Is it Safe?

Chiropractic manipulation is extremely safe for children and adults, especially when performed by doctors who have had extra training like Dr. Hart. The risk of a serious complication when adjusting a child is less than one in 2 million. The force used to adjust a child is much less than that used for adjusting an adult patient.chiropractic adjustment for infants

Many question the need for children to have regular spinal checks. Frequently parents may ask, “What could my children have wrong with them that they would need to see a chiropractor?” The answer to that question is the trauma of a child’s daily life. The spine consists of 26 vertebral segments which can be jammed or misaligned causing minor spinal problems called spinal subluxation.

A young spine, with few exceptions, usually develops perfectly by the end of pregnancy. It’s what happens around the time of birth and in the months thereafter which can sometimes upset the normal functioning of the spine. Unless a child has an obvious problem, it can be difficult for parents to recognize when a child has spinal subluxations. It is not always easy for someone other than a chiropractor, highly trained in evaluating the spine, to determine if the child has a problem, just as it is difficult for someone other than a dentist to determine if a child has any cavities. Both cases take the skills of a trained specialist to perform a thorough evaluation.

There are some signs however which parents may look for which can be an indicator of a child with a spinal problem. Common indicators of spinal problems may include the child’s head consistently being tilted to one side; restricted head or neck motion to one side; disturbed sleeping patterns where the child sleeps for only an hour or two at a time; feeding difficulties in the very young infant; the infant may have difficulty nursing at the breast on one particular side.

Does It Hurt?

Generally, no. However, very young infants sometimes take momentary fright at the sudden movement and may cry for a few seconds.
Children’s spines are a lot more mobile than those of adults and as a result, usually require only a few adjustments to restore normal function. The actual number of adjustments, however, may vary depending on the length of time that the condition has been present.

This is a reasonable question for parents to ask since the community generally considers the medical profession to have all the answers to every medical problem. Unfortunately, when it comes to subtle spinal problems, your child’s pediatrician is not a trained specialist. The medical profession does have doctors who specialize in spinal problems, known as orthopedic surgeons, but these doctors generally work on the more serious spinal conditions. Few medical doctors, be they orthopedic specialists or pediatricians, are trained to recognize the subtle spinal problems which can cause the conditions listed above.

Take the example of Tiffany, the daughter of Donald Trump and Marla Maples, who was being treated by a chiropractor for colic. Several well respected medical professors from UCLA were reported in a national tabloid as saying that spinal problems could not have anything to do with colic.

This is an example of not being aware of the medical research studies which have clearly identified a definite link between colic and problems in an infant’s spine. Because the scientific literature identifying the benefits of spinal manipulation for children’s problems is not extensive, it is understandable that medical doctors may not be up-to-date in this specialized area. An excerpt from www.chiroweb.com

Just as many concerned parents take their children to the dentist for regular check-ups, so it is that many parents who are already chiropractic patients themselves are bringing their children to chiropractors to have their spinal development checked.

How Can Parents Recognize Childhood Spinal Problems?

Common childhood disorders can also sometimes indicate a spinal problem. Persistent earaches, sore throats, colic, headaches, bed-wetting, and growing pains are but some of the more common problems for which parents bring their children to the chiropractor.