Playground Perils

Kids & Chiropractic

The other day I took my 3 young kids to Edinborough, the indoor play park in Edina.  My five-year-old daughter probably went down the slide attached to the inflatable castle 20-30 times.  Each time, she would bounce on her bottom at the end of the inflatable slide which would propel her to her feet.  She would jump, turn and head right back up to repeat the process.

However, her last trip down the slide was different.  She overshot the end of the slide and rather than bouncing on the inflatable slide, she landed hard on her backside on the gym floor.  In an instant, tears were flowing, and play time was over.

She had jarred her pelvis and hips and the force had transferred up into her mid-back causing soreness. Thankfully, there were no fractures or instability – but what I found was misalignment of her lower spine causing muscle tension all the way up her back.   Shortly after, I was able to gently adjust her restoring her alignment and bringing relief. 

Could I have given her Tylenol or Ibuprofen to help relieve her pain?  Sure, but how would that have helped the misalignment in her lower back?  Would she have been any healthier as a result, or just less painful? The pain was the effect - the misalignment was the cause.

As The Twig Is Bent, So Grows The Tree

I am often asked by parents in the general public why I treat children.  It's a valid question because most people associate chiropractic with neck and back pain.

More and more people see a chiropractor every year for the aches and pains of everyday life.  Years of postural stress from sitting at a desk build to create tension.  Old injuries accumulate to cause painful problems years later.  Finally, their "back goes out" while picking up the newspaper - their pain flares and they make their way to a chiropractor. 

Surely, children do not suffer this same type of pain, do they? Do they really benefit from chiropractic in the same way as adults? What if adults addressed some of these accumulated stresses earlier in life BEFORE the painful event?

Yes, kids are flexible, resilient and bounce back from injuries more easily than adults.  And while they do not have decades of stress built up in their little bodies like adults do - any parent knows that they suffer their share of slips, bumps and bruises.  

The old adage, “As the twig is bent, so grows the tree” can be applied to the growth of our children as well.  I wouldn’t have wanted my daughter to go even one day being out of proper alignment.  Even if her pain level was reduced, if her body remained out of balance, problems would develop later on down the road.

We give our children clean water, healthy food, and regular medical/dental checkups – it’s time we stop neglecting the communication pathway between their brains and bodies.  Regular chiropractic checkups help ensure the healthy development of our children!