Children of all ages can benefit from chiropractic care! Whatever you know about chiropractic for adults, chiropractic care for babies is quite different. When chiropractors assess and adjust newborn spines, we often use our pinky fingers and only the amount of pressure you can comfortably place on your eyeball. It’s safe, gentle, and can help with a variety of common complaints. As children get older, our adjustments begin to more closely resemble adult adjustments but with much less force. Here are a few reasons to get your children evaluated and adjusted:
- Birth is a traumatic event. Limbs can be twisted, necks turned and heads pulled. The first few moments of their big debut must be quite overwhelming for their little nervous systems. Babies are made for this process, however it can leave them with areas of discomfort. Our gentle form of adjustment can help relieve babies discomfort caused by birth.
- If your child is having difficulty feeding on a particular side, they could be experiencing discomfort when turning their head in a certain direction. When this happens, we assess the top bone of their tiny spines with our pinky fingers because it’s a common culprit. Using the smallest amount of pressure, we hold our finger on that bone until we feel the baby and surrounding tissue relax. We then reassess to ensure the baby can now turn their head both ways without discomfort.
- How many times a day do babies try to stand or walk but end up falling? If they fall a certain way time after time, they could begin to develop areas of discomfort. By getting checked regularly, we can help prevent a compensation pattern from developing.
- Kids are adventurous and run and play without much fear, but they also fall frequently and in creative ways: headfirst, hands outstretched, on their bottoms, with one leg tucked underneath, and on and on. We check the spine for areas that aren’t moving as well as they should and help encourage the proper motion with our gentle adjustments.
- Backpacks seem to get heavier and heavier. We help counsel kids and parents about the proper way to wear backpacks while also checking the areas in the spine that experience the most stress from the increased load.
- Kids spend more and more time looking down at phones and iPads which doesn’t encourage good posture or the proper curvature of the neck. If left unchecked, this can lead to improper muscle and posture development. We analyze and correct posture and give kids and parents helpful ideas to prevent “text neck.”It’s much easier and more beneficial to treat kids while they are still young rather than try to train them out of bad habits later in life.
To learn more about how Palmer Chiropractic Clinics can help your child, visit https://www.palmer.edu/clinics/.
Melissa Ferranti, D.C. is a Professor and Faculty Clinician at the Palmer Florida Chiropractic Clinic. She has additional training in working with children and pregnant mothers and holds a Certificate in Pediatrics from the Academy Council of Chiropractic Pediatrics (CACCP). She has published multiple papers in peer reviewed journals and has presented at prestigious research conferences.
Mary Margaret McGuire, D.C. graduated from Palmer College of Chiropractic Florida in 2020, and currently practices in her hometown of Nashville, Tennessee. She works in a family practice and has a special interest in moms and kids.
