Kids are usually very active. This means that they are always running, jumping, climbing, etc. While these activities are undoubtedly good for their health and wellbeing, they are sometimes accompanied by falls and collisions. If you feel that one or more of these episodes is more significant than usual, or if your child seems more upset than you would ordinarily expect from the fall or collision, then they may have sustained an injury that could warrant a checkup from your Adelaide chiropractor.
3. THEIR POSTURE SEEMS ODD.
Does your child always carry most of their body weight on one leg? do their shoulders look uneven from behind? does their upper body seem to shift away from the midline? Any of these basic postural distortions may alert you that there is an underlying spinal problem that can benefit from some chiropractic care.
4. THEY WEAR THEIR SHOES OUT UNEVENLY OR EXCESSIVELY
Look at the soles of your child’s school shoes. The normal pattern of wear is across the ball of the foot and along the outside of the heel. If the amount of wear on the heel is uneven side to side, or seems to be happening more quickly than you might expect it to relative to the age of the shoes, then having a chiropractor assess their mechanical function is important to identify the cause of the problem.
5. THEIR SCHOOL BAG IS TOO HEAVY
Many school children these days carry extraordinary amounts of stuff in their school bags. Text Books, laptops, and other items all add up to place a substantial amount of weight in the school bag, which must then be carried by the child. Children who find themselves leaning forward to compensate for the weight of the bag, or who carry the bag on one shoulder and find themselves having to pull that shoulder up to be able to hold the weight are prime suspects for developing musculoskeletal problems from this chronic behavioral posture. As a rule of thumb, a school bag should be no more than 10 % of a child’s body weight. Your chiropractor can advise you on the best school bags that provide the best support.
6. THEY CAN’T SLEEP
Underlying spinal problems don’t have to be particularly painful to be problematic. Subclinical spinal problems can still produce unpleasant sensory signals to the brain (called nociception) which may be irritating enough to prevent the brain from entering normal sleep states. This can have serious effects if it leads to ongoing sleep deprivation. Chiropractic adjustments may help to reduce these nociceptive brain signals by correcting poor spinal joint function.
7. YOU WANT THEM TO AVOID SPINAL PROBLEMS
Would you eat healthy yourself but feed your kids junk food at the same time? Adults often notice the benefits of regular chiropractic adjustments in order to prevent spinal problems from becoming too advanced. The same can be said for kids. As their spines develop throughout childhood and adolescence, having their progress monitored periodically by your chiropractor can be a great way of preventing any minor musculoskeletal conditions from progressing to more severe or chronic conditions.
Your Adelaide chiropractor is trained to assess the spines of people of all ages, including children. If you have any concerns about your child’s spinal health, please feel free to consult your chiropractor to see if they can help with either direct treatment or other advice and recommendations.
