Should you bring your sick child to a Chiropractor?

By: Dr. Amir Mahmud

With the flu season upon us and both kids and adults getting sick I decided to write an article about how kids can benefit from regular chiropractic care in boosting their immune system and keeping their bodies healthy as they grow. So can chiropractic care really help kids? Let’s take a look at different stages of a kid’s life, how they might get injured, and as a result benefit from an adjustment.
One of the first places the human body encounters stress is at birth. The birthing process can be and is often very traumatic to an infant. One easy method to tell if a baby’s neck is misaligned is to watch where he or she looks in a car seat. If the baby constantly looks in the same direction, the vertebrae in their neck are most likely fixed.

As babies grow and learn to crawl and walk, they tend to fall. As a result they start to affect proper joint and muscle motion. As they continue to grow their spines are modified by their newly acquired body positions and by gravity. It is important to have a child’s spine checked at the major milestones of development, especially at the crawling and walking stages to ensure they have proper biomechanics.

As kids start playing sports, especially contact sports they start noticing aches and pain in their backs. Heading the ball when playing soccer, sliding into bases during little league, being hit by the ball or by other players in baseball or basketball can all cause misalignments in a child’s spine.

In addition to restoring proper biomechanics, adjustments can also help kids with boosting their immune system by enhancing the communication of the nervous system. Furthermore, Infantile Colic and Otitis Media are two common childhood conditions in which research has shown chiropractic can provide beneficial effects.

Infantile Colic:

This condition is described as unexplainable and uncontrollable crying in babies up to 3 months of age for more than 3 hours per day, more than 3 days a week, and for more than 3 weeks. Additional symptoms include the baby’s knees pulled up to the chest, clenched fist, and extension of the trunk or extremities. A Denmark study (Klougart N, Nilsson N, Jacobsen J. Infantile colic treated by chiropractors: a prospective study of 316 cases. J Manip Physiol Ther 1989; 12(4): 281-8) showed that 94% of the infants who received chiropractic care noted a significant decrease of crying time within two weeks of treatment.

Otitis Media:

This condition is described as a clinical term for middle ear infection. The child can present with tugging on the ear, poor sleep, fever, irritability, ear and nasal discharge, decreased appetite and crying. By the age of 3, over two thirds of children have had a middle ear infection. A study conducted on 332 children (ages 27 days to 5 years old) with recurrent bouts of Otitis Media, who showed no response to antibiotics, showed that after getting adjusted the children healed quickly and had fewer repeat infections.Falon JM. The role of the chiropractic adjustment in the care and treatment of 332 children with Otitis Media. Journal of clinical Chiropractic Pediatrics. 1997;2(2):167-183

So bring in your kids to your Chiropractor and lets all stay healthy in the upcoming holiday season!!!

Dr. Amir Mahmud is one of the Sports Chiropractors at Chiropractic Sports Institute in Westlake Village. You can contact him at www.gotcsi.com