The normal birthing process places a tremendous amount of stress on the neck.  If the baby’s head presents in any other than a posterior occiput position (the baby’s face is down), this can cause added stress.  Any intervention such as vacuum or forceps causes additional trauma to the head and neck.  Cesarean section is also considered to be traumatic birth when considering the effects on the spine.  Many obstetricians traction the head during a normal birth, using between 40 and 70 pounds of pressure, in order to birth the shoulder.  This often causes damage to the cervical spine (neck) and the nerves that exit off the spine.

Even if your child came through the birth process without subluxations, they can be acquired afterwards.  A baby’s neck muscles are weak and are unable to support the head.  Infant car seats may be designed to protect a baby in the event of a crash, but they lack support of the neck.  Whenever you stop and accelerate the car their heads go forward and backward as well as side to side, which can cause vertebrae to subluxate.

Throughout the first year, a baby’s spine will grow 50%.  Regular chiropractic checkups ensure that your child’s spine is growing properly.  During the first year, they also develop the secondary curves of the spine in the neck and low back.  If these curves fail to develop, there is a greater chance that they will develop a scoliosis, or curvature of the spine.

Towards the end of the first year they will be learning how to walk and will fall an extraordinary amount of times.  If you fell that often, do you think that your spine would feel the effects of the trauma?

As kids get older, they get even more active with more potential for physical trauma, if they play sports that potential increases.  Making sure that their spines are subluxation free means that your children can endure more physical stress with a lesser risk of injury.

Physical trauma is the most obvious reason kids need their spines checked out regularly, but emotional and toxic stress can also cause subluxations in kids.  Many times children have accidents and parents may believe that they are fine because there is no external evidence of damage.  Spinal subluxations sometimes don’t signal an obvious symptom.  The earlier children’s spines are checked, the earlier problems can be detected, preventing health problems from occurring and becoming serious.  We recommend that all children be checked regularly for nerve interference, even without symptoms present.  Prevention is the best medicine.

Just as it is recommended that children get regular medical and dental checkups, it is important for kids to have their spines checked from birth onward.  The only professional qualified to do this is a chiropractor.  More and more, educated parents are choosing to take their children to chiropractors regularly, because they see that their children are healthier and happier!