Chiropractic for Kids
A healthy spine is essential to any developing child.
The Parent’s Guide to Chiropractic Care
When combined with a holistic approach in partnership with your G.P and/or pediatrician, routine chiropractic care can offer your child a core foundation for a life-time of good health and well-being. Below you will see more specifically the benefits of chiropractic care for children.
How does chiropractic work for children?
Your child’s spine is made up of 24 moving vertebrae that allows their body to bend, twist and move. Inside their spine is a delicate nervous system. Their nervous system controls and coordinates every cell, tissue, muscle and organ in the body allowing them to live their life.
Now stress on the spine, some sudden and some over time, like poor posture, can cause the bones in the spine to shift out of their normal alignment. When this occurs joints can become “STUCK”. Chiropractors refer to this as a Subluxation. When a Subluxation occurs it can interfere with the messages between the brain and the body and may lead to a symptom.
These symptoms are your body’s only way of letting you know something is wrong. Unfortunately, the absence of pain is not an indication of health. By the time pain and symptoms appear the problem may have been present for months, years or even decades.
Stress on your child’s spine can begin when they are in the mother’s tummy. This is referred to as In-utero constraint. This can occur if the baby is in a Breech, Transverse or Brow/Facial presentation. The next major stress to your child’ spine is the birth process. Research has shown that when intervention occurs via forceps or vacuum additional strain to the joints in the neck can occur.
Then there are handling errors (slips off tables or change beds), slips and falls especially when learning how to walk. It is estimated that a child has had 2500 significant impacts on the spinal column by the time they are 5 years of age.
Add to this the over-use of iPhones, iPads or gaming, children are spending more and more time sitting in a forward head position which is causing postural and spinal problems.
Subluxations of the spine, commonly known as joint dysfunctions, occur when two or more vertebrae become restricted and impede the body’s ability to communicate with itself. Joint dysfunctions in a child can be caused by everyday activities throughout their development cycle.
Chiropractors are specifically trained to locate and correct Spinal Subluxations. When a Subluxation is present the chiropractor will deliver a specific low force movement to the affected area of the spine. This non-invasive technique is commonly known as a chiropractic adjustment.
How can my child benefit from chiropractic care?
By checking and removing Subluxations from the developing spine, normal motion can be maintained to ensure optimal joint health and correct spinal alignment and motion. This is crucial as the developing bones of the spine can be adversely affected when there is abnormal pressure on spinal joints.
“As the twig is bent, the tree will grow”
Chiropractic care is a natural, drug-free approach to health that that can have immediate and long-term benefits to a child’s health.
Chiropractic could help with these common childhood ailments:
- Back & Neck Pain
- Sporting Injuries
- Growing Pains
- Scoliosis
- Posture
For many parents, checking their child’s posture has never crossed their minds. If your child’s posture has not been checked or you unsure if your child’s spine and nervous system is developing properly, the chiropractors at The Posture Doctor will perform a consultation and examination to put your mind at ease. If a problem is found our doctor of chiropractic may elect to co-treat your child with other healthcare professionals such as your pediatrician or G.P.
Frequently Asked Questions
No patient is too young or old to receive chiropractic care. There are numerous techniques options available to adjust your spine, some of which do not require any manual force whatsoever. Regardless of your age, a licensed Doctor of Chiropractic is trained to recognize when certain techniques are more applicable to a patient based on age, physical condition, exam findings and the patient’s history.
In actuality, there are three stages of chiropractic care:
Relief
If your child is experiencing aches, pains and or decreased range of motion, our licensed chiropractors will work to identify the source of the issue and eliminate joint restrictions, also known as subluxations. Subluxations can get in the way of proper nerve communication from the brain to the body–often resulting in pain and discomfort.
While seeking relief, the doctor may recommend multiple visits per week, for two to four weeks, or until the pain is reduced. The doctor will likely also recommend home therapies such as icing and/or stretching at home.
Recovery
Just because pain and discomfort begin to subside doesn’t mean your child should stop receiving care. Muscle and other soft tissue damage may still be present even though the symptoms of pain are gone. Recovery care works to support the body’s ability to heal itself by maintaining proper communication throughout the entire body.
During recovery, the doctor may recommend visiting one to two times per week as well as performing strengthening exercises at home.
Wellness
You’ve heard the phrase “no pain, no gain,” right? Well, chiropractic is a little different. Even when your child is not experiencing pain or discomfort, they can gain from routine care. While routine chiropractic can help improve health and well-being; it can also serve as an early detection system for new problems.
Once your child has found relief and have fully recovered, the doctor will typically recommend maintenance visits along with a balanced diet and exercise regimen.
Chiropractic adjustment is a highly controlled procedure that rarely causes discomfort because minimal force and gentle pressure are used. In fact, most patients feel relief immediately following treatment.
Any reported soreness after an initial adjustment has been described as similar to that associated with starting a new exercise program. Drinking plenty of water, using an ice pack, and engaging in light stretching after their first visit can help ease any discomfort and promote healing.
The Activator Method is one of the most widely researched gentle instrument chiropractic adjusting techniques used on children and seniors today. Rather than using the hands to restore joint motion, a small hand-held device is used.
The frequency in which your child receive chiropractic care is strictly up to the professional opinion of a Doctor of Chiropractic and will vary from individual to individual.
The popping sounds they will hear are their joints releasing tiny pockets of gases. A chiropractic adjustment does not affect the bones of either side of the joint, but rather the connective tissue that holds the joint together.
