Updated on Mar 5, 2026
Author: Dr. Tony Ebel, DC, CPPFC, CCWP
Revised for Inspire Chiropractic by Davis Madole, Reviewed by Dr. Shah Khan DC, CACCP
Few experiences are more frightening for a parent than watching their child have a seizure.
The sudden movements, changes in awareness, and uncertainty about what is happening can leave families feeling overwhelmed and searching for answers. When seizures happen repeatedly, parents may find themselves navigating medical appointments, diagnostic testing, medications, and difficult questions about their child’s future.
If this is part of your family’s story, we want you to know something important: You are not alone, and your questions deserve to be heard.
At Inspire Chiropractic, we believe families deserve compassionate support, clear information, and a care team that takes the time to understand their child’s individual needs. Understanding seizures begins with knowing what they look like, what may contribute to them, and how to work with qualified healthcare professionals to make informed decisions about care.
What Are Seizures?
A seizure occurs when there is a sudden episode of abnormal electrical activity in the brain. Depending on the areas involved, a seizure may affect movement, awareness, behavior, sensation, or consciousness.
Because seizures can look very different from one child to another, they are not always easy to recognize.
Some involve dramatic, full-body movements. Others may appear as brief staring spells, unusual sensations, sudden confusion, or subtle changes in a child’s behavior.
Possible signs and symptoms include:
- Temporary confusion: A child may seem disoriented during or after an episode.
- Staring spells: A child may briefly stop responding or appear unaware of their surroundings.
- Involuntary movements: Repetitive jerking, stiffening, or unusual movements may occur.
- Changes in awareness or consciousness: A child may become unresponsive or lose consciousness.
- Unusual sensations or emotions: Some seizures involve sudden fear, déjà vu, or unusual sensory experiences.
- Changes after an episode: A child may be tired, confused, have a headache, or need time to recover.
Not every staring spell, movement, or episode of confusion is a seizure. Other conditions can produce similar symptoms, which is why an appropriate medical evaluation is essential.
Does Having a Seizure Mean My Child Has Epilepsy?
Not necessarily.
A seizure can occur for several reasons, including fever in young children, low blood sugar, certain infections, head injuries, medication effects, or other acute medical conditions.
Epilepsy is a neurological disorder characterized by an ongoing tendency to have unprovoked seizures. In many cases, it is diagnosed after two unprovoked seizures occurring more than 24 hours apart. However, a diagnosis may also be made after one unprovoked seizure when the risk of another seizure is sufficiently high, or when a specific epilepsy syndrome is identified.
An EEG can help evaluate electrical activity in the brain, but a normal EEG does not automatically rule out epilepsy. The results must be interpreted alongside the child’s symptoms, medical history, and other relevant findings.
If you suspect your child has experienced a seizure, contact their healthcare professional promptly for guidance.
Types of Seizures in Children
Understanding seizure types can help parents make sense of the terminology they may hear during medical appointments.
Focal seizures begin in networks within one side of the brain. Depending on the areas involved, they may affect movement, sensation, emotions, or awareness.
Generalized seizures involve networks on both sides of the brain from the beginning of the seizure.
Myoclonic seizures involve brief, sudden muscle jerks. These movements may affect the arms, shoulders, or other parts of the body.
Tonic-clonic seizures involve stiffening followed by rhythmic jerking movements and often include loss of consciousness. They were historically called grand mal seizures.
Other seizure types may involve brief lapses in awareness, sudden loss of muscle tone, or episodes of muscle stiffening.
Because different seizure types require different evaluations and treatment considerations, an accurate diagnosis is an important first step.
What Can Cause Seizures?
Seizures have many possible causes, and sometimes the exact cause remains unknown even after an extensive evaluation.
Potential contributing factors include:
- Genetic factors: Some epilepsy syndromes are associated with genetic variations that affect brain function.
- Brain injuries: Traumatic brain injuries and certain injuries occurring around birth can increase seizure risk.
- Structural differences in the brain: Some developmental differences, malformations, or areas of damaged tissue can contribute to seizures.
- Infections and illness: Certain infections involving the brain or nervous system can cause seizures.
- Metabolic disturbances: Abnormal blood sugar, electrolyte imbalances, and other metabolic problems can trigger seizures.
- Unknown or multiple factors: In many cases, seizures cannot be attributed to one clearly identifiable cause.
A child’s prenatal history, birth history, development, sleep patterns, medications, and other health concerns may all be relevant pieces of their clinical history.
However, it is important to distinguish between a factor worth discussing with a healthcare professional and a proven cause. For example, a history of birth interventions does not automatically mean a child sustained a neurological injury, and stress during pregnancy alone does not establish why a child experiences seizures.
What About the Nervous System, Brainstem, and Vagus Nerve?
The brain, brainstem, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves work together to coordinate essential functions throughout the body. The autonomic nervous system also helps regulate involuntary processes such as heart rate, digestion, and aspects of the body’s stress response.
These systems are important to overall neurological function. However, seizures originate from abnormal electrical activity in brain networks, and there is not sufficient evidence to conclude that spinal misalignment, chiropractic subluxation, or vagus nerve dysfunction is a general underlying cause of childhood seizures.
If your child experiences seizures alongside sleep difficulties, anxiety, digestive symptoms, or other concerns, those symptoms deserve attention in their own right. A comprehensive care team can help determine which evaluations and treatments are appropriate.
How Are Seizures Evaluated and Treated?
When a child experiences a suspected seizure, the first priority is identifying what happened and determining whether immediate treatment is needed.
Depending on the circumstances, a medical evaluation may include:
- A detailed description of the episode from parents or witnesses.
- A neurological examination and review of the child’s medical history.
- An EEG to assess electrical activity in the brain.
- Blood tests or other investigations when a metabolic issue, infection, or another cause is suspected.
- Brain imaging, such as an MRI, when clinically indicated.
Treatment depends on the type of seizure, its cause, the child’s age, and the likelihood of future episodes.
Options may include anti-seizure medications, treatment of an underlying medical condition, dietary therapy such as a medically supervised ketogenic diet for selected cases, or epilepsy surgery for some children whose seizures do not respond adequately to medication.
These treatments can have side effects and may require adjustments over time. Parents should feel comfortable discussing their concerns, the expected benefits and risks, and possible alternatives with their child’s neurologist.
Never stop, reduce, or change a child’s seizure medication without guidance from the prescribing clinician. Abrupt changes can increase the risk of serious or prolonged seizures.
What If My Child’s Tests Are Normal?
It can be frustrating to watch your child experience concerning episodes when testing has not provided a clear answer.
A normal EEG does not necessarily exclude epilepsy, because abnormal electrical activity may not occur during the recording. Depending on the circumstances, a neurologist may recommend a longer EEG, ambulatory monitoring, video EEG, or further assessment for other conditions that can resemble seizures.
Keeping a record of episodes can also help. Note the time, duration, movements, changes in awareness, possible triggers, and how your child behaves afterward. If it is safe to do so, a video of an episode may help the medical team understand what occurred.
You deserve a thoughtful explanation of the findings and a clear plan for what to do next.
How Can Inspire Chiropractic Support Your Family?
At Inspire Chiropractic, our approach emphasizes the relationship between the nervous system and overall function. We understand that families navigating a child’s neurological condition may be looking for additional ways to support their child’s well-being.
Our role is to listen to your concerns, discuss your child’s broader health history, and explain what our services can and cannot tell you.
Understanding Your Child’s Nervous System
Our office offers INSiGHT scans, which may include surface electromyography (sEMG), thermal scanning, and heart rate variability (HRV) assessment.
These technologies measure different aspects of muscle activity, skin temperature patterns, and heart rate variation. Depending on the test, they may provide information about selected physiological patterns.
However, INSiGHT scans are not diagnostic tests for epilepsy or seizures. They cannot establish the cause of a seizure, replace an EEG or neurological examination, or determine whether a child can safely reduce or discontinue seizure medication.
If your child has epilepsy or unexplained seizure-like episodes, their medical evaluation remains the priority.
A Whole-Child, Family-Centered Perspective
Every child has a different history, and every family deserves to have its concerns taken seriously.
During a consultation, we can discuss your child’s health history, current care, and your family’s goals. If chiropractic care is being considered for general musculoskeletal comfort or another appropriate concern, we can explain what that care involves and coordinate with your child’s healthcare team when appropriate.
At this time, there is not strong, high-quality evidence establishing chiropractic adjustments as an effective treatment for epilepsy or as a way to prevent seizures. Chiropractic care should not replace established neurological treatment, and we would not recommend using it as a substitute for anti-seizure medication.
Our commitment is to help families make informed decisions without unrealistic promises or pressure to abandon care that may be protecting their child’s health.
What Should I Do If My Child Has a Seizure?
Knowing what to do during a seizure can help you respond more confidently.
- Stay calm and time the seizure. Note when it begins and how long it lasts.
- Protect your child from injury. Move nearby objects and, if possible, gently guide them away from hazards.
- Place your child on their side when practical. This can help keep the airway clear, especially after the movements stop.
- Do not restrain their movements. Do not put fingers, food, water, or any object into their mouth.
- Stay with them as they recover. They may be confused, tired, or frightened afterward.
Call 911 if the seizure lasts five minutes or longer, another seizure begins before the child has recovered, the child has trouble breathing or waking afterward, the seizure occurs in water, or the child is injured. Seek emergency help for a first known seizure, particularly if the child has not already been evaluated and given a medical action plan.
If your child has a prescribed seizure rescue medication or an individualized seizure action plan, follow the instructions provided by their healthcare team.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can children outgrow seizures?
Some children experience seizure disorders that improve or resolve with age, while others need longer-term treatment. The outlook depends on the seizure type, underlying cause, and individual medical history. Your child’s neurologist can explain what is known about their specific condition.
Can a seizure happen even if an EEG is normal?
Yes. A routine EEG records brain activity during a limited period, and it may not capture intermittent abnormalities. A normal result does not automatically rule out epilepsy.
Can birth trauma cause seizures?
A significant brain injury occurring around birth can increase the risk of seizures. However, birth interventions alone do not prove that an injury occurred or establish the cause of a child’s seizures. A qualified medical team can review the birth history and determine whether further evaluation is appropriate.
Can chiropractic care stop seizures or treat epilepsy?
There is currently insufficient high-quality evidence to establish chiropractic care as a treatment for epilepsy or to show that adjustments reliably prevent seizures. Chiropractic care should never replace neurological evaluation, prescribed medication, or an individualized seizure action plan.
What if I feel overwhelmed caring for a child with seizures?
That feeling is understandable. Seizures can affect the entire family, not just the child experiencing them. Ask your child’s care team about family support resources, counseling, caregiver support groups, and practical help with appointments and daily routines. You deserve support, too.
You Don’t Have to Navigate This Alone
Watching your child experience a seizure can be frightening, and living with uncertainty can take an emotional toll on the entire family.
You deserve clear answers, compassionate professionals, and a care plan grounded in your child’s individual needs. Start with qualified medical evaluation, ask questions whenever something is unclear, and seek additional support when your family needs it.
At Inspire Chiropractic, we believe listening to parents and taking a whole-child perspective matter. We welcome conversations about your family’s concerns and can help you understand the scope and limitations of our services so you can make informed decisions alongside your child’s medical team.
If your child experiences seizures, please prioritize care with a qualified medical professional or pediatric neurologist. Your child’s safety comes first, and you do not have to figure everything out on your own.
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SOURCES
- Pistolese RA. Epilepsy and seizure disorders: a review of literature relative to chiropractic care of children. J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2001 Mar-Apr;24(3):199-205. PMID: 11313616.
- Pistolese RA. Epilepsy and seizure disorders: a review of literature relative to chiropractic care of children. J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2001 Mar-Apr;24(3):199-205. PMID: 11313616.