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Children and Chiropractic
Spinal pain is usually thought to be an adult problem, so most people ignore the fact that children and babies, even the newborn, can also be affected by symptoms arising in the spinal column.
Qualified chiropractors are the experts in finding spinal dysfunctions, and are therefore able to identify the specific areas which may be causing your child not be able to develop properly.
For children, very gentle painless adjustments and other techniques are used to realign articulations which are not working properly. If children are checked for vertebral subluxations early and given regular spinal check ups, they will avoid many problems which arise in early adulthood.
According to Dr. Larry Webster, there are seven moments during the first year of life when an examination of the spine is particularly important:
. Soon after birth
. When the baby begins to hold up his head
. When the baby starts to sit alone
. When crawling begins
. When baby starts to stand alone
. When walking starts
After any kind of trauma
A spinal check up of your child’s spine ensures a more healthy start, with better resistance to illness and a healthier neuromuscular system. People are generally more used to dental check ups, than spinal check ups, although in many ways a healthy, well aligned spine without dysfunction is at least as important as healthy teeth.
Here is a list of some of the signs that indicate that your child’s spine may be not be functioning properly:
. Chronic ear infections
. Infantile colic
. Continual tiredness
. A raised shoulder
. Shoulder blades which stick out
. Hyperactivity
. Frequent falls
. Joint pain
. Uneven walking or shoe wear and tear
. Turned or angulated neck
. One leg shorter than the other
. Anxiousness
We, as chiropractors do not cure specific diseases or problems outlined above, but many of these problems improve or heal completely when the spine is treated and the nervous system is in order. All children deserve to grow up with their spines in excellent condition and to enjoy a full and healthy childhood.
Infantile colic
What is Infantile colic? In times gone by it was simply called indigestion, but these days there are various criteria which specify this condition. It was never quite clear exactly what it was, nor how to treat it. The clearest definition used to be “crying with no reason” in the newborn baby up to three months of age. This crying usually lasts three hours a day or more, for more than three days a week and continues for three weeks or longer, normally in the afternoon or evening. Normally, the condition resolves without treatment at the age of around 3 months; although research has shown that it can persist until six or twelve months, causing enormous stress and frustration to both the child and his or her family.
The most common symptom is the excessive crying, multiple crying bouts or hours of crying without apparent reason. Some say that the tone of the crying is higher than normal crying. Other symptoms include: motor agitation such as flexing the legs toward the tummy, extending the trunk, legs or arms and tightly gripped hands.
How can we help you as chiropractors? Chiropractors have been treating babies with colic safely and effectively for many decades now.
Neurophysiologists have made detailed explanations about the possible reasons chiropractic helps relieve colic, and in short they follow these 3 possibilities:
. Pain in the joints of the spine simulates and is mistaken for abdominal pain. Correction of the purely spinal problem brings relief.
. Probably, in most cases, a gastrointestinal problem is initiated by pain and other results of joint dysfunction. Pain in nerve roots originating in the spine causes reflexes which alter the function of the intestines, causing gastrointestinal pain. Correcting the spinal restriction which initiated the vertebral joint pain relieves the symptoms.
A relatively mild bout of indigestion produces a reflex spinal muscle spasm and spinal joint dysfunction. Spinal reflexes aggravate the gastrointestinal disorder, producing the discomfort that initiates the crying response. Correction of the spinal problem again brings relief.
It should be remembered that from the point of view of the parents, the chiropractor may appear to be treating symptoms, in this case colic. In fact, the chiropractor is simply treating the spine to improve its function which thereby relieves intestinal symptoms. This example of infantile colic may be a very significant factor in many disorders remote from the spine which are present due to changed biomechanics, referred pain and other neurophysiology. For infantile colic, this study has shown the logic and success of chiropractic treatment for a condition once thought to have had other origins.
The Chiropractic Report November 1999, Vol 13, No 6.
Wiberg JMM, Nordsteen J. and Nilsson N.
The Short-Term Effect of Spinal Manipulation in the Treatment of Infantile Colic: A Randomised Controlled Trial with a Blinded Observer. J Manipulative Physiol Therapy, 1999:22(8):517-522.