“Why do children need to be adjusted?” Our Crystal Lake Chiropractor understands why we hear this question so often. Clearly, children don’t have the compounded impact of years of posture and stress that adults do.

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Pediatric Chiropractic in Crystal Lake

However, childhood is when the MOST neurological changes are happening. The brain doubles in size in a baby’s first year and 90% of brain development is accomplished by age 5. Part of how the brain develops is through the input it receives from the body. The body develops and reaches milestones through signals from the brain.

It makes sense that full communication between their brain and body is absolutely vital throughout childhood.

However, life is full of physical, emotional and chemical stressors even on kids. The force of birth itself, especially with any additional interventions, can misalign a newborn’s vertebrae and cause pressure on their nerves, reducing the flow of information. We call this a subluxation.

In 1987, Dr. Godfrey Gutmann studied over 1,000 newborns, discovering that more than 80% of them had suffered trauma to their cervical spine.

The simplest way to know if your child needs chiropractic care is to have them be checked by a chiropractor.

A pediatric chiropractic checks children to make sure that there is no interference or pressure from misaligned bones. We identify anywhere there are subluxations and gently adjust. Many babies sleep through their adjustment and older kids often eagerly ask when their next adjustment will be.

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Signs Your Child May Need a Pediatric Chiropractic Adjustment

The best time to start chiropractic care is before they begin to show signs of dysfunction. In other words, get them checked before you think they need it!

We want each child to reach their full potential for health and wellness. Their bodies innately know how to do this: growing, repairing, and developing without any outside help.

Subluxations, however, reduce that flow of innate intelligence. It’s best to identify and correct them as soon as possible.

Here are some ways that your child’s body may be signaling that there’s nervous system interference:

• Sleep issues
• Digestive issues
• Behavioral issues
• Allergies
• Weak Immune System
• Poor posture and traumas

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Sleep and Digestion Issues

Whether we’re adjusting kids or adults, the purpose of a chiropractic adjustment is to restore or maintain proper movement of the spine. This supports clear communication through the central nervous system so the body can best self-regulate and maintain homeostasis i.e. HEALTH.

When the body is functioning optimally, a child’s nervous system will be able to switch into a relaxed state for sleep and digestion. This is called a parasympathetic response and is the opposite of our “fight or flight” response.

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Behavioral Issues

Babies and children don't always have the language skills to express what's happening in their bodies. And they may not even know!

Meltdowns, behavior issues and fussiness may point to discomfort and dysfunction somewhere in their bodies.

The brain, spinal cord, central and peripheral nervous system all work together - or they try to!

Subluxations or pressure and inflammation on the nerves impeded the flow of sensory, motor and functional communication. This can leave messages that can be incomplete, scrambled, or amplified, like a whispered game of Telephone where the message is distorted between the first two speakers.

This can look like struggles to focus, distraction, and sensory sensitivity.

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Allergies

It’s normal for our bodies to have a histamine reaction to irritants. Environmental and food allergies show there is a dysfunction somewhere in the system as our bodies identify or label otherwise non-toxic elements as a threat.

Taking in and processing information about your internal and external environment is a function of the central nervous system. When there are signs of overreacting such as allergies, we want to check and make sure there’s no pressure on the nerves.

Being under chiropractic care doesn’t guarantee that your child won’t have allergies. It simply makes sure that the brain is receiving clear signals from the body. Then the brain can function optimally to know the appropriate response messages to send back down the line.

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Weak Immune System

Does it seem like your child catches everything? Or do they have chronic ear infections?

When we are functioning optimally, our bodies are able to fight off bugs without us taking much notice. optimally, our bodies can fight off "bugs" without slowing us down too much. Constant illness and failure to thrive is like a check engine light signaling that something needs attention.

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Posture and Trauma

Poor posture is rampant through all generations. We slump at desks, we hunch over phones and tablets, we slouch while watching TV.

We now see even teens with incredible levels of degeneration and microtraumas. These occur from repeated overuse. Think about how carpal tunnel injuries occur over time with repeated motions. The same thing happens in the joints of the spine.

Trauma doesn’t have to be as large a major motor vehicle accident. Kids play hard. They climb, they tumble, they twist, they jump and fall.

All of this has an impact on their spine and may cause them to shift out of alignment and or become restricted. Even a hard bump on their bottom can really jar their spine.

Dr. John Minardi has found that degenerative changes begin to happen after only 4 weeks of reduced mobility.

This is why we’re dedicated to checking kids’ spines as they play hard, sleep in weird positions, develop optimally and just go through their beautiful lives with vibrant health!

Looking for more natural health answers for your family? We love partnering with Well-Rooted Pediatrics and their Holistic, Integrative and Functional providers. Find out more at: wellrootedpediatrics.com

At Crystal Lake Family Wellness, Dr. Josh and Dr. Emily Young address the cause of your pain, not just the symptom. We believe that education is a big part of your success! Call (815) 788-7504 for an appointment or click here to schedule online.

Not in McHenry County and looking for a chiropractor that specializes in pediatrics? Visit ICPAforkids.com.

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References:

• https://www.firstthingsfirst.org/early-childhood-matters/brain-development/
• DR. JOHN MINARDI, DC – VERTEBRAL SUBLUXATION COMPLEX CLASS
• Guttman, G (1987, "Blocked Atlantal Nerve Syndrome in Babies & Infants, Manuelle Medizine pp5-10)