Pediatric Chiropractic Care

Pediatric Chiropractic;
The importance of having babies and children checked for nerve interference
Kennedy adjustment Kennedy adjustment
A few of the common questions we get when encouraging a parent to bring their kids into the office are: Why would a child or especially an infant need chiropractic care? Is it safe? Do you adjust them the same way you adjust an adult? What does the adjustment help with?

There are many reasons you should bring your little one in to be checked by Dr. Scott or myself. Let us start with infant care. Labor and delivery is not only tough on the mother but can be quite traumatic for the new baby as well. They are changing and developing so much in those 40+/- weeks inside mom and although baby’s progression inside the womb is a very natural thing, the delivery process is typically anything but natural. It is sited that in America, less than 8% of women opt for a natural birth. This means there is some sort of intervention (often multiple) with medications, caesarean deliveries, vacuum or forceps extraction or simply the “Normal axial pull” on the baby’s head during delivery. Dr Towbin, a Neuropathologist from Harvard Medical School, found during his research that it is common during a “normal” hospital delivery that a child’s head will be pulled with 90-120 pounds of force. “The top bone in the neck, the C1 vertebra, is the most unstable vertebra in our spine, connected only by muscles, tendons, and ligaments. With any kind of extreme twisting, turning, or yanking, that vertebra will misalign in three directions, which will result in occlusion, pressure, and interference.”

As your child grows, they will begin to have numerous things happen to them that will cause subluxation/nerve interference in their spine. Trying to hold their head up, or “bobble head syndrome” as we like to call it. Also rolling over, crawling and of course walking lead to a number of bumps and bonks that can cause their malleable vertebrae to move out of place. As toddlers and children they have their fair share of falls, tumbles and stumbles. These are a few more important reasons they should see a chiropractor.

Yes, it is very safe and is much different than how an adult is adjusted. Our 3 girls were checked and adjusted as soon as 30 minutes old. Although they were all born naturally and with the most minimal interference by our midwife of just “guiding” them out, they all had subluxations at the C1 vertebra. The adjustment is made with the light pressure of my pinky finger (the pressure is that of pressing on a ripe tomato before the skin indents). Their little joints are so tiny and their vertebrae are not completely formed yet, so it takes minimal force to relieve the pressure on those nerves.

We have seen an array of different issues/concerns in our office that have had amazing success. It has been shown that chiropractic can help with colic, difficulty latching, torticollis, constipation, diarrhea, reflux, acid reflux, trouble sleeping, ear infections/aches and the list goes on. We also see many families for overall wellness care as they may not have anything specific bothering them, but we keep them feeling great.

If you have any questions about pediatric chiropractic, nutritional components to integrate into their diet or any other concerns, please contact us and we would love to answer those questions for you! Also, please tell your friends, family and coworkers with kiddos about us as we would be happy to help them as well and appreciate your referrals!

~Dr Molly Scott

Back to school Backpacks

Backpacks – Children and Back Pain
It is that time again in Olathe, Overland Park, Spring Hill and Leawood, kids are heading back to school.  With kids heading back to school and experiencing a change in routine we often see an increase in kids experiencing neck and back pain.  We know that the change in routine, increased time sitting in desks and starting back up with school sports can attribute to back and neck pain, but often we overlook one of the biggest causes, Backpacks.   Public health experts have recognized for many years that excessively heavy backpacks can cause back and neck pain in children. heavy bagThree new studies have recently been published on this issue, and they shed some light on prevention of back pain in children.
Physical and Psychological Factors in Children with Back Pain
This British study1 was designed to examine ergonomic and other factors that might account for back and neck pain in schoolchildren.
The authors gave questionnaires to 697 children aged 11-14. Of these students, 27% reported having neck pain, 18% reported having upper back pain, and 22% reported having low back pain.
After analysis of the collected data, the authors found the following:
• Neck pain was linked to school furniture, emotional and conduct problems, family history of low back pain and previous treatment for musculoskeletal disorders.
• Upper back pain was associated with backpack weight, school furniture, emotional problems, and previous treatment of musculoskeletal pain.
• Low back pain complaints were associated with school furniture, emotional issues, and “family history and previous injury or accident.”

Effects of Backpack Weight on Posture
This Italian study2 looked at 43 students with an average age of 12.5 years. The authors tested each of the children with an 8-kg and 12-kg backpack, and they had the children wear them over one shoulder and two shoulders. Posture was evaluated on the children while they did a 7-minute treadmill walk.
The authors found that the posture of the children was substantially altered under load. Not surprisingly, asymmetrical loading (carrying the backpack on one shoulder rather than both), resulted in the most complex postural changes.
“Our results suggest that a 12 kg load, fairly common in this population (carried at least once a week), seems to push the postural system to its physiological limits.” 2
They found that the postural changes were corrected once the load was removed, but the long-term consequences of these excessive weights are unknown.
Limit Backpack Weight to 10% of Child’s Body Weight

backpackIn the third report,3 the researchers interviewed 531 children from 5th to 12th grade and weighed the backpack of each student. The found that:
• “Younger students and females are more at risk due to relatively lower body weight…”
• Female students carried heavier backpacks than did male students.
• “Greater relative backpack weight is associated with upper– and mid–back pain reports but not neck or lower back pain; it is also associated with lost school time, lost school sports time, and greater chiropractic utilization.”
The authors of this study recommend that backpacks weigh no more than 10% of the child’s body weight, which is lower than the current recommendation of 15%. Previous studies have found that students often carry between 17-22% of their body weight. 2
From these studies, it’s clear that a significant number of children suffer from neck and back pain. Because a substantial portion of these complaints may originate in backpack usage, it is critical when dealing with children with neck and back pain to ask about backpack usage. Musculoskeletal pain in children is especially a concern since it has been associated with pain in adulthood.
1. Murphy S, Buckle P, Stubbs D. A cross-sectional study of self-reported back and neck pain among English schoolchildren and associated physical and psychological risk factors. Applied Ergonomics 2007;38(6):797-804.
2. Negrini S, Negrini A. Postural effects of symmetrical and asymmetrical loads on the spines of schoolchildren. Scoliosis 2007;2(1):8.
3. Moore MJ, White GL, Moore DL. Association of Relative Backpack Weight With Reported Pain, Pain Sites, Medical Utilization, and Lost School Time in Children and Adolescents. Journal of School Health 2007;77(5):232-239. Foster Family Chiropractic