaging Ajax’s lower back. "What I am doing is actively and manually gently pumping the spinal fluid, to pump around the brain and around the spinal cord. So the nerves come through this area to the stomach, [and] also go through the neck."

At the end of the session, John Cunningham is very sceptical.

"What have you done for this child that nature isn’t going to take care of itself?" John asks.

"I can offer comfort to the parents," Simon says.

"'I am struggling to see what you're actually doing for them that isn't just part of being a normal baby.'"

"I am struggling to see what you're actually doing for them that isn't just part of being a normal baby," John replies.

Baby Alba is the next patient. She's here because she’s not sleeping through the night.

Simon talks through his work. "She feels somewhat strained through the shoulders. When the bones are erupting and moving, [it] would give them a face ache. When I move through the seams of the skull and gently stretch and disperse that heat, it's quite soothing."

At the end of the session, John Cunningham struggles to contain his frustration.

"You honestly believe the stuff that's coming out of your mouth, and that's what is the saddest thing," he tells Simon.

A controversial chiropractor

Floreani will continue to practice with the full backing of his dedicated followers. But he’s on thin ice.

Floreani has a controversial past - one he’d prefer not to talk about.

In 2016, Floreani spoke at an annual health and wellness event called Cal Jam in the United States. He was a guest on a podcast hosted by renowned American chiropractor Billy DeMoss who campaigns against childhood vaccinations, claiming they cause conditions like autism. Simon has no hesitation buying into De Moss’s anti-vax paranoia.

On the podcast, Simon says: "Parents are trusting their gut saying, 'I don’t want to do this, I can’t inject this poison in my baby’s body and be okay with that.' It just feels wrong, and we have to say no!"

For those dangerous comments, the Australian Chiropractic Association suspended Floreani’s license. He’s since had that suspension overturned by promising to keep his anti-vax views to himself.

Simon Floreani was the only one of the chiropractors featured Sunday Night's story who would allow us to film them treating patients. But the battle over what’s best for babies is far from over.

"Simon promised me that there would be some evidence, that I'd learn something," says John. "Unfortunately there's been nothing presented that is of use whatsoever. Parents believe the things that Simon says."

Reporter: Alex Cullen | Producer: Stephen Rice

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Sunday Night is not suggesting chiropractic treatment can’t be effective. Indeed, many chiropractors work only with adults and focus on back and neck problems. But an increasing number claim they can cure all kinds of ailments - including in children.

In March 2019, the Chiropractic Board of Australia released an interim policy advising chiropractors not to use spinal manipulation to treat children under two years of age. Read their full statement here.