While chiropractic care is often associated with treating the aches and pains of aging, poor communication between the brain, body and nervous system can start to develop early.
Children may experience alignment issues that emerge through behavioral or concentration difficulties. Chiropractic care is a solution to help manage these and other issues in kids.
Understanding Pediatric Chiropractic Care
It’s a common misconception that children can easily bounce back from falls and other accidents. In fact, trauma to the body begins from birth.
Spinal misalignment can have a rippling effect on a child’s nervous system, contributing to tension and stress, altering posture and affecting their physical, emotional and behavioral development. Unfortunately, these issues are not always clearly related to the spine and may emerge as chronic headaches, breathing issues or routine ear aches.
Reflecting the benefits of pediatric chiropractic, a 2018 survey noted that children between the ages of 8 and 17 undergoing care report experiencing less fatigue, depression, anxiety and pain compared to those who never tried treatment.
Benefits of Chiropractic Care for Children
Addressing alignment issues in young patients has been shown to provide many benefits.
Improved Sleep Quality
A child’s inability to sleep may be caused by tension in the body. Especially if a child can’t communicate what’s bothering them, repeatedly gets up during the night or complains they can’t get comfortable, the sleep issues may go back to misaligned vertebra altering nervous system signals.
Better Behavior Patterns
A child with behavior problems may be contending with trauma they can’t describe or name. Trauma may emerge during childhood due to the following issues:
- Birth: Pressure from contractions and pushing, a C-section or vacuum-assigned delivery can throw the spine out of alignment, leading to discomfort from birth. Infants experiencing this issue may cry more often or have sleep difficulties.
- Infancy: Alignment issues may contribute to a baby’s colic, especially if traditional strategies do not have a calming effect.
- Childhood: As a child grows, alignment issues can start to affect the body and might manifest as sinus congestion, childhood asthma or other breathing difficulties.
Improved Attention and Focus
A child with nagging pain may start to display attention issues once they enter school. While concerns may be neurological or developmental, being unable to sit still could stem from a spinal subluxation. In select cases, chiropractic treatment may help children better manage ADHD/ADD symptoms, decreasing hyperactivity and improving attention span.
Reduced Injury Risks
Once a child starts to walk, fall risks increase. Yet, what often gets dismissed as just a bump or bruise may cause a low level of trauma to the body, contributing to spinal misalignment.
In addition to improved posture and helping the spine better communicate with the body, pediatric chiropractic care has been known to help with:
- A pulled elbow, which can occur when over-extending the arm or it’s sharply pulled.
- Lower back pain, which can emerge during childhood and intensify during adulthood.
Improved Brain Development
When the brain can’t properly communicate with the rest of the body, a child’s development can be stunted, leading to communication concerns and posture issues.
Chiropractic care for pediatric brain development focuses on the spine and neck to enhance neutral pathways and the nervous system’s performance on a holistic level.
Are you considering chiropractic care for your child? Whether to address musculoskeletal dysfunction or behavioral issues through spinal alignment, contact The Chiropractic Health Center of Glastonbury to learn more about our services.
