Have you ever considered taking your young child to a chiropractor? For many parents, seeking chiropractic care for their toddler or preschool-aged child hasn’t ever crossed their minds. However, chiropractic care could turn out to be the missing link in giving your child the healthiest start possible.
The nervous system is the body’s master control system. The bones of the spine protect the spinal cord and allow the nerves to branch off from the spinal cord and exit between the bones of the spine. The brain sends messages down the spinal cord and out along nerves to control the functions of every organ and tissue in the body. In a healthy spine, the spinal bones (vertebrae) are aligned to allow plenty of space for nerves to exit from the spinal cord. When one or more vertebrae are misaligned, this can put pressure on the nerves in that area and can interfere with messages being transmitted along the nerves.
Book Your Child’s First Pediatric Care Exam
Exam includes in-depth whole-body analysis with provider, posture pictures and insight nervous system scans (provided if necessary). Consultation & plan of action will help you understand your care options.
One of the reasons that parents might not think of having their young child assessed by a chiropractor is that children don’t typically experience traditional symptoms like headaches or back pain that many adults correlate with seeking chiropractic care. Since the messages transmitted along the spinal cord and nerves are responsible for controlling the function of every bodily system, young children can experience a wide variety of symptoms when there are misaligned spinal bones putting pressure on the nervous system.
Many common childhood illnesses, such as:
- Asthma
- Allergies
- Ear infections
- Digestive problems
- Frequent colds
- Attention or behavior issues
…can be linked to nervous system interference. Parents with children under regular chiropractic care report fewer instances of scoliosis, ear infections, growing pains, and other common childhood health problems.
What happens so early in life that young children can be at risk for spinal misalignments? One of the first chances for misalignment (or subluxation) occurs during the birth process. Labor and delivery can be difficult for both mom and baby. Suboptimal positioning for the baby in the birth canal, as well as a variety of medical interventions during the birth, can increase the chances of spinal misalignments.
Then there’s growth and development during the first years of life. Children are active. By the time a child is five years old, he or she has had at least 2,000 falls—200 of which are considered serious! Just like with adults, children’s daily habits can also be a cause of subluxation. For example, sleeping in odd positions or spending a lot of time looking down at electronic devices can result in misalignments, no matter what age you are.
The only way to know if there are misalignments present in your child’s spine is to take your child for a chiropractic checkup. At Family First Chiropractic, we make it a priority to check children so that “common” childhood ailments don’t progress into chronic adult health problems. Getting adjusted during the toddler and preschool years can ensure that spinal bones are in the proper position to allow for clear communication within the body, which can impact everything from a child’s ability to hit developmental milestones to having a strong immune system throughout childhood.
At Family First Chiropractic, we make it a priority to check children because young bodies can repair themselves faster than older ones, and chronic childhood conditions that progress into adulthood lead to increased dysfunction and degeneration. Children in all developmental stages can benefit from chiropractic care.
How Our Chiropractic Care for Toddlers & Young Children Works
1. Help Them Advance Early
Our mission is to improve the alignment of the spine and the nervous system, which are essential for the proper development and function of the body and the brain.
2. Keep Them Healthy
Chiropractic care can prevent or relieve common childhood issues such as ear infections, colic, asthma, allergies, headaches, and more, by enhancing the immune system and reducing inflammation.
3. Optimize Their Outlook
Our goal is to foster a positive attitude and a sense of well-being in your child by relieving stress, pain, and tension and promoting a healthy lifestyle and habits.
Common Conditions in Toddlers & Young Children That We Help in West Omaha, NE
Issues with Large Motor Development (Crawling, standing, walking)
A healthy spine has a specific structure. When viewed from the front, spinal bones should be stacked neatly on top of each other. From the side, there should be three curves that allow for spring-link movement in the spine. When babies are born, they don’t have any of these curves due to being restricted by the relatively small space they have been occupying in their mother’s womb, and hitting normal developmental milestones such as crawling and walking aids in the development of proper spinal curvature. The hands-and-knees posture of crawling encourages the development of both the lumbar and cervical curves of the spine. Crawling also fosters strong body-brain connections when babies successfully master the tandem arm and leg movement necessary for proper crawling technique.
When a young child experiences spinal misalignments or subluxations, this interferes with the nervous system and can impair normal motor development. Delay in motor development can result in delayed or improper formation of healthy, normal spinal curvature.
The best way to ensure that your child is achieving proper spinal development is to have them regularly evaluated by a chiropractor. This ensures that your child has the best opportunity to experience optimal nervous system function and can meet all the expected childhood developmental milestones.
Ear Infections
While ear infections are common in young children, they are not normal. Ear infections are the most common reason for a young child to visit a medical doctor. This often results in the child being prescribed a course of antibiotics. For recurrent ear infections, medical doctors may suggest placing tubes to aid in draining fluid trapped in the middle ear.
Young children who experience ear infections may benefit from chiropractic care for two different reasons. First, ensuring proper spinal alignment can assist the body in more effective lymphatic and ear drainage. Second, when the body’s communication system (the nervous system) is experiencing optimal functioning, all body systems, including the immune system, will work better so that the immune system can effectively respond to infections.
Constipation
Constipation is a common health problem. However, chronic constipation indicates that the body is unable to properly digest food and excrete waste. To effectively resolve constipation symptoms, it is important to find the root cause. Many factors can contribute to constipation, including improper hydration, food intolerances, lack of physical activity, or even stress.
Subluxations can also be a contributing variable to constipation. Misaligned spinal bones that are putting pressure on the nervous system can lead to a sympathetic nervous system reaction, and this heightened irritability in the nervous system can result in impaired function of multiple body systems, including the digestive system. Similarly, if the nerve messages being sent by the brain are not properly reaching the digestive system because they are slowed down or blocked by spinal misalignments, this can affect the overall function of the digestive system.
A chiropractic checkup can assess the entire nervous system and determine if interference from misalignments is affecting its ability to function properly. Chiropractic adjustments and restoring proper spine alignment remove interference in the nervous system, allowing the body to heal and function normally. Many parents report that their child’s constipation issues are improved or even resolved after starting chiropractic care.
Speech Development
Speech development is a significant milestone in childhood. Baby babbles turn into one-syllable words. Then, as vocabulary develops and more speech sounds are mastered, words are strung together to form increasingly complex sentences. The period from 12 months to 5 years old is critical for proper speech development. Unfortunately, many children experience delays in speech development. Hearing problems, poor muscle tone or coordination, difficulty with proper breathing, and even chronic stress can all contribute to speech delays.
Chiropractic care can be a great complement to traditional speech therapy in helping a child’s speech develop properly or even catch up when there are deficits. If subluxations affect the nerves connecting the ears and the brain, this can affect the brain’s ability to process and replicate common sounds used in speech. Ensuring proper spinal alignment allows the lungs to expand and provides adequate breath support necessary for speech.
Chiropractic adjustments can reduce stress on the nervous system so that the body has increased overall function, which can include having an easier time coordinating all the muscles involved in speech production. Children with speech deficits often exhibit tension throughout their bodies, and chiropractic adjustments can help calm down the nervous system and reduce overall tension throughout the body.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is chiropractic safe for a child?
Pediatric chiropractic care is a gentle, non-invasive approach to help support a child’s nervous system and overall wellness. Chiropractors modify their techniques significantly when working with infants and children. The adjustments are so gentle that they’re often compared to checking the ripeness of a peach.
Can chiropractic care help me avoid ear tubes?
A chiropractic examination can determine if subluxations are affecting the child’s nervous system, which may be compromising the child’s natural defenses against disease. Chiropractic adjustments can remove nervous system interference and help restore proper function. Many parents like to explore less invasive options for addressing their child’s ear infections to see if they can avoid more invasive options.
Is chiropractic for kids the same as chiropractic for adults?
Yes and no. Just like with adults, children should undergo a thorough nervous system evaluation prior to receiving any chiropractic care. If the chiropractor determines that the child has nervous system interference from spinal misalignments, adjustments can be performed to restore proper spinal alignment. A child’s adjustments are very gentle, and correction is often achieved much faster than with adults because the child’s misalignments have typically been there for much less time.
Can chiropractic help my kid with constipation?
Constipation can have many causes. The chiropractor needs to get a comprehensive health history and perform a thorough nervous system evaluation to determine if nerve interference from spinal subluxations is impacting the body’s ability to properly digest food and eliminate waste. Dietary and behavioral changes coupled with chiropractic adjustments can positively impact the body’s ability to properly digest food and eliminate waste.
Book Your Child’s First Pediatric Care Exam
Exam includes in-depth whole-body analysis with provider, posture pictures and insight nervous system scans (provided if necessary). Consultation & plan of action will help you understand your care options.