Day to Day Activities and Sports
Kids lead very active day to day lives running around playing. For the most part their bodies respond very well to activity and exercise. However, as kids run around they may have slips and falls that are seemingly insignificant and they go along unchecked by a doctor. These seemingly insignificant slips and falls will eventually manifest as problems at some point sooner or later in their life. Some children even experience spinal trauma at childbirth significant enough to cause spinal misalignments. Children often times cannot communicate as effectively as adults do when they are in pain. For instance, a newborn may have colic and after trying every possible avenue to resolve the problem parents may be left feeling hopeless. It is possible that a misalignment in the newborn’s spine may be affecting them symptomatically and a Chiropractic assessment and treatment may just be the assistance they are looking for to stop the incessant crying. Children that are active in sports and other athletic endeavors may be experiencing spinal misalignments as a part of minor injuries during sporting activities and or as a result of growing rapidly while engaging in these activities.
Posture
Posture is another reason to have kids checked for spinal misalignments. Children in school are often sitting at a desk for extended periods of time. Sitting at a desk while looking down with the head in a flexed position reading books, can cause abnormal body positioning that leads to long term structural changes if left untreated.
Ear Problems and the Upper Cervical Spine
Often infants and toddlers will tug at their ears, a sign that most parents have come to understand as they may have an ear infection. It is possible that they do in fact have an ear infection when they tug at their ear. Whether that is the case or not, the possibility that is ignored if they are not assessed by a Chiropractor is that they have a spinal misalignment of the upper cervical area at the very top of their neck. This is a critical area for everyone, but it relates very closely to the Eustachian tube. The Eustachian tube in children is more horizontal and thinner, making the movement of fluid out of the middle ear for drainage more difficult thus putting them at risk for bacteria to become trapped, creating an ear infection. A Chiropractic adjustment to the upper cervical area can take the pressure off of the area nearly adjacent to the ear allowing for the pressure to equalize and for the ear to drain. The adjustment is not treating the ear infection but simply removing the interference to healing and thus allowing the body to heal its self.
Chiropractic care for children is extremely gentle. Very little force is required in order to correct children’s spinal misalignments. Children often respond very quickly to the adjustments making the healing and treatment time much faster than adults.
For more questions about kids and chiropractic please visit Www.ICPA4kids.com.