Chiropractic for children?

[Crafty_Dog]

My eleven year old son has been having some alignment issues with his hips, which naturally has manifested in some aches and pains in his feet and a shoulder.  I am comfortable with the idea of chiropractic, but my wife/his mom is leery.

Any thoughts/input/citations?

[G M]

Did he suffer some trauma? What's the origin of the misalignment?

[Crafty_Dog]

No trauma.

He had similar issues a few months ago and I took him to my chiro of over 20 years whom I trust and responded very well to the treatment she gave him.  However the alignment issues are back and after a few weeks of hesitation I took him yesterday.  Again he has responded well, but I don't like the idea of an 11 year old boy regularly needing chiropractic.

[G M]

What did your chiro say?

[Crafty_Dog]

She says not to worry because she's doing it gently and we are doing it only infrequently.

[G M]

Did she say why he is suffering the misalignment? Have you consulted with his pediatrician about this?

[G M]

http://children.webmd.com/news/20100203/heavy-backpacks-strain-kids-spines

Heavy Backpacks Strain Kids' Spines
Study Shows Book-Filled Backpacks May Lead to Back Pain in Children

**Snip**

Heavier backpack loads were also associated with increased curvature of the lower spine. Half of the children had a significant spinal curve even with the 18-pound backpack. Most of the children had to adjust their posture to adapt to the heaviest, 26-pound backpack load.

The amount of back pain reported by the children also increased as backpack load increased. At the heaviest load, the average pain score was nearly 5 out of 10 for the children.

Researchers say the results show heavy backpacks cause compression of the spinal discs and increased spinal curvature that are related to the back pain reported by children.

In the study, children wore the backpacks with the straps over both shoulders, but researchers say the spinal curvature could be even worse if the backpack were carried over one shoulder as many children do.

[DougMacG]

My daughter has gone through this.

In a slightly different context, 5rings wrote: "he who treats the site of pain is lost".

Under that philosophy or similar, I did not approve of a doc treating the consequences of what was happening before we attacked the likely causes.

My suspicion was exactly what GM posted, the over-weighted backpack.  Add to that study habits that include lying sideways and contorted on a bed or on the floor leaning unsupported against something - for hours.  Not exactly on ergonomic design.  Never using the chair and drafting table I measured, built, adjusted to fit her.

A lot of it goes back to the textbook racket.  There is no reason these kids couldn't be just carrying the pages or chapter they need for each class or just access it all online, instead of carrying 6-8 full textbooks everyday, every where they go.  Second idea would be something with wheels pulled like a flight attendant's carry on bag.  There was no way she was going to be first to change book carrying habits.

As an aside, same was true with hockey gear.  People think hockey is dangerous but I like to joke that 80% of the injuries really come just from lugging the gear in and out of the arena.  Athletes too proud to use wheels.  A couple of years ago I started noticing all the new expensive hockey bags have wheels.

[5RingsFitness]

couple things,
just my tidbits
I see a chiro now and then, usually picking up my wife from work
seriously, have not had to get treated in a long time due to intelligent programming and the amount of time I spend on mobility work, 9 out of 10 times I can sort any issues that do arise with some z health drills and off I go, the one time I cannot, I load up on anti-inflammatory and wait a day doing targeted mobility (zhealth) and its almost always sorted

I can recommend a coach near you if you like

also

check out what Dr Ed Thomas has going, there is a lot here that will ring true to you folks that have grown up and also to the members of the pack that now have pups of their own

http://www.ihpra.org/rama.htm  a treatise by Dr Thomas on physical culture and education, its shorter than it looks

http://www.ihpra.org/schoolfurniture.htm on school furniture and its deleterious effects

source link is in the newsletters http://www.ihpra.org/newsletter2.htm and newsletters home http://www.ihpra.org/whats_new.htm

there is enough info in there to start a revolution re physical culture and physical education

Dr Thomas is an amazing resource, and he gives this stuff away like its candy on halloween

I will be seeing him this coming weekend at this http://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=877688

awesome!
and cheap

enjoy the reading lol
it was a rabbit hole I fell into and found myself amongst friends