Chiropractic Care for Children and Adolescents -Part 2
Chiropractic care balances the central nervous system by manually adjusting bones and muscles that may be growing improperly or have been damaged by injury. Given that your child is going to be growing well through adolescence, we don’t think there is a good reason not to consider consulting a chiropractor about your child’s development.
The first in this three-part series took a look at chiropractic care for young children. This article discusses the benefits of chiropractic care for adolescents and teens who are playing sports and growing like weeds.
Teen Injury
Have you ever met a teenager who has any sense of their own physical vulnerability? Most don’t. They believe they are unbreakable. When a teen who is still growing misjudges their strength, the height of a jump, or the hit they are about to take on the football field, the damage sustained can be hard to treat. And if it isn’t addressed, it can become worse as muscle and bone continue to grow. Early and frequent chiropractic care of these types of injuries will help ensure growth continues normally.
Typically teenagers only admit their limitations when there is a great deal of pain involved. Chiropractic care is a great alternative to pumping your teenager full of pain medication. By addressing the overall structure of and stage of your child’s physical development, a chiropractor can often provide much more lasting pain relief, enabling your teen to get back to their regular routine more quickly.
Movement Dysfunction
Teens involved in sports often develop muscle memory and habits that put them out of balance. This imbalance causes other muscles in the body to compensate. This can lead to chronic pain that isn’t easily identifiable. Where a traditional pediatrician, even one specializing in sports injury, may not be able to identify the root cause of such nonspecific pain, that’s what chiropractors do every day. Because your chiropractor knows what dysfunction looks like, and which muscles are compensating, they know exactly where and how to treat the pain.
If your teen has been injured or is experiencing unidentified pain of any kind, make an appointment to come in and see me. I can help.
