Chiropractic Care for Kids: FAQ’s and 5 Success Stories Worth Sharing
You know, not only do I adjust adults and pregnant patients, but I also adjust kids. I do get asked from time to time about what that looks like and why would I do that. My personal favorite response to those hesitant about chiropractic care for kids is the adage, “well if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. I get it. I too went through these same thoughts. As you know from many of my previous blogs, that I have not been adjusted my whole life. And only one of my kids has. Now as you also know, the adjustments for me and my kids made such a difference that I quit my job as a research molecular biologist at the CDC to go back to school to become a chiropractor (Remember, I wrote a blog all about that!)
We brush our teeth regularly, and go to the dentist regularly in order to maintain a certain level of oral hygiene, to catch any issues early, and make an impact in our dental health. We also get the oil changed in our car regularly. We rotate and balance the tires, check the alignment, all to ensure that our car performs at a certain level for hopefully a long period of time.
As the brain controls all the functions of the body, the communication between the body and brain are crucial. I am adjusting the spine removing interference to the nervous system and allowing the brain-body and body-brain communication to function optimally. I might be biased, but I think spinal hygiene is super important, and is why I adjust adults as well as kids and toddlers, and newborns and infants.
And so I thought that I’d share some stories from some kid patients that I’ve had the honor of working with. Each story begins with a quote from the parent about what they noticed as their child was under regular chiropractic care. These bring me so much joy knowing the impact that chiropractic care has had in their life and knowing that we are setting them up for success! These results highlight the power of chiropractic care and the healing potential of the body.
“My kids don’t get sick as often, and we haven’t had to use antibiotics in over a year”
This is a big one and probably what I hear most often from the parents of my kid patients. And honestly, this is a reason as to why I am a chiropractor. My family experienced this exact quote (of course you can read more about that here) I do have some families start under care because they want to add chiropractic care to their wellness lifestyle, but in the instance of this quote, the decrease in intensity and frequency of sickness was a lovely “side-effect” to being under care. This sweet family wanted to try chiropractic care for their young children, one of whom was experiencing some vocal tics and lots of growing pains. In addition to the decrease in vocal tics and growing pains, they also go to experience more resilient immune system function.
Check out this article about the direction of chiropractic research as it relates to immunity.
“My 5 year old started writing”
This quote always makes me so emotional because when this little boy started under care, I didn’t know that he was not writing or holding a pencil correctly, and was experiencing lots of difficulty in his school setting. At one of his adjustments, he came in proudly holding a sign with his name written on it. It was written in that very child-like manuscript with over-sized letters, but the accomplishment on his face was overwhelming. He was so proud of himself, and I was so proud of him and his family. Checking for primitive reflexes is part of my pediatric new patient exam. In this particular case, he had some retained reflexes, particularly related to the sensation in his hands. As he was adjusted, we worked on those reflexes as well, and together those had a major impact on his motor development.
For more information on the primitive reflex work I do, check out another blog I wrote.
“My daughter no longer bites her nails nor is she W sitting”
W sitting is something I’ve worked with several pediatric patients before, and is characterized by the child sitting with their knees out in front of them and their ankles and feet are at either side of their hips. Many factors are at play to determine if W sitting for a specific child is an issue. In this particular case, W sitting was seen in conjunction with low motor tone, poor posture, and other signs of retained primitive reflexes. But again, just like the case before, I was unaware that she was biting her nails and had an oral fixation. One day, the mom came in so excited and surprised that her daughter was no longer biting her nails or constantly touching her mouth. And eventually, with regular chiropractic care, she was no longer W sitting, and had better posture.
Could primitive reflexes have an impact on your child’s and motor development?
“My daughter could immediately turn her head to the left, and our nursing issues disappeared”
Labor and birth is not only a stressful event for mom, but can be for baby as well. In fact, a study titled “Incidence of Somatic Dysfunction in Healthy Newborns” found that 99 out 100 healthy newborns had somatic dysfunction or a subluxation of the cranial, cervical, thoracic, lumbar, or sacral regions of the spine! A lot of this dysfunction has to do with the length of labor (which is why I love taking care of moms because chiropractic care has been shown to decrease labor time by as much as 31% !!) In this case, I had taken care of mom during her pregnancy, and she was bringing her daughter in for care to help with nursing. The latch was fine, there was no tongue tie, the milk supply was perfect, but mom could not get her newborn to latch on both breasts. Now it’s not always the case, but immediately following this sweet girl's adjustment to the top bone in her neck, she turned her head to both sides evenly and nursed like a champ. To say mom was overjoyed is an understatement.
Check out several research articles about chiropractic care and the impact it has on nursing infants.
“My son had an awesome soccer season. He recovered quickly from the rigors of practice and games”
Exercise is such an important part of childhood. Not only for the social benefits and team-work aspect of most sports, but also for the importance movement has on the brain and nervous system. So much of our nervous system input to the brain comes from the motion of the joints in the spine and throughout the body. It would make sense to make sure that we have proper motion. So when this little boy presented for care, he actually had no chief complaints or pain issues. He was just an active kid, and mom wanted to add this to her wellness lifestyle (because she had experienced what a difference it made in her life!) As he stayed under regular chiropractic care, they began to notice how his sports performance had changed. His balance and coordination improved, as well as his resiliency and ability to recover from intense exercise. We’ve also witnessed this first-hand in my family as both of my kids play soccer.
For more information on chiropractic care for kid athletes, check out this blog post.
My goal is to provide information, not to make decision for families. I want families to experience the same health and wellness benefits my family did when we started under care. I want families to know what’s possible. I want families to thrive and to embrace what chiropractic care has to offer. Just as we regularly take care of our oral health and our cars, I want families to take care of their spinal health as well.
~Dr. Shannon