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Children & Chiropractic
Why Children Need
Chiropractic Care
Children and babies can suffer from neck pain, low back pain and headaches.
Chiropractic adjustments offer a safe and effective way to help children feel
better
Many people simply do not know how much of difference Chiropractic
adjustments can make to an infant or child’s health because infants and toddlers
are usually unable say that their necks or low backs are hurting. When a child
is old enough to tell an adult about his or her neck or back pain, it can easily
be dismissed because many people find it hard to believe that a child could feel
back pain like an adult does. Actually, they can and they do. The truth is that
Chiropractic adjustments can easily treat the ailments of many infants and
children.
Chiropractic for Babies
The birth process can be very traumatic to an infant, especially if the baby’s
head and neck are pulled in any way during labour and birth. One easy method to
tell if a baby’s neck is misaligned is to watch where he or she looks in a car
seat. If the baby constantly looks in the same direction, the vertebrae in his
or her neck are most likely fixed (the chiropractic term is subluxated).
Subluxated vertebrae can often be irritated or sore and an adjustment will help
those joints to move in a more normal range of motion, while reducing the
discomfort that the baby experiences.
Colicky babies find great relief with Chiropractic adjustments. A Denmark study
(Klougart N, Nilsson N, Jacobsen J. Infantile colic treated by chiropractors: a
prospective study of 316 cases. J Manip Physiol Ther 1989; 12(4): 281-8) showed
that 94% of the infants who received chiropractic care noted a significant
decrease of crying time within two weeks of treatment.
As babies grow, and learn to crawl and walk, their spines are modified by their
newly acquired body positions and by gravity. It is important to have a child’s
spine checked at the major milestones of development, especially at the crawling
and walking stages to ensure that the vertebrae are all moving in a normal
pattern of motion.
Chiropractic for Toddlers
Another concern for Chiropractors with regards to children are bumps and falls.
As babies learn to navigate their bodies in space, they fall frequently, and
these jolts can cause misalignments in their spine. Anatomically, the spinal
cord is housed by the vertebrae, and nerves exit in pairs from between each
vertebra. When the vertebrae are out of alignment, they press on the nerves as
they exit the spine. The result is that the nervous system is not able to
function as well as it could.
Chiropractic for Children
Sports, especially contact sports can cause back or neck pain for children.
Heading the ball when playing soccer, sliding into the boards head first in
hockey, being hit by the ball or by other players in baseball or basketball can
all cause misalignments in a child’s spine. Chiropractors can make the most
difference the earlier they treat a child who has hurt his or her neck or back.
Children can suffer from migraine headaches. While Chiropractic care cannot help
all types of migraines, some migraine headaches originate from fixed or
subluxated vertebrae in the neck. Adjustments can help to reduce or eliminate
the frequency and intensity of these types of migraine headaches.
Children can suffer from neck and low back pain if their backpacks are worn
improperly or if they are carrying too much weight for their body size.
In Conclusion
It is very important that a child’s spine grows in proper alignment. If your
baby seems uncomfortable or consistently refuses to look in one direction,
please have his or her spine checked. If you child has had a fall, plays contact
sports, or complains about neck or back pain, please consult with a
Chiropractor. It can make such a world of difference to your child’s health.
As the twig is bent, so grows the tree
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