There are many benefits to having your kids’ spines checked on a regular basis. Most kids are built like tanks; they have extremely low centers of balance, and if they are having fun, there is no way they are going to stop to tell you something hurts. However, if you are waiting to have your kids checked until they can walk, you really did miss some of the most critical times that kids should be checked.
Children of chiropractors typically will have their spines checked the second they are first held by that parent. Some of them will even be adjusted at that very moment, while others won’t need to be. When a child is first born, nurses always take the child right away to check them out, and make sure they do not have any major problems. They often return handing the child back over to the parents saying that their child is healthy and perfect. Every parent still counts and checks to make sure that all 10 fingers and 10 toes are there before they believe the nurse. So why would a perfect little newborn child ever need to be checked by a chiropractor?
The simple answer is that subluxations can happen at any age. The long answer is that birth is a very traumatic and stressful experience, not only for the mother’s body but also for your newborn. There is a good amount of stress and tension that is placed on head and neck as the child prepares for and passes through the birth canal. Depending on the ease of the pregnancy, additional stress can be placed on the child’s neck when the child is pulled through the birth canal. For those of you who are thinking that your child is in the clear right now because you had a Caesarean Section (C-Section), you might want to re-think that. Do you remember that pulling sensation that you felt toward the front of you body, right before your child appeared? That was your child being pulled by their head out of your uterus! If you do not believe me, watch a video of one on youtube. Just a warning, do not watch this video if you have just eaten are currently eating.
The point of this is not to tell you how you should never go to a hospital, or that medical doctors are bad. It is simply to inform you that from birth, there are stressful events that can lead to Subluxations in your brand new perfect baby. Additionally, just because your child had a traumatic experience does not mean that they have subluxations and even need to be adjusted. This is exactly why I am telling you that you should have them checked on a regular basis, but especially these intervals.
• Right after birth
• As they start lifting their heads
• Onset of crawling
• As they begin to sit upright
• When they first learn to stand
• During the initial walking stages
• At the recommended interval of your skilled Chiropractor
For these reasons we will always do complementary spinal checks for all kids of our patients. We do, however, charge to adjust children in our office. If you have any other questions please feel free to ask on your next visit, or call the office at (562) 596-6000.