• Chiropractic for Children •
Being born and growing up are a natural part of life, a beautiful one as we gaze upon our children. We marvel at their first steps and watching their personalities and bodies form.
Pregnancy, birth trauma and the early years of growth can have an enormous impact on your child’s spine and health even well into adulthood. This is where chiropractic for children may help.
What does Birth Trauma mean for Babies?
The delivery process can be one of the most traumatic things that can happen to the spine. In a difficult delivery, the trauma to the cervical (neck) bones can be dramatic.
Birth trauma will often occur with complicated deliveries when equipment such as forceps are used to assist the labour. Doctors and nurses do everything in their power to avoid trauma to the baby. Unfortunately birth complications can quickly develop and urgent action needs to be taken.
The pulling or twisting on the baby’s spine during labour can increase the risk of injury with long lasting effects.
What are the Signs of Birth Trauma?
Your newborn baby will often not have visible bruising or swelling from birth trauma. As babies are unable to speak, pain will often be expressed as irritability or an inability to settle.
They may have other more subtle signs of distress that you need to be aware of. Their head may be tilted or rotated more to one side or even tilt backward slightly.
Your baby may have difficulty feeding or prefer one breast over the other. They may be irritable and crying when feeding off the alternate breast. They could also show signs of troubled sleep, excessive crying, or constant arching of their back.
How does Growing Up Affect Children's Spines?
“As the twig is bent, so grows the tree.” – Alexander Pope
When your children begin to walk, they can have many of falls and any number of these can cause pain and damage their spine or muscles. They can fall off bikes, trees, beds or monkey bars and while this is a regular part of growing up, these falls can cause injury or just general aches and pains.
Trauma from an injury is one of the most common reasons parents seek chiropractic care for their child.
Children often experience pain in their back, neck or other joints that is brushed off as ‘growing pains’. Sometimes this isn’t the cause and your chiropractor can perform a thorough examination to ensure their joints and muscles are functioning at their best.
As your child continues to grow up studying becomes more important and hours spent at a desk either at school or home can impact on how their spine and muscles are functioning.
Adolescents often experience headaches, neck pain and stiffness and low back pain while at school, chiropractic care can help improve function and reduce pain.
How can Chiropractic Help?
Chiropractic assessment simply focuses on how the spine and joints are moving and if loss of normal movement in a child’s spine is causing pain or affecting their health.
A trained chiropractor knows slight pressure is all it takes to make any spinal adjustment. Chiropractic adjustments are tailored to fit your child’s size, weight, and spinal condition.
They are both gentle and specific pertaining to the child’s developing spine.
Your chiropractor will perform a thorough exam to determine exactly how your child’s spine is functioning then discuss with you if chiropractic care could benefit them.
Chiropractic adjustments are gentle, specific and individualised to each child.
It is natural to get your children’s teeth and eyes checked; a child’s spine needs to be as equally important. Chiropractic care should be high on the priority list when it comes to your kid’s health care.
