Chiropractic Care for Infants and Children
By Tedd Koren, D.C.
Parents who often appreciate the importance of checkups for their child’s teeth, hearing, eyes, ears, nose and throat draw a blank when it comes to the spine. A spinal checkup could be one of the most important of your child’s life! Why? In addition to the stress of childbirth, the constant jumping, falling, running and bumping of a normal childhood often cause vertebral subluxations, with serious health consequences if uncorrected.
A newborn’s spine may be subject to abnormal stress as a result of a difficult birth, a breech presentation, caesarean birth, obstetrical error or abnormal in-utero position during the last trimester. Such spinal stress can lead to many health problems, as demonstrated from the European medical journal, Manuelle Medizin, describing five-day-old infants with vertebral subluxations:
“The clinical picture ranges from central motor impairment and development (sleeplessness, uncoordination, seizures) through… impairments of vegetative regulatory systems (vomiting, digestive problems, elimination problems), to lowered resistance to infections, especially to ear-nose-and throat infections.”
For over a hundred years doctors of chiropractic have observed often dramatic responses from some infants after a chiropractic spinal adjustment with conditions as varied as Erb’s Palsy (in which an arm is limp and undeveloped), unbalanced facial and skull symmetry, foot inversion, colic, torticollis (twisted neck), “nervousness”, and ear, nose and throat infections.
Today we find more parents bringing their children to doctors of chiropractic for spinal checkups. With a healthy spinal column, a child’s body can better deal with the sore throats, ear infections, stomach aches, fevers, measles, mumps, and the hundred-and-one other problems that often make up young life. Without
chiropractic care, some children will live in continued sickness, condemned to a life of taking medications and perhaps even surgery.
For decades many parents have noticed positive changes in the physical health, behavior and emotional states of their children following a chiropractic adjustment. Among the observed effects of subluxation corrections have been improvements in emotional, behavioral and neurological problems such as asthma, anxiety, low mental stamina, inability to concentrate, hyperactivity, dyslexia, learning disabilities, attention deficit disorders, discipline problems and even low grades.
For many of the millions of school children in the United States alone who suffer from a learning impairment, chiropractic holds promise as a non-drug alternative. All children with learning disabilities and similar problems should have a chiropractic spinal checkup.
Some of the conditions in children chiropractic can help:
- Fever
- Colic
- Croup
- Learning disorders
- Poor posture
- Nervousness
- Constipation
- Bed-wetting
- Weakness or fatigue
- Allergies
- Sinus trouble
- Stomach aches
- Ear Infections
- Arthritis
- Numbness
- Headaches
- Neck Aches
- Backaches
- Asthma
- Scoliosis or curvature
- Frequent colds
- Arm and hand pain
- Painful joints
- Hip, leg and foot pain
- Shoulder pain
- Clumsiness
- A foot turned in or out
- Growing pains
- Shoes wear out unevenly
Simple Tests to Detect Problems in Your Children
- Shoulder Check
Have your child stand straight with both shoulders level. One shoulder higher than the other is an indication of problems. - Hem Check
Check your child’s skirt or pants to see if they are crooked. If every new skirt or pants purchased has to be altered on just one side, then there may be a problem. - Bending Check
Have your child bend straight forward from the waist, head level with the back and arms hanging relaxed to the floor. Check on either side of the spine to see if the muscles “bunch” up. This is one sign of scoliosis. - Shoe Check
Children wear out shoes quickly, but if one shoe wears out much before the other, especially is the wear is on the edge of the shoe, then the possibility of spinal problems exists.
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