Can children benefit from chiropractic care?

Yes.

Children often experience disruption of proper spinal alignment from the birthing process. Long children often injure themselves playing or in sports activities that interfere with proper motion of their body. Children in high school sports often sustain injuries that affect their comfort and ability to perform.

Dynamic Family Chiropractic has experience treating all these conditions in children. We have had great success in restoring children's proper body structure resulting in pain free, happier and healthier children.

If you have more questions about chiropractic care for children, please visit our web site's section on questions about chiropractic.

"Much of what you have been led to believe about immunizations simply isn’t true… I would urge you to reject all inoculations for your child." –Robert Mendelsohn, MD (1)

More and more parents are investigating and choosing to refuse vaccinations for their children. (2)Here are just some of the reasons, the parents…

• They consider vaccines more dangerous than diseases.
  
• They have religious or philosophical objections to vaccination
• They prefer natural rather than artificial immunity
• They have a vaccine-injured child (a growing number)

Currently, the schedule for children 6 months old has already included 45 vaccinations. At 18 months it is 64 and in their first 4 to 6 years it amounts to at least 74. No proof exists that the child’s immune system can handle this chemical assault.

Are vaccinated children healthier?

Allergies, asthma, diabetes, ear infections, eczema, attention deficit disorder, and learning disabilities were rare before widespread immunizations.

One study shows that children vaccinated with MMR or DPT+Polio were actually 14 times more likely to have asthma and the incidence of eczema was 9.4 times that of a non-vaccinated child.(3) Other study showed 23.1% of children who had been vaccinated had asthma and 30% had allergies while none of the non-vaccinated children had these life-long afflictions. (4)

Harris Couler, PhD, a medical historian reports: "Between 15 and 20% of American school children are considered learning disabled with minimal brain dysfunction directly caused by vaccine damage… A large portion of the millions of U.S. children and adults suffering from autism, seizures, mental retardation, hyperactivity, dyslexia, and other… ‘developmental disabilities,’ owe their disorders to one or another of the vaccines against childhood diseases." (5)

SIDS or Crib Death

For a long time now, vaccinations have been linked to crib death. In Japan, when they rose the minimum vaccination age from two months to two years in 1975, infant seizures and crib death practically disappeared. (6) Before childhood vaccination, crib death was rare.

Have Vaccines Stopped Disease?

Many diseases we are now immunized for including diphtheria, whooping cough, smallpox, scarlet fever and more began to disappear long before immunizations were introduced. "The combined death rate from scarlet fever, diphtheria, whooping cough, and measles among children up to fifteen shows that nearly 90% of the total decline in morality between 1860 and 1965 occurred before the introduction of antibiotics and widespread immunization," states Ivan Illich, PhD.(7)

In the case of polio, Dr. Mendelsohn states, "It is commonly believed that the Salk vaccine was responsible for halting the polio epidemic that plagued American children in the 1940’s and 1950’s. If so, why did the epidemics also end in Europe, where polio vaccine was not so extensively used?" (8) Cases of polio are now said to be meningitis. The statistics were "cooked" to prove that the immunization campaign was working. While the polio numbers declined, meningitis cases skyrocketed.

Do the benefits outweigh the risks?

MD’s commonly do not report adverse reactions or injuries. According to the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) only 1 in 10 injuries due to vaccines are reported, however, other studies put that number as one in 50. (9) In fact, as of 2004, the U.S. government has paid out at least $1.5 billion to the families of children who were injured from vaccinations as part of the vaccination compensation program. That number is only a fraction of the number who have been hurt, injured and killed.

Does vaccination prevent illness? Disease outbreaks have happened in 100% vaccinated populations.(10) In one instance, 137 cases of measles broke out when 98.7% of a student group were vaccinated. (11)

How can we agree to vaccinate if we do not know whether or not the benefits outweigh the risks?

Childhood Diseases and Benefits

It is almost never discussed, but the fact is that childhood diseases, when managed, are good for the overall health of the individual. Here’s what the experts say…

"Contracting and overcoming (childhood) diseases is part of a developmental process that actually helps develop a healthy, robust, adult immune system able to meet the challenges that inevitable encounters with viruses and bacteria will present later on." –Harris Coulter, PhD (12)

"Infectious diseases of childhood are very beneficial for children to catch… The general inflammatory process is important in the dynamics of maturation of the immune response to diseases." –Viera Scheibner, PhD (13)

One study found that those who had febrile infections as children were less likely to develop cancer later in life. (14)

Conclusion

Everyone wants strong and healthy children and that is the reason that many parents are choosing not to vaccinate their children. While damage and injury in children has become increasingly apparent, the benefits of vaccination have been questioned more and more. Parents make your decisions on understanding and facts, not fear tactics.

Why would my child need chiropractic care, if her back doesn’t hurt? Parents routinely schedule exams to check their children’s teeth, hearing and vision but miss one of the most important checkups. Their spines protect all the nerve fibers that send out messages and energy to every organ, muscle, and part of their bodies. Any blockage of the nervous system can result in “dis-ease”. This state of disharmony or “dis-ease” can cause the body to have a lowered resistance to disease, organ malfunction, sickness and diseases. [15] Blockages in our body’s communication system are caused by subluxations, or misalignments of the spinal vertebrae in the spinal column. 

How does a child lose alignment in their spine and develop subluxations? There are many causes, including labor. The baby’s spine can be injured due to a hard delivery that causes the body stress or because of a breech presentation. Often childhood and adult problems can be traced back to spinal damage caused during birth. If a child is dangled by their feet immediately after birth, injury can occur. 

One famous obstetrician says, “We know very little about our bodies, so little that we forget the importance of the spine… Why, when the vulnerable spine has always been curved, do we insist on holding the newborn upside down and jerking the back straight?” [16]

Being a toddler is very physical. Each of those first steps evolves and jumping. Falls are inevitable and accidents are a normal part of childhood. While a great deal of childhood falls are minor, sometimes they can be nerve-damaging and cause vertebral subluxations with serious long-term consequences. [17] Children need to have periodic spinal checkups.

At Dynamic Family Chiropractic, we love to see the whole family, from grandpa to babies. Chiropractic “families” have healthier families, reporting more energy and less dependency on medication and drugs. Parents frequently say that since chiropractic care, their children are sick less often and with less severely, have far less ear infections, and take little to no medication. [18]

Parents, researchers, doctors, and clinicians have observed positive physical, emotional, and behavioral changes in children under chiropractic care. Benefits have included improvements in autism, anxiety, lack of concentration, discipline problems, hyperactivity, low mental stamina and asthma. (20-25) The differing mechanisms explaining these results are varied. Some evidence says that correcting subluxations also improves blood flow to the brain. (26)

Is your child suffering from any of the following conditions?

• Arm, hand or shoulder pain
• Poor concentration
• Vision problems
• Loss of hearing
• Constipation
• Sore Throat
• Numbness
• Bronchitis
• Arthritis
• Bed-wetting
• Nervousness
• Weakness or fatigue
• Skin disorders
• Ear infections
• Painful joints
• Eye problems
• Stomachaches
• Croup
• Colic
• Allergies
• Scoliosis
• Poor posture
• Skin conditions
• Poor coordination
• Hip, leg or foot pain
• Asthma and wheezing
• Breast-feeding difficulties
• Backaches
• Headaches
• Neck aches
• Irritability

Warning Signs
It is very possible your family has subluxations that are still symptom free; therefore it is essential that everyone gets checked periodically. The following warning signs indicate that the spine may be out of alignment:

• Fatigue
• Shoulder blades flared out
• Hyperactivity
• Frequent falling
• “Noisy Bones”
• One hip or shoulder higher than other
• Joint aches
• One arm looks shorter
• Neck tilt
• One leg looks shorter
• A foot turned out or in

It is essential for all children, not only ill children, to be checked for vertebral subluxations, not as a treatment for these conditions but because all children need healthy spines to be healthy. A nervous system that is free of blockages has free flowing energy and information. It can make a huge difference in your child’s physical and emotional health.

EAR INFECTIONS

Ear infections are now inflicting children in epidemic numbers. In fact, by age 3, your child is probably one of the 2/3 of children who have had one or more episodes of middle ear infection or otitis media. Common treatments include antibiotics, tubes in ears and decongestants. Did you know these treatment results are controversial? 

Antibiotics and Surgery
Consider this study, where 171 children with acute otitis media were divided into four groups. The first had surgery, the second antibiotics, the third had both surgery and antibiotics and the fourth received no treatment at all. All children recovered in the same amount of time. (27) 

Another study resulted in this discovery: “88% of patients with acute otitis media never need antibiotics… In those treated with antibiotics, risk of recurrence is high…antibiotics does not imply the shortening of disease.” (28)

“There is no evidence that antibiotics are effective in treating acute otitis media or chronic otitis media with effusion (fluid in the ear) and there is clear evidence that antibiotics are harmful,” states a professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. (29) Allergic reactions, antibiotic resistance and destruction of the digestive flora (leading to yeast infestations) are just some of the numerous problems associated with antibiotic usage. Children given antibiotics to treat ear infections are more likely to have the infection reoccur.

Tubes in the ears
What about tube operations (tympanostomy), do they work? In Europe, researchers studied children with ear infections in both ears. Each child had a tube placed in one ear and they used the other ear as a control. They found “no benefit from the placement of tubes…and (the tubes) actually created some complications such as scarring and permanent perforation.” (30) Not only have tubes caused reoccurrence of infections as well, but 25% of those who have had tubes reported to suffer from hearing loss years later.

Pediatrician Robert Mendelsohn states, “In the future, we doctors may have to consider whether the entire panoply of therapy for simple ear infections (antibiotics, antihistamines, insertion of tubes, tonsillectomy) does not represent overkill for a condition that, except in malnourished children, is almost always self-limited.” (31)

The Chiropractic Approach to Healthy Children and Research

Chiropractic care, restoring the spine to its proper alignment, is the best thing you can give a child suffering from an ear infection. The result is the optimal functioning of the nerve supply and ultimately normal function and health. (32)

In a study of infants within 5 days of birth, the babies suffering from vomiting, hyperactivity and sleeplessness were calmed of the symptoms by natural, drug-free chiropractic care. After seeing the results of a study, the doctors who authored the study stated that an unhealthy spine “causes many clinical features from central motor impairment to lower resistance to infections –especially ear, nose and throat infections.” They declare that all newborns should have their spines checked by chiropractors as “the success of adjustment overshadows every other type of (care).” (33) 

Another study followed a four and one half year old girl who had suffered with chronic ear infections, had 50% hearing loss in her right ear and adenoiditis. After receiving chiropractic care, “a follow-up visit to her pediatrician and ENT specialist (found) no sign of ear infection or inflammation, (and) her adenoids, which were the worst the ENT had ever seen, were perfectly normal and healthy… the family was told to continue chiropractic care because it had obviously worked.” (34)

Helping your child’s natural defenses fight disease is the key to healthy, happy children. It is essential for all children to have a chiropractic examination to keep their spine free of subluxations. Choosing regular chiropractic care for your family helps your children to be more resistant to disease and gives your family a safer, natural, drug-free healthcare choice.

There is no such thing as to young or to old for Chiropractic care. Chiropractic patients range in years from birth to old age. Regardless of age, vertebrae can become misaligned.  If a vertebrae become misaligned it can cause pressure or irritation to nerves thus causing them to malfunction.  This process is known as a "Subluxation".   For example, the birth process may cause trauma to the neck and spine. If left uncorrected, the vertebral subluxation may disturb the delicate spinal cord and nerves which control the infants muscles and organs.  In some cases, an uncorrected subluxations may lead to a deformity of the spinal column. An early chiropractic checkup may detect subluxations while they are still easily correctable.

Your child should have a chiropractic examination as soon after birth as possible.  Spinal trauma to an infant's or child's spine can occur during the birth process as well as from any number of tumbles while learning to sit up or walk.  Your child's spine grows almost 50% in length during that first year (the equivalent of a six-footer growing to nine feet in just 12 months!).  It's this kind of tremendous growth and developmental changes which make continued chiropractic examinations so important in the early stages of your child's life.

In Chiropractic we believe it's much more important to prevent diseases than wait till some illness occurs. Through regular adjustments, as well as awareness on proper diet, exercise and posture, Chiropractic can help you raise a child free of subluxations whose body is structurally and functionally sound. Your child will also learn good health habits at an early age which can be very beneficial to him or her as an adult.

Youngsters suffer numerous accidents and falls while learning to walk, riding a bike, or even while jumping or running around. But after their tears have dried, underlying injuries could go undetected--such as a subluxation during the spine's most formative period.

Regular Chiropractic spinal exams can provide corrective and preventive care for your son or daughter and peace of mind for you.

It is especially important to have your child under chiropractic care when your child takes part in athletic activities.  The "sack" of a young quarterback could twist a young spine.  A softball pitcher could throw a vertebra out of alignment.   In Chiropractic we can do more than correct these problems, we can also help improve performance on and off the field by helping the body function at its optimum level, naturally without stress and without drugs.