Chiropractors have been given the green light to resume spinal manipulation of babies after being banned from the practice five years ago.

Backed by health ministers, the Chiropractic Board of Australia ban came into force following a Facebook video showing a Melbourne chiropractor holding a two-week-old baby upside down during one of his treatment sessions.

The video then showed him employing a chiropractic device called the ‘activator’ — known as the stick that goes click — to move, in his words, the CSF.

A Safer Care Victoria report, commissioned by the State Government in response to concerns about patient safety, referred to the findings of a systematic review by Cochrane Australia.