When many people think of chiropractic care, they may envision an older person with a backache getting an adjustment. But what about children? Could they benefit from chiropractic care? The answer is: yes, they certainly can.
Just after birth
Even the most natural birth can stretch and stress a newborn’s spine and nervous system, as well as exerting pressure on the skull. And many births are far from natural. Many laboring mothers are given drugs to speed up labor, making it much more forceful than naturally intended, and this additional speed and force can negatively impact the baby’s spine. Forceps deliveries, through skull pressure and yanking, can cause the head and spine to become misaligned, which can cause problems throughout life unless this is addressed early on, the earlier the better. The baby might have lain in the uterus in a twisted position, which is more likely if you have twins and there’s less room in there. Some babies, after being curled up for nine months, are abruptly straightened out just after birth, although this is fortunately less common than it used to be.
Look closely at your baby. The body and neck should be symmetrical. If the baby’s head mostly lies to one side, or the folds between buttocks and legs aren’t the same on both sides, or the baby moves its legs or arms more on one side than the other, the neck, back, or hips could be out of alignment.
Even if you don’t suspect a problem with your child’s spine or skull, it’s a good idea to have a chiropractor take a look. It wouldn’t be too far-fetched to say that a cranial assessment and adjustment should be done routinely after a birth, especially after a forceps delivery.
In childhood
Children play hard, fall, ride bikes and skateboards, are involved in sports, and are sometimes in car accidents. A shifting of the spine from injury during this period of rapid growth can lead to later problems that aren’t as easily dealt with after growth has stopped. And don’t count on the child’s reporting back pain; more often than not it isn’t present at such a young age. It’s entirely possible, though, that an adult’s chronic back or neck pain has its origins in an uncorrected childhood spinal injury that didn’t appear to cause problems for decades.
Chiropractors can notice and diagnose scoliosis, or spinal curvature, long before it becomes visible to a parent or teacher. It can then be corrected much more easily at this earlier stage. Another thing that chiropractors notice and address is any unevenness in the child’s leg length. Again, this is much more easily dealt with when the child is still growing and the body, once corrected, can catch up.
When part of the spine is misaligned, other parts of the body try to compensate, causing a cascade of structural problems. A condition in children that is often called “growing pains” and attributed to rapid growth may instead be caused by incorrect growth and worsening of structural problems.
More than just back adjustments
Most chiropractors do much more than just spinal adjustments. They can give advice regarding other aspects of child health care such as nutrition, subjects that most pediatricians don’t have as much knowledge about. They can also answer questions and give advice that is directly related to the child’s structural system: what about baby shoes for walking? What about walkers or bouncy seats? Should children be encouraged to sit up or walk, or just wait for nature to take its course? These are all issues that a good child-oriented chiropractor has expertise in.
And even spinal adjustments affect much more than just the backbone. The nerves and blood supply from the spine go to all parts of the body, and adjustment can improve digestion, sleep, and immune function. Conditions as diverse as allergies and asthma, ear infections, colic in infancy and tummyaches in childhood, and bedwetting can all have a structural component that can be taken care of by a chiropractor.
However, chiropractors don’t directly diagnose and treat disease. They simply remove some of the body’s blockages to healing, and the child’s body can then work on healing much more effectively after an adjustment.
But isn’t it traumatic for a child?
An adult who has had, seen, or mentally pictured an adult chiropractic adjustment often has an image of jerking, popping, yanking, and discomfort. This is sometimes, but certainly not always, the case for adults; there are many relatively gentle forms of chiropractic care. In many adults, misalignments have often more or less become cemented into place after decades, and the chiropractor might need to be more forceful to break these loose.
But in children, this is not the case. Adjustments on young flexible spines and bones are much more easily and gently made. In addition, chiropractors who routinely work with children know that they have to be gentle, otherwise the child will be scared, tense, and difficult to work with. A good argument could be made for getting them used to adjustments, since they may well need them in the future.
How often should a child be taken to a chiropractor?
An annual visit, starting shortly after birth, would be ideal. A chiropractor should also be consulted if the child has had an injury that could impact the spine. Routine childhood chiropractic visits are at least as important as periodic visits to the pediatrician.
