Drs. Lynn and Lorie Hedgepeth
Common Questions from Parents:
1. How early should children be adjusted?
2. Is it safe?
3. Why do they need adjustments?
4. What if they cry? All of these questions go through the minds of parents who are considering chiropractic care for their children. Some parents are hesitant about getting their children adjusted even though they are under chiropractic care themselves. If chiropractic care is important to your good health, then it should be important to your children’s health as well.
After all, children have nervous systems that control all of their body functions just as you do. And just like you, they get subluxations too. A subluxation is what happens when spinal bones loss their normal position and motion from stress, trauma, or chemical imbalance.
It’s Never Too Soon
Subluxations can occur at any time. The first one may very well have occurred at your baby’s birth. That is why parents who understand the importance of correcting subluxations have their newborns examined by their chiropractor as soon after birth as possible. By correcting subluxations at an early age, the damage that comes from functioning at less than optimal levels can be prevented. The longer a subluxation is present, the greater loss of proper function. In addition, the longer the subluxation is present, the longer your child’s body will continue to grow in a compromised way.
Many people who come in to a chiropractic’s office for the first time as adults would have had far greater potential for regaining their health if they had received regular chiropractic care as children.
Kids Make Great Patients
Adjusting a child is not a difficult procedure . In fact, in most cases, a child’s spine is much easier to adjust than an adults. Children have not had the long-standing subluxations, their muscles are not tense, and they are usually just more relaxed in general than adults. In most cases, children hold their adjustments for longer periods of time as well. However, with falls, accidents and the generally active lives most kids experience, regular chiropractic check ups are important.
It’s Worth The Effort
Chiropractic adjustments are usually painless. Children may, on the first visit or two, be somewhat reluctant. However, they rarely hesitate to get on the table to get adjusted, especially when they see other members of their family being adjusted as well. Chiropractic adjustments are important to their good health and the few tears that may occur on the first visit (usually because of fear of the unknown) are well worth the benefits to our children’s health. Obviously children who are adjusted regularly from infancy think of their visits to the chiropractor as a regular part of their lives and are not the least bit hesitant to climb onto the adjusting table.
Drs. Lynn & Lorie Hedgepeth are chiropractors at ChiroCare in East Limestone. They are both active members of the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (ICPA). You can obtain more information about children and chiropractic by visiting the website www.ICPA4kids. org.
