Many people ask "Why would a child need to be checked by a Chiropractor? Surely they don't have a back problem..."

Most children who come to Hands on Health Chiropractic do not come in with back pain, like a lot of the adults. They come in for all sorts of reasons, but back pain is not that common in children. They may still have dysfunction in the back - just not the pain. In fact most children come in because they are actually healthy, and their parents want to maintain this health and correct problems before they become a bigger issue.

Children need to be assessed by a Chiropractor simply because they were born. Unfortunately birth has become a highly medicalised and stressful situation for a lot of babies (and mothers) which can be the start of many problems, like difficulty breastfeeding, irritability, difficulty sleeping and reflux. 

Because a Chiropractor is assessing the nervous system, and the body's structure and function, they can often find lots of problems that doctors are not looking for. Doctors look for the pathologies, the serious diseases or obvious structural problems. Chiropractors look for the subtle imbalances that can cause 'sub-clinical' problems before they are recognised by medical doctors. These are the frustrating problems for parents who are sure there is a problem but tests can't find anything bad enough to be a medical issue. Or they do find a problem but parents would prefer a natural approach to health care rather than starting the often cascading medication cycles.

For older children (and babies as well) primitive reflexes are a great indicator of how well your child's nervous system is operating. Primitive reflexes are survival reflexes we are born with, which are integrated as our brain develops and we learn better survival techniques. If these reflexes are retained, and not integrated appropriately, this can affect your child's growth and mental development. The reflexes are integrated in a particular order as the reflexes are no longer desirable.
 
An example: Moro reflex - A baby should react to a loud noise, or a bright light or rough touch for its survival. By about 3 months of age the brain integrates this reflex as higher levels of the brain are developed. If this reflex is not integrated the child will be overly reactive to bright lights, loud noises etc, and become hyper-excited (always 'switched on'), aggitated, hyper-active, easily distracted or impulsive. If this reflex does not integrate it is difficult for other reflexes to integrate because they happen in a particular order. So say now that the ATNR reflex, another primitive reflex, is not integrated either. Retention of this reflex can appear as poor handwriting, difficulty copying from the blackboard, poor hand-eye co-ordination and so on... sound familiar? 

This is a list of some of the more common problems that have been improved during Chiropractic care at Hands on Health:
- difficulty breastfeeding
- not sleeping well or irritability
- indigestion
- not reaching developmental milestones
- difficulty concentrating in class
- colds and flu
- problems crawling
- respiratory conditions
- sports injuries
- locked neck (torticollis)
- plagiocephaly (wonky head)
- behavioural problems