Children and Chiropractic - More Detail

Few childcare books and only a handful of doctors give attention to the extremely vital matter of the proper care of a baby’s spine and nervous system. Yet it is often during infancy that such serious problems as subluxations, fixations, spinal curvatures, and other structural distortions have their beginnings.

Furthermore, it is in early childhood when these problems are most easily and effectively corrected, because the body hasn’t adapted to these problems. It is during the adult life, after years of compensation, that larger problems arise and it becomes difficult to make spinal correction and regain optimal health.

Even with natural child birth methods, the birth process can be one of the most traumatic events in a child’s life. The spine,which houses the important nerve pathways of the spinal cord, can be injured during delivery. As the child grows older and more active, he may experience more stress in a single day than most adults experience in a year. Bumps, jumps, twists, falls, etc. constantly subject his or her growing spine to potentially serious injury. All too often these injuries are unnoticed and untreated.

It is unsettling enough to think of the possible damage to the spine itself, but because the spine is the “housing” for the body’s nervous system, the entire health of the child is at stake. There is a wide range of childhood and adult ailments that have been caused by “normal” childhood mishaps. The resulting irritation to the nervous system can be the cause of many health problems in newborns. For example colic, unexplained crying, poor appetite, breathing problems, and allergic reactions may be linked to nervous system dysfunction caused by a malfunctioning spine.

“Why would I need Chiropractic care for my child? His/her back doesn’t bother him/her.” It is all too often that Chiropractors encounter parents who appreciate the importance of regular checkups for their children’s teeth, hearing, eyes, and ears, but don’t recognise the importance of getting their child’s spine checked. A child’s spine is his/her lifeline because running through it is the spinal cord, containing billions of nerve fibres that send messages and energy from the brain to every part of the body. In fact, a spinal check-up could be one of the most important checkups your child will ever have.

Children respond exceptionally well to chiropractic care because their muscles are less tense than adults. Their muscles haven’t been permanently damaged by fibrotic scar tissue from long standing injuries and therefore, they are able to hold their adjustments longer because their bodies have not adapted or compensated to their misalignments. However, with all the falls and tumbles children experience (when they are learning to walk, for example), it is extremely important to have their spines checked regularly by a Chiropractor. Small problems, if left undetected and uncorrected, develop into larger problems that become evident as an adult.

Chiropractic is based on the principle that our natural state of health and wellbeing is maintained by an “innate intelligence” (inborn wisdom) flowing through our nerves to all parts of our body. Chiropractic simply helps keep this miraculous life force flowing freely by correcting “vertebral subluxations” (spinal misalignment) that interfere with nerve energy coming from the brain and travelling everywhere in the body. One of the most gratifying experiences for a Chiropractor is when the whole family comes in for spinal checkups.

It’s not unusual for a Chiropractor to hear from practice members who say that “Dad has new found energy”, “Mum’s headaches and/or menstrual cramps are a thing of the past", and “the children hardly ever miss a day of school because they get sick less frequently and less severely than before they started chiropractic."