International Chiropractic Pediatric Association Chiropractic for children. http://www.icpa4kids.com/

If you have children, you should know that your Chiropractor has the experience to help them with their special needs. We take pride in being able to provide care for your entire family. Many of our families have two or three generations of family members receiving corrective and wellness care from us. It is widely known that postural patterns run in the family, both good and bad. Often parents and grandparents will take one look at their X-Rays and say, "I need to get my children's spines checked, I hope their spines do not look like mine." They are thinking about what they would've done differently had they known about vertebral subluxation (spinal misalignments) and the degenerative effects of poor posture. Common familial spinal variants include: Loss of cervical (neck) curve, forward head carriage, forward rounded shoulders, a hump at the base of the neck and top of the shoulders, migraines/headaches, inflexibility, disc degeneration in both the neck and low back, low back pain, slouching and scoliosis.

Kids, Parents and Posture

Standing up straight is important for everyone, but at no time is it more crucial to develop the habits of good posture than in childhood. Many adults with chronic back pain can trace the problem to years of bad posture habits or injuries in childhood. Because they are growing and more active, children may be at even more risk for injury to the back and spine. According to studies, there is a significantly high risk associated with football, trampolining and gymnastics. More than 1/3 of all high school football players sustain some type of injury. As a parent, seek professional help for children in the event of even a minor sports injury. Parents should also be aware that babies who are not strapped into an auto safety seat run the risk of injury and even death in the event of a quick stop or an accident.

Good Posture & Aging

Poor posture extracts a high price as you age because it can:

•Limit your range of motion - muscles can be permanently shortened or stretched when a slumped over position becomes your normal position. Muscles and ligaments that have been shortened or stretched no longer function as they should.

•Increase discomfort and pain - it can often cause headaches and pain in the shoulders, arms, hands and around the eyes resulting from a forward-head position. Rounded shoulders can trigger the headaches at the base of your skull where the shoulder muscles attach.

•Create pain in the jaw - a forward-head position can lead to jaw pain. This kind of pain (known as TMJ, temporomandibular joint disease) was once considered only a dental problem. Today we know that TMJ pain also may be caused or aggravated by faulty posture.

•Decrease lung capacity - reducing the amount of oxygen in your body can decrease the space in your chest cavity, restricting efficient functioning of your lungs.

•Cause low back pain - one of the most common consequences of bad posture. For people over 35, low back pain is often interpreted as a sure sign of age, although it may have been developing since childhood.

•Cause nerve interference - your spine is the basis of posture. If your posture is bad, your spine can be misaligned. Spinal misalignments may cause interference in nerve function.

•Affect proper bowel function - even this important bodily task may be affected by faulty posture. If you have a rounded shoulder, head-forward posture, it may affect your bowels. If your spine arches and sways forward, your intestines may sag and cause constipation.

•Make you look older than you are - when you are slumped over, or hunched over, not standing straight, you can add years to your appearance. For women, the more rounded the shoulders, the more breasts may sag. Any woman, no matter what her age, can help reduce the sag in her breasts by nearly 50% by simply standing tall.

Improving your posture

•When standing - hold your head high, chin firmly forward, shoulders back, chest out, and stomach tucked in to increase your balance. If you stand all day in a job like a cashier or clerk, rest one foot on a stool or take breaks to get off your feet for a while.

•When sitting - use a chair with firm low back support. Keep desk or table top elbow high, adjust the chair or use a footrest to keep pressure off the back of the legs, and keep your knees a little higher than your hips. Get up and stretch frequently--every hour if you sit for long periods of time. Do not sit on a fat wallet; it can cause hip imbalance!

•When working on a computer - take a one or two minute task break every 20 minutes when you work at a computer screen. Keep the screen 15 degrees below eye level. Place reference materials on a copy stand even with and close to the terminal.

•When sitting in the car - adjust the seat forward so your knees are higher than your hips. Put a small pillow or cushion in the small of your back.

•When sleeping - sleep on your side with your knees bent and head supported by a pillow, to make your head level with your spine. Or, sleep on your back, avoiding thick pillows under your head. Use a small pillow under your neck instead. Don't sleep on your stomach.

•When lifting - let your legs do the work in order to prevent injury to your low back. Stand close to the object, then where possible squat down and straddle it. Grasp the object, and slowly lift the load by straightening your legs as you stand up. Carry the object close to your body.

•When bending - never twist from the waist and bend forward at the same time. To lift or reach something on the floor, bend the knees while keeping the back straight.

•If you follow these practices, but still feel discomfort and pain related to specific activities, visit your Doctor of Chiropractic periodically for spinal checkups and for a postural evaluation for yourself and for your children.

Furthermore, and perhaps most significantly, human breast milk is full of DHA.  Scientific research clearly shows that children born to mothers who are deficient in EPA and DHA Omega-3 fatty acids have neurological development impairments. Don’t forget to take antioxidants with the Omega-3 fatty acid supplements such as molecularly distilled, cold-water, fish oils.

Scientific research also demonstrates that children born to women who supplement with omega 3 fish oil can avoid these problems.  In addition, children who supplement with EPA and DHA from fish oil like have been shown to have fewer allergies, less eczema, learn better, and be less likely to have ADD or ADHD.

The data from scientific research and clinical trials is indisputably clear.  Everyone needs to ensure that they have sufficient amounts of EPA and DHA from fish in their diets.  Sadly, eating fish is not a viable option because of the documented dangerous levels of pollutants and toxins.  Supplementing with a pollutant-free Omega-3 EPA/DHA fish oil is not only scientific, it is common sense when it comes to maintaining and/or restoring your health and preventing disease.

How safe is chiropractic treatment for young infants?

Heart rate changes in response to mild mechanical irritation of the high

cervical spinal cord region in infants

Forensic Science International

Volume 128, Issue 3, August 28, 2002, Pages 168-176

L. E. Koch, H. Koch, S. Graumann-Brunt, D. Stolle, J. M. Ramirez and K. S. Saternus

“In first world countries, sudden infant death (SID) is the most common cause of death during the first 12 months of postnatal life.” In this study, infants between 1 and 12 months of age were given upper neck chiropractic adjustments if they were thought to be at risk of sudden infant syndrome, by noting “asymmetries in the horizontal and sagittal plane of body posture and motion.” [Postural and segmental chiropractic subluxation complexes] Asymmetry in the atlanto-occipital-C2 region was determined by x-rays.“For the chiropractic therapy the infants were positioned on their back while thechiropractor was sitting perpendicular to the child's head. Great care was taken thatthe infant was comfortable before the impulse [adjustment] was administered. Theimpulse [adjustment] was applied to the side of the asymmetry.” “How safe is chiropractic treatment for young infants?” “The chiropractic therapy has proven to be a successful technique which can be used totreat disorders, especially cerebral disturbances of motor patterns of various etiology(wryneck, c-scoliosis, irritation of the plexus brachialis), sensomotoric disturbances ofintegration ability (retardation of sensation and coordination), as well as pain relatedentities such as cry-babies with ‘3-month colic’ or hyperactivity with sleeplessness.” “In older children disturbances of this kind are known as retardation of development in motor patterns as well as in sensory abilities.” The epidemiological prevalence of such disturbances is as high as17.8% of children. “Chiropractic treatment seems to be the most successful therapy which helps to treat such disorders.” “Therefore, chiropractic treatment and manual therapy have become increasingly popular over the past decade.” “We can report more that 20,000 children treated without serious complications.” “Thus, our findings are consistent with the possibility that a minor mechanical irritation of the cervical region may trigger the first step in the events that lead to SID.” “Children with a disturbed symmetry of the atlanto-occipital region could be of higher

risk for SID.”