As a dad with two healthy (and now adult) children, I can personally attest to the role that chiropractic care played in helping them survive the routine bumps, falls and sports injuries that are inevitable during childhood. As I tell my patients who are parents or grandparents, children have spines, too — and they are susceptible to the same spinal misalignments that can lead to health problems.
Here are some interesting statistics I found recently: A study involving 548 chiropractors from the U.S., Canada and Europe found that, on average, 21 percent of their time was spent caring for patients who were 18 years old or younger. And those visits were often related to two common childhood ailments: ear infections and asthma.
As I mentioned earlier, chiropractic has many benefits for children, including better immunity and fewer issues with neck and back pain later in life. But let’s take a look at these two specific maladies, and how chiropractic can help:
Ear infections
Research was conducted on 46 children aged five years or less who were presenting with symptoms that are common with ear infections, such as ear pain and fever. Each child received chiropractic care on a predetermined schedule, which consisted of three times a week for one week, two times a week the second week, then once a week thereafter, or until their symptoms improved. The findings: 93 percent of the ear issues initially reported improved after engaging in chiropractic care. Of these, 75 percent stated that the improvement occurred within the first 10 days of treatment, and 43 percent of these were actually within the first two visits. This suggests that chiropractic can help ease ear infections fairly quickly.
Asthma
A study published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics involved 36 test subjects between the ages of 6 and 17 who presented with asthma that was classified as being anywhere from mild to moderate in severity. Each participant engaged in 20 chiropractic sessions over the course of three months to determine what effect, if any, this particular healthcare remedy had on their asthmatic condition.
Upon the conclusion of the study, “the children rated their quality of life substantially higher and their asthma severity substantially lower.” Furthermore, these positive effects were still reported one year later. Although the researchers admitted that the results may not be due entirely to chiropractic care, it does suggest that this type of treatment is likely at least partially responsible for the favorable outcome.
Call our office today at 425-778-9600 to learn how chiropractic care can help your child.