Chiropractic is a vital fundamental of your children’s health and welfare.
As caring parents we are often confronted with decisions regarding the health and well being of our children. Decisions such as: Should my child play contact sport? Or does my child need to take vitamins? Or should my child be vaccinated? And indeed … does my child need to see a chiropractor?
For over 100 years Chiropractors have maintained that your health and the health of your children depend largely on the health of the nervous system. That is why your child’s spine is so important and why chiropractors emphasize the importance of looking after your spine.
Research
Extensive clinical experience supported by an ever increasing amount of scientific research has shown that a wide variety of childhood symptoms may respond favorably when treated with Chiropractic.
These include:
How do spinal problems in children develop?
Childhood is a rapid time of development, and the earlier childhood spinal problems are resolved the less likely there will be recurrences later. It is important for parents to understand that it is not normal for children to suffer headaches, tummy aches or growing pains, nor are they likely, as you may often hear, to ‘grow out of them’. While a particular symptom will often pass untreated, the unresolved underlying problem often remains to return at a later date.
As children grow they will inevitably experience falls and bumps, which are an unavoidable part of childhood. Just as a child can get a bruised muscle here, or a grazed knee there, they can also get slightly more serious injuries like an ankle sprain from soccer or a jarred spine from gymnastics or football. However unlike cuts and scrapes that will heal naturally with time, spinal problems, however minor, may not spontaneously heal. If left undetected and untreated these conditions may progressively worsen with time until they become ingrained and hard to reverse spinal problems.
How can you be sure these small childhood accidents are not causing damage to your young child’s spine? The answer is: "You can't."
So what should you do?
Let us say your child experiences a fall, perhaps out of a tree or bunk bed. Being a concerned parent you may rush you child to the GP to make sure there has been no serious damage. The GP is trained to check for many problems including fractures, sprains or concussion, but the GP is not trained to specifically examine the spine and identify spinal dysfunction such as what is known as a Vertebral Subluxation. The GP may often miss potentially serious spinal problems. Only your chiropractor through his specialized 5 years of University training can specifically locate potential spinal problems in children.
What does a Chiropractor do and what can you expect when you take your child to see a Doctor of Chiropractic?
Your Chiropractor is interested in your child’s total health and well being and therefore may ask you specific detailed questions about your child’s health history. This may include questions about previous illnesses, accidents or even questions about your child’s birth. The answer to these questions can give your chiropractor vital clues to the source of the problems.
Your Doctor of Chiropractic will perform a physical examination including a spinal and postural examination, which can give vital clues as to underlying problems. Postural clues such as head tilt, shoulder tilt, pelvic imbalance, a turned in or turned out foot, sideways deviation of the spine or scoliosis or perhaps an increased curve in the lower back The presence of one or more of these postural deviations may indicate underlying spinal problems. Relevant orthopedic and neurological tests may also be necessary depending upon the child.
Once all the information from these examinations has been correlated your Doctor of Chiropractic will recommend a treatment/management program for your child. This may involve postural advice, dietary changes, or orthotics, and will nearly always involve the chiropractor performing what is known as a chiropractic adjustment or a series of these adjustments.
The Chiropractic Adjustment
A chiropractic adjustment is a safe, gentle and effective form of therapy. The chiropractic adjustment respects your child’s body’s innate healing powers. Special gentle adjusting techniques may be used for babies or the very young. Each adjustment is tailored to the child’s age, size and unique spinal problem and is therefore very safe. Most children enjoy the experience and look forward to their chiropractic adjustment.
The Chiropractic Philosophy
Chiropractic is more than merely helping the alignment of your child’s spine. Chiropractic respects your child’s innate ability to heal itself. Chiropractic helps restore and maintain optimum function of message transmission between your child’s brains and body so that they may achieve their maximum health potential.
It is the firm belief of most Chiropractors that regular spinal care should be thought of as you would good dental hygiene or indeed good nutritional care, always essential for your child’s general good health.
The question to ask yourself is not whether chiropractic works, but rather will you choose to use this knowledge and join the millions of other parents taking their children to a Chiropractor? Will you take action to achieve improved health for your children?