Chiropractic as an approach to paediatric care has long been providing vital assessment and treatment for many conditions that affect infants especially newborns and is growing in popularity due to the extensive knowledge of paediatric chiropractors and the extremely safe treatment techniques used that can offer help for some problems that commonly occur within our newborns and infants.
The nervous system controls and coordinates all of the systems of the body and hence, spinal dysfunction (also called a subluxation) can have wide ranging effects on the body’s health. Many of the common childhood ailments will respond to this safe, natural form of health care.
The birthing process is, even during the best of labours, a strenuous and physically demanding task for both mother and baby. The physical forces placed on the baby during delivery are very significant, this can be made worse if complications occur such as a breech delivery, the need for ventouse or forceps, c-sections or simply a prolonged labour.
These forces can lead to understandable strain on muscular and joint tissues of the newborn resulting in musculoskeletal discomfort for the baby or even marked spasm such as is the case in torticollis. This can be observed in the baby if there is positional asymmetry but also a muscle spasm is painful and therefore babies will often show increased levels of crying, disturbed sleep and problems with feeding.
Breastfeeding requires the baby to be able to lie comfortably with the head rotated. Some birth traumas can make this difficult for newborn’s meaning that if uncomfortable when in these positions, they can show difficulty with breastfeeding or favour one side more than the other
Chiropractic assessment for your newborn can help to identify any explanations behind problems with sleeping, crying and feeding but importantly can also help to identify misalignment that may not yet be causing a problem with your child.
As in adults the effect of a misalignment may take many years to present as pain or discomfort and therefore proactive and preventative assessment is always the best option.
By maintain the musculo-skeletal and hence neurological function of a newborn you are giving them the post possible opportunity for healthy growth and development.
The first step involves a detailed medical history and evaluation based on current evidence based practice, to identify strengths and areas of potential improvement. These include primitive reflexes and joint movement examinations.
After the initial evaluation, an individually tailored treatment plan is established to achieve the appropriate goals set in collaboration with family members. These will explain in detail the number of treatments and length of program needed for best outcomes.
An ongoing outcome evaluation throughout the program is determined to ensure that the goals are being met and/or make changes to the intervention plan.
A child experiences many physical and biomechanical stresses during their development.
The resulting problems in children’s spines can occur at almost any point in their development and growth, beginning in utero, which can lead to nervous system irritation caused by spinal and/or cranial misalignment. This may lead to health complaints such as:
In children, the spinal misalignments that occur at the time of the injury may not necessarily result in immediate pain or symptoms. In addition to physical stress, parents should be aware that emotional and chemical stress affect the child’s nervous system and may warrant a spinal check-up.
Regular chiropractic checkups can identify potential spinal dysfunction resulting from these stresses and chiropractic adjustments may help to enhance future function and well-being. Common conditions that patients have reported benefit from Chiropractic are:
Chiropractic care for infants and children is safe and effective.
Book your child in for an evaluation of their brain-body integration, primitive reflexes or spinal health now.
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