Taking your baby to the pediatrician for wellness checks is common. Taking your baby to a chiropractor is less common for many. Yet, according to the U.S. National Board of Chiropractic Examiners, roughly 8% of chiropractic patients are five years old or younger.
If your child is often fussy or doesn’t sleep well, a baby chiropractor may be able to help.
After all, there’s no reason not to use the resources available to you. Yet, we understand, you might have concerns. You might think of a chiropractor as the person who helps your back pain, surely your little one doesn’t have back pain, do they?
It turns out they could have pain or discomfort that gentle chiropractic treatment may relieve. Chiropractors worldwide share stories of helping babies reduce persistent problems like colic, gas, acid reflux, ear pain, and more.
According to the Journal of Chiropractic Pediatrics, parents seek a pediatric chiropractor for concerns with feeding problems. While few studies have conclusive results, overall, parents are happy with the results.
Are Chiropractors Safe for Babies?
Let’s address the big question first. You probably see your little darling as a delicate creature, and it’s your job to protect them. What would a baby chiropractic treatment be like?
First, your baby chiropractor is a licensed practitioner. Any experienced pediatric chiropractor has a range of techniques they can use on anyone, large or small. They’ll adjust accordingly. Chiropractors often use gentle adjustments with their fingers to help your baby’s body readjust.
The whole point of chiropractic care is to restore your body’s natural balance and help it heal itself. So yes, a pediatric chiropractor is safe for babies. Like any professional, they’ll talk with you about your concerns and make recommendations based on the baby’s needs.
How Do I Know If My Baby Needs a Chiropractor?
If your baby is having trouble feeding, sleeping, or seems overly irritable, you can take them to a chiropractor for an assessment. Like older people, babies can have misaligned joints or a spinal problem. They can have digestion issues and cause trapped gas.
Many parents and chiropractors find babies find relief for all kinds of reasons with quality chiropractic care.
Chiropractic care is safe and gentle. Find a reputable chiropractor near you if you don’t have one already. In Doylestown, Pa., Dr. Jeff McQuaite offers a free consultation so you can have all your questions answered.
When Can a Baby Go to the Chiropractor?
Right away. Newborns can go, and they can go anytime they’ve passed another milestone. For example, learning to sit up, crawl, and, yes, walking. All that falling can cause spinal problems.
As your baby grows up, a pediatric chiropractor can be a healthy part of their wellness care. Your chiropractor can help your child be aware of the benefits of healthy posture, exercise and even share recommendations for how to handle heavy backpacks. And, of course, your child’s chiropractor can help them maintain a healthy spine and potentially help protect them from sports injuries.
Do you have a newborn who’s exhibiting signs of discomfort or unhappiness? Visit a baby chiropractor and see if they can diagnose the problem. Chiropractors can be a great resource for your family!
Chiropractors can do so more than help with back pain. If your child suffers from colic, asthma, sports injuries, or other problems, a child chiropractor may be able to help.
The point of chiropractic care is prevention and restoration for all ages. And, yes, even children can have physical pains big and small. However, if you’re nervous about the idea of a chiropractor “cracking” your child’s spine, you’re not alone. It’s natural to feel a little worried about exposing your children to something new.
“Chiropractic is concerned with the preservation and restoration of health and focuses particular attention on the subluxation. A subluxation is a complex of functional and or pathological articular changes that compromise neural integrity and may influence organ system function and general health.”
In plain English, subluxation references musculoskeletal problems. For example, when you have a pinched nerve or pain in your neck from hours of sitting slumped over the computer, your spine is out of alignment and it can be painful. This happens with kids too. Chiropractic and Newborns
You’ve probably heard of fussy newborns. Maybe you have one yourself. It turns out there’s a host of reasons why children may be irritable. They might have pains like headaches, muscle spasms, or be colicky. Colic is described as when a newborn cries daily at predictable times. There could be many reasons why your child does this. Doctors connect it to everything from a stressed digestive system to general anxiety.
And since they’re pre-verbal, their primary means of communication is to cry, as you know.
In some cases, newborns have shoulder or neck pain from the birth experience itself. A child chiropractor can assess your child and use a small amount of pressure on acupressure points. This pressure is appropriate for a newborn and will help them release.
Many children feel better within a visit or two. Additional visits will help their tiny bodies grow in alignment with their bones and ligaments in the right position.
But what if you have older children? How can chiropractic care help them?
Child Chiropractic Care Can Help with Sports Injuries
Some kids start sports almost as soon as they can run. T-ball and kiddie soccer come to mind. Some of those kids stay in sports for the next 15 years or so. Some of them have coaches who are mindful of stretching and ways to protect their growing bodies. Others are not as aware of the benefits of child chiropractic care as a way to protect against injuries. Or help heal when injuries do occur.
Strains and sprains are some of the most common sports injuries. Sometimes kids make them worse by playing despite the pain. In some cases, these young athletes take pain-killers to mask the pain instead of using the pain as a cue to get help.
However, there’s a better way. That way is to include child chiropractic care in your child’s health regimen. We can work together to keep your child’s developing body healthy and, hopefully, avoid painful sports injuries.
Here at McQuaite Chiropractic, we’re conveniently located next to CB West High School in Doylestown, Pa. Do you have a young athlete or child who may benefit from a child chiropractor?
We offer a free consultation so why not come in and see if chiropractic care can be good for your child?
Thank you so much for voting us Best of Bucks in 2019! It’s a true honor.
Our patients voted McQuaite Chiropractic as “Best of Bucks” for 7 years in a row! We’re thrilled!
We’re delighted to help you relieve back and neck pain, headaches, asthma, scoliosis, and generally helping you feel your best.
For fun, we decided to ask some of you what makes you choose McQuaite Chiropractic for your chiropractic care and here’s what you said.
Want to add your reasons why? There’s room for you in the comments!
Here are 7 Reasons Why You Voted for Us: (Based on Testimonials)
1—Friendly, attentive staff – We believe in great customer service and our friendly staff is part of providing you with a great experience. We’re glad you noticed!
2—Flexible Schedule – It’s important for you to come in when it’s convenient for you and when you’re in pain. That’s why we make every effort to accommodate you and yes, we even take walk-ins.
For instance, there was that one time when a patient called early in the morning after hurting his back. While there’s never a good time for pain, he was on his way to a wedding. We were able to get him in and relieve his back pain in just a few minutes so he could be on his way and have a great weekend.
3— Effective, All-Natural Pain Relief – The great thing about chiropractic care is that it can treat and heal the problem rather than simply masking the problem like drugs do. Plus, there are no harmful side effects like many medications. Chiropractic care is safe, healthy, and all-natural.
4 – Free Consultation – Our motto is, “Old Fashioned care and concern in a modern world.” That means, we want you to feel better AND feel heard. We offer a free consultation to discuss your health concerns and answer any questions you may have about your healthcare.
We want you to feel comfortable so please, schedule a time to come in and ask. There’s no commitment on your part.
5- Thorough Exam – We want to get to the source of your pain and get you feeling better as soon as possible. To do that, you and Dr. Jeff will go over your medical history and run X-rays to see what’s going on inside. After all, health starts on the inside!
6—State-of-the-art Equipment — Like our digital x-ray machine which reduces your exposure to radiation by 75%. Plus, since they process faster than traditional X-rays, it helps you get back to your life quicker.
“To see is to know, and we won’t guess about your health.” The digital x-ray machine gives a clear view of your spine. Sometimes, the pain points are obvious with an x-ray. Many of our patients are amazed.
7– Great Massage Therapist – Regular chiropractic care readjusts your bones, muscles, and ligaments in their rightful places which relieve stress, massage therapy also relieves muscle stress. One supports the other to help you say, “…Ah…” with relief.
Thank you for voting us Best of Bucks Chiropractor 2019!
As you probably know, ADHD is a topic of ongoing clinical trials. One 2019 study found some evidence that chiropractic care helped participating children with ADHD. You can see it here. Specifically, this particular trial focused on seeing if chiropractor care helped these children improve their reading. Many kids with ADHD have reading problems due to their inability to focus.
Chiropractic care can soothe the nervous system. While that may seem unrelated to ADHD and reading, it’s not. According to the study, “ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is associated with significant alterations in brain development and function.”
So, by soothing the nervous system, the brain can send and receive messages easier. And when the brain communicates with the body well, this can enhance motor skills and focus.
ADHD, also known as attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity, mostly affects boys between the ages of 4 and 17. (Source.)
You’re probably familiar with medications like Adderall and Ritalin. You may even know these are stimulates that can affect your child’s sleep, mood, and even growth patterns. Yet, chiropractic care may be able to help naturally.
According to a study in Explore, children aged 9-13 diagnosed with ADHD, experienced relief with regular chiropractic care. The best part of this study is that these young children were able to not use psychotropic drugs on their developing brains.
Why would chiropractic care help kids with ADHD?
Here’s one theory. During your child’s birth, he or she suffers a spinal trauma. This happens to roughly 5% of children. These spinal injuries may not be noticed at the time because they aren’t obvious. This means the children grow up with a slight imbalance that can become more significant later in life.
The other thing that can happen is active kids may experience a spinal injury via a fall or rough play.
In either case, the spine is out of alignment. If the spine tilts to the left or the right (and it can be the tiniest bit “off”) this affects the head and neck alignment. That misalignment affects the Central Nervous System in that communications don’t flow as smoothly from the brain through the body because there is interference in the communications channel.
Chiropractors, as you may know, are specialists in the Central Nervous System. They do far more than relieving back pain. They align the entire body which takes the pressure off nerves and allows for improved communication between the brain and the body. Improving that communication can provide a world of healthy benefits.
One study dating all the way back to 1989 reported, “Following chiropractic care, 57% showed an improvement in chiropractic radiographic findings; 71.4% showed a reduction in overt behavior activity; 57% showed improvement in the level of autonomic activity, and 57% showed improvement in parental ratings of hyperactivity.”
Some parents have been able to reduce or end their reliance on medication that controls their child’s behavior. If your child has been diagnosed with ADHD and you’re in Doylestown, Pa, why not schedule a visit to McQuaite Chiropractic?
Side effects of chiropractic care include a stronger immune system and the potential to prevent injuries. Why not try a healthy, natural solution for ADHD?
Dr. Jeff McQuaite
McQuaite Chiropractic
295 Logan Street
Doylestown, Pa. 18901 267-247-7000
Office Hours
Mon: 8:30 am – 12 pm, 2:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Tues: 10 am – 1 pm, 2:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Weds: 8:30 am – 12 pm, 2:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Thurs: 2:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Fri: 8:30 am – 2 pm
Sat: 8:00 am – 10 am
