There are so many benefits to having your kids visit the chiropractor. Before you even think it, let us address the elephant in the room: most kids hate going to doctor, whether it’s from the time they’re little and asked to strip down to their diaper for weight checks (hello, chills!), to any number of things when they’re older. So why would you voluntarily sign up for yet another doctor’s appointment for chiropractic care?!
We understand this! We go out of our way to ensure this is the exact opposite of your child’s experience with us. In fact, kids jump up on our table, and the only argument on the way to our office is who gets to go first. Moms regularly share that we are the only doctor their child is EXCITED to see. We believe children inherently know a good thing when they see (and feel) it!
Reconnecting Their Brain and Body
Why is this the case for our office? Children can sense the change in them following an adjustment. At every visit, our doctors’ goal is to restore communication between your child’s brain and their body. Picture it as though you are on the phone with a friend who is finally giving you her recipe for her delicious, homemade apple pie. Unfortunately, there’s a storm outside and service is spotty! “Hello . . . HELLO . . . did you say ‘cup and a half’ or ‘two and a half cups’ of flour? And the apples–I heard to peel them, but should I slice or dice? Pre-cook or add them to the pie shell raw? . . . Can you hear me??”
The frustration you both feel while trying to have that conversation is similar to the frustration your child may experience when they are out of alignment. The misalignment is called “subluxation,” or misaligned spinal bones causing pressure in the nervous system. This causes miscommunication from the brain to the body, causing frustration in the conversation between the brain and all of the cells, tissues, glands, and organs in the body!
If your little one has subluxation, it can lead to colic/reflux, constipation, lack of quality sleep, and delayed achievement of milestones, for example. That would be pretty frustrating for anyone. This irritation in the nerve tissues leads to outward frustration like tantrums and lack of verbal communication in children. As we gently and specifically adjust the spine to remove subluxation, the “storm” can pass and proper communication is restored.
What A Chiropractic Visit Looks Like
Being a pediatric and prenatal-focused office, our waiting area has toys and a play area. Our team loves when the littles walk or run through our door to welcome them with a big smile! The first two visits are typically the longest appointments. It is our mission to collect the most relevant clinical health findings to care for your family. This ensures you are in the right place.
At the first visit, we gather information about you and/or your child’s health history. Our team will give you a short introduction to what our goal as your chiropractor is: working towards a brain in better communication with your body. Then we see how your nervous system is functioning with our NASA-certified technology. These non-invasive scans give us invaluable information on the part of your nervous system you cannot feel. Unless you are pregnant or a child, we may choose to take spinal x-rays to see exactly how your spinal bones are positioned.
Now that we know all about you, the next visit is where we share information with you! We will share more about our type of chiropractic care to answer many questions before you even have to ask them. After you understand the basic foundation, we will go through your x-rays in detail. We will share our best recommendations for your chiropractic care to make sure we are on the same page for your family’s health goals. During these first two visits, moms will often bring books from our waiting room, snacks, and toys into the exam rooms to keep the littles entertained.
After those two initial visits, we get to the fun part! Your kiddos get to know our doctors, and our doctors get to know your kiddos. Most importantly, we calm those storms by adjusting those subluxations away! Our adjusting rooms have kid-friendly animal tables. We ask kids to jump up–many get to celebrate their strength as they climb up themselves! Then, they give the animal a big hug while our doctors get to work.
For newborns or infants, adjustments might happen on a pillow that supports and comforts them while on the table. Or, they can even happen with baby laying on mom or dad for quality snuggle time. After the kiddos have all of their storms cleared up, mom and dad are up next! The highlight of our team’s day is when they get to entertain your kids so you can relax and gain the same storm-calming benefits for yourself.
For more about WHY we do what we do and why families seek out our office or others like us, check out our mom’s guide to chiropractic care!
How to Choose a Pediatric Chiropractor
Our doctors utilize analysis methods that check in with each patient’s nervous system at every visit. Providing neurologically-focused care is what separates us from other chiropractors you’ve been to or maybe heard about. A chiropractor who is focused on the health of the patient’s nervous system is assessing more than the outward appearance of torticollis or pain indicators within the body showing imbalance. Imbalances are due to the underlying nerve tension (subluxation) in the body. Nervous system tension leads to those storms we talked about earlier. If we only treated pain, by only worrying about the outward imbalance that can be seen, we would be missing the big picture!
We are often asked to help find chiropractors for our patients’ out-of-state loved ones. First and foremost, the chiropractor should be able to use technology and tools to assess the individual’s nervous system. This gives objective information and clarity to the doctor and potential patient about their own body. Another qualification when looking for pediatric-focused chiropractors is to check for training with the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (ICPA), with a Webster training certification. Our doctors have taken courses through the ICPA to be able to provide your children with the best care. We would ask no less of those we recommend to others!
