Pediatric Care

Your children may have subluxations in their bodies and you may not know it.

That’s why they need periodic chiropractic checkups.

Healthier Children With Chiropractic

“Chiropractic care for my child? Why? Her back doesn’t bother her.” Many parents appreciate the importance of regular checkups for their children’s teeth, hearing, and vision but draw a blank when it comes to a chiropractic checkup. A chiropractic checkup could be one of the most important checkups your children will ever have! The spine and structural system protect billions of nerve fibers that send messages and energy to every part of their bodies.

THE FIRST SUBLUXATION

How can your child’s body lose its natural alignment and develop subluxations? Subluxation damage can be caused by a constricted uterus, a breech presentation or a difficult delivery. Health problems in childhood or even adulthood have been traced back to spinal and structural damage at birth.

Immediately after birth, damage can occur if the baby is handled poorly. As the famous French obstetrician Frederick Leboyer has written in Birth Without Violence:

We know very little about our bodies, so little that we forget the importance of the spine… Why, when the vulnerable spine has always been curved, do we insist on holding the newborn upside down and jerking the back straight? (2)

Nerve & Energy Blockages

If there is blockage of any of the nerves in the body, any nerve damage at all, then a state of “dis-ease” can develop. Dis-ease is a state of disharmony in the body which can lead to lowered resistance to disease, organ malfunction (including brain malfunction), sickness and disease. (1) Blockage of nerves in the spine and structural system is usually caused by subtle structural distortions that are known as subluxations.

THE SPINE & INFANT HEALTH

With the birth process become more and more an intervening procedure, the chiropractic adjustment becomes even more important to the child’s future. (3)  —Larry Webster, DC, founder of the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association

Research is confirming chiropractors’ observations that infants may suffer from spinal subluxations. In one study, 1,250 babies were examined five days after birth; 211 of them suffered vomiting, hyperactivity, and sleeplessness. Subluxations were found in 95% of this group. Although the researchers in this study were MDs, they recognized the power of chiropractic care and those babies were given the care they needed. The spinal adjustment “frequently resulted in immediate quieting, cessation of crying, muscular relaxation and sleepiness.” The authors noted that an unhealthy spine causes “many clinical features from central motor impairment to lower resistance to infections—especially ear, nose, and throat infections.” (4) The above study discusses an 18-month-old boy suffering from tonsillitis, frequent enteritis, therapy-resistant conjunctivitis, frequent colds, earache, and increasing sleeping problems. He received a chiropractic spinal adjustment. The child demanded to be put to bed and slept peacefully until morning. His health returned to normal.

One wonders, what would have happened to this child if he never had chiropractic care? A life of antibiotics and other medications? A life of continued sickness?

The authors of the above-mentioned study concluded that a spinal checkup “should be obligatory after every difficult birth” and any spinal stress “should be…adjusted…the success of adjustment overshadows every other type (of care).” (5)

In another study of 1,093 newborns, 298 had upper neck stress and early signs of scoliosis. (6) Surely too many children are born with subluxations that left uncorrected could hinder their health for the rest of their lives.

Toddlerhood Through Childhood

Toddlerhood through childhood is a very “physical” time. Those first hesitant steps soon evolve into jumping, running, falls and accidents which are all part of a normal childhood. While most falls are minor, at times they can cause nerve-damaging subluxations with serious long-term consequences. (3) For that reason all children need periodic chiropractic checkups.

A Family Affair

Doctors of chiropractic love to see the whole family, from babies to grandparents, coming in for checkups. Many “chiropractic families” report having more energy, improved health and less dependency on drugs and medication. It is not unusual to hear parents state that since starting chiropractic care their children get sick less frequently and less severely, have less ear infections and take less antibiotics and other drugs than their classmates. (4)

Physical and Psychological Benefits

For decades, parents, clinicians and researchers have noticed positive changes in the behavioral, physical and emotional health of children under chiropractic care. Among the observed benefits are improvements in children with hyperactivity, low mental stamina, autism, anxiety, asthma, lack of concentration and discipline problems Improvements in grades and IQ have also been recorded. (5-10)

The mechanisms explaining these results are varied. There is evidence that subluxation correction improves blood flow to the brain. (11)

Chiropractic Checkups Are Vital

If your child is suffering from any of the following common conditions, it is essential to get his/her spine and body checked for subluxations—not as a treatment for these conditions, but because all children, especially if they are ill, need healthy bodies Being free of blockages to the flow of energy and information over his/her nervous system can make a big difference in your child’s physical and emotional health.

Warning Signs

Because it is possible to have subluxations yet be symptom-free, all children (and their parents!) need periodic chiropractic checkups. Therefore, however, certain warning signs indicating that the spine and structural system may be out of alignment:

• Breast-feeding difficulties

• Arm, hand, or shoulder pain

• Nervousness

• Poor posture

• Sore throat

• Colic

• Allergies

• Scoliosis

• Irritability

• Backaches or neck aches

• Bronchitis

• Arthritis

• Croup

• Vision or eye problems

• Skin conditions

• Sinus problems

• Weakness or fatigue

• Poor concentration

• Stomachaches

• Asthma and wheezing

• Loss of hearing

• Ear infections

• Painful joints

• Hip, leg, or foot pain

• Constipation

• Poor coordination

CONCLUSION

More and more families are finding that periodic chiropractic checkups for their children make a big difference in their health. Include chiropractic checkups as part of your family’s healthcare routine.

References

1. Al-Jishi A, Sreekantaswamy. Dystonia associated with atlantoaxial subluxation. Clin Neurol and Neurosurg. 2000;102(4):233-235.

2. Leboyer F. Birth Without Violence. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1984:21,28.

3. Eleraky MA, Theodore N, Adams M et al. Pediatric cervical spine injuries: report of 102 cases and review of the literature. J Neurosurg. 2000;92 (1 Suppl):12-17.

4. Van Breda WM, van Breda JM. A comparative study of the health status of children raised under the health care models of chiropractic and allopathic medicine. Journal of Chiropractic Research. Summer 1989;101-103.

5. Giesen JM, Center DB, Leach RA. An evaluation of chiropractic manipulation as a treatment of hyperactivity in children. JMPT. 1989;12:353-363.

6. Lovett L, Blum CL. Behavioral and learning changes secondary to chiropractic care to reduce subluxations in a child with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a case study. JVSR. October 4, 2006;1-6.

7. Gorman RF. Chiropractic Medicine for Rejuvenation of the Mind. Darvin, Australia: The Academy of Chiropractic Medicine, 1983.

8. Gibbons PF, Gosling CM, Holmes M. The short-term effects of cervical manipulation on edge light pupil cycle time: a pilot study. JMPT. 2000;23(7):465-469.

9. Pauli Y. The effects of chiropractic care on individuals suffering from learning disabilities and dyslexia: a review of the literature. JVSR. January 15, 2007;1-12.

10. Pauli Y. Improvement in attention in patients undergoing network spinal analysis: a case series using objective measures of attention. JVSR. August 23, 2007;1-9.

11. Carrick FR. Changes in brain function after manipulation of the cervical spine. JMPT. 1997;20(8):529-545.