Can My Child Have a Chiropractic Treatment?

Yes, we suggest chiropractic treatment for children and have seen excellent results in our young patients.  Chiropractic care involves manipulating the spine through gradual adjustments to ensure that it is in the proper alignment.  The spine is essential for life, and when one vertebra is out of alignment, it can create a variety of health issues including with the digestive system and even sinuses.  This is in addition to causing back pain and headaches.  While we most frequently treat adults, children suffer from many of the same ailments.  The only difference is that they are less likely to tell you about it.  For this reason, we recommend bringing your child with you to your next appointment so that we can evaluate them at the same time.

We often find that children will have tight muscles because of a misalignment.  When you consider how active and aggressive children are in their movements, it is easy to understand why.  Most adults can hurt their back doing something as simple as hanging the Christmas lights or carrying a moving box.  Kids, on the other hand, spend their days running around, jumping over objects, and throwing their entire body weight into everything that they do.  It is this aggressive behavior that makes being a kid fun but also puts the spine in jeopardy of becoming misaligned.

Fortunately, regular chiropractic treatment can ensure that any damage done is quickly corrected.  Even though most children won’t complain about their back hurting, if they do damage it, treatment should take place quickly before the damage can become permanent.  While the spine can always move back into alignment, there is the possibility of scar tissue developing in the muscles.  In fact, many adults that have persistent back pain struggle with these knots that cannot be removed.  While they may seem like a normal muscle knot, they are partially scar tissue caused by a previous injury.  Regular chiropractic care can prevent these types of life-long injuries.

There are other reasons to bring your child in for a chiropractic treatment.  If, for example, they are injured while playing sports, they should first be treated by their general physician to correct any issues like a broken bone and then come to our office for an examination and adjustment.  When one area of the body is injured and mobility is limited, the rest of the body will make adjustments to compensate.  This is the natural order of things but can create further issues.  A perfect example is when someone has a leg injury.  Their back, hips, and the other leg may start to feel gradually uncomfortable until they too become irritated due to their overcompensating for the injured leg.  With regular adjustments, we can help to prevent these secondary injuries, important for helping your child to feel better.

Simultaneously, if your child gets into a car wreck, we recommend that you bring them in for a chiropractor treatment and adjustment so that we can ensure that they heal as quickly as possible.