When you consider any kind of treatment or therapy for your child, your very first questions may be: 1) Is it effective? and 2) Is it safe?
Even well-tested medications may have side effects. For instance, antibiotics — which can save your child’s life and are a necessary medical treatment to stop a bacterial infection — may alter your child’s gut’s biome and immune system if they’re overused or prescribed for anything other than a bacterial infection.
If your child has minor or chronic ailments that don’t respond to conventional medicine — or if you worry about potential side effects of medications — you may consider natural, supportive chiropractic treatments. The philosophy of chiropractic is to restore your child’s body to its normal state of health and self-healing.
Through very gentle, subtle movements along the spine and other areas, our expert chiropractor Dr. Marie Cayo helps your child’s spine become more perfectly aligned. When your child’s spine is aligned, then blood, lymph, and other nutrients can circulate throughout their body, so that all of their systems work together in harmony.
In this article, our team at Spinal Health Care of Orlando will help you explore the benefits and techniques behind chiropractic care for kids, including whether or not it’s safe.
How we treat kids using chiropractic care
Chiropractic can be used as stand-alone therapy or in combination with conventional medical therapy for a wide range of childhood issues, including:
- Colic
- Latching problems during nursing
- Digestive distress
- Chronic ear infections or colds
- Bedwetting
- Insomnia
- ADD and ADHD
- Allergies and asthma
Your child may also benefit from chiropractic if they have conditions such as:
- Back pain
- Neck pain
- Headaches
- Migraines
- Joint pain
- Poor posture
Safe, effective, and gentle spinal adjustments help your child’s body function more efficiently.
A low-risk treatment option
According to the American Chiropractic Association, insurance companies consider chiropractic centers to have a low risk for adverse events and subsequent malpractice suits. Researchers who have reviewed multiple studies have found very few adverse events in a period that stretches for more than 110 years. Not only that, but the American Chiropractic Association also reports that 17% of chiropractic patients in the United States are under the age of 18.
Specializing in little ones
Children’s and infants’ bodies are smaller and more delicate than adult bodies. If you choose chiropractic, make sure your practitioner has years of training and experience in modulating the way they perform manipulations on children and babies.
For instance, children’s joints have more cartilage than bone, so Dr. Cayo chooses to use mobilization techniques, rather than manipulations, to ease pain. When working with the spine, she makes her movements shallower and less forceful.
Relief without drugs
Whenever possible, you want to support your child’s own healing abilities rather than introduce unnecessary medications with their subsequent side effects. Children who have chronic ear infections, for instance, may undergo multiple courses of antibiotics to kill the bacteria that collect in their fluid-filled middle ear. But antibiotics have adverse events and using them frequently runs the risk of developing resistance.
Instead, Dr. Cayo resolves the muscular spasms that cause your child’s middle ear to retain fluid in the first place. When the fluid can drain freely, the bacteria no longer have their breeding ground. This treatment helps keep your child’s ear healthy and infection-free.
To find out how Dr. Cayo can help your child feel better with gentle chiropractic adjustments, call us today or use the online form to request an appointment.