One of the most inaccurate assumptions people make about chiropractic is that it is for any certain age or condition. The truth is that chiropractic care is useful and effective for people of ALL ages and stages of life, no one is too old or too young to get an adjustment.
Chiropractic care focuses on restoring and maintaining the health of the body’s nervous system. When there is interference in the nervous system, it can cause dysfunction in the body and all of its different moving parts. This dysfunction occurs when the spine is out of alignment, which puts pressure on the nervous system. This is called a “subluxation” or misalignment. These subluxations will not only affect the way the body functions, but can also cause pain due to pinched, irritated, and compressed nerves.
When the nervous system is functioning properly, it enables to body’s “innate” power, or natural healing power, to keep the body healthy. This is true for people of all ages, ranging from newborns to seniors. There is no age limit on health. Each age demographic has its own benefits seen from chiropractic, and I will discuss these benefits below.
Chiropractic Care During Pregnancy
Chiropractic care plays an exceptionally important role during pregnancy. Many people believe that they cannot get adjusted while they are pregnant, but it is actually beneficial to be adjusted all the way through pregnancy up until labor. When the body is adjusted, it balances the pelvis and lower back area so that the baby has the best chance of moving into the correct position for birth, and also gives the baby more room to grow inside the womb. This will vastly decrease the chance of the baby being born breech, and also reduces the possibility of a cesarian section. Not only that, but women who are adjusted have an easier, quicker labor overall. The International Chiropractic Pediatric Association concurs, recommending that women receive chiropractic throughout pregnancy to “establish balance and optimize the room a baby has for development throughout pregnancy.”
There are many other advantages to being adjusted while pregnant. Chiropractic can help manage symptoms of nausea, relieve pain, and maximize overall health during pregnancy. Childbirth can be a difficult and painful process, and chiropractic can help make that process run more smoothly.
Infants and Babies
As mentioned above, labor can be a strenuous process. It takes a tremendous amount of force to deliver a baby, and all the pulling and twisting involved are a recipe for subluxation in newborns. These subluxations cause interference in nerve signals, which can impair in infant’s health from their very first breath. These problems will persist and leave the baby with symptoms such as colic, constipation, fussiness, and gassiness. I recommend that an infant is examined early on to check for these misalignments so that these problems can be avoided/resolved.
Adjustments on babies are not like the adjustments performed on adults; they are incredibly gentle. It does not take a lot of force to manipulate a baby’s spine, so adjustments are painless, quick and non-invasive. Adjustments can also help with sleeping problems in infants and babies.
Youth and Toddlers
These age groups will encounter new situations and experiences constantly, and this makes them especially prone to falls and accidents. Toddlers will live through milestones such as learning to walk that will sometimes hold a risk of mild to severe injury, then after reaching all of their significant milestones, young children will use their newly found abilities to explore the world around them. As it happens, it is estimated that before the age of 7, a child will fall around 2,500 times.
Over the years as children get older, the activities they participate in will become more and more physically demanding to their growing bodies. Children begin playing outside with friends, playing sports, and playing on playground equipment, all of which are activities which could cause injury. When this does happen, chiropractic adjustments will help the recovery process go faster and teach children the importance of playing safely and taking care of themselves. Other conditions that chiropractic can help with include chronic bed wetting, asthma, allergies, chronic colds, ear infections, ADD, and constipation.
Tweens and Teens
Teenagers take on a lot of stress both physically and mentally. This age group spends all day, 5 days a week, walking around school with heavy backpacks and sitting slumped over a desk during class. Many of these teens also participate in sports that include vigorous training and practice schedules, and students that do not play sports will sometimes spend their evenings using electronic devices. All these things are harmful to a teen’s developing body that is already taking on extra stress during puberty, so subluxations are inevitable. Chiropractic care will help correct these subluxations and keep the growing body in its best condition.
Young and Middle-Aged Adults
As a teen turns into an adult, their schedule will become busier and life in general will become more hectic. Careers and families will begin to take priority which can sometimes cause people to neglect their own personal needs/health. Providing the body with proper nutrition, exercise, and sleep are essential to keeping it healthy throughout adulthood, and the results of these efforts will show later in life aging occurs.
There are many reasons an adult could be experiencing neck or back pain: stress, injury, chronic illness etc. Whatever the reason, chiropractic adjustments are a great treatment option to help with this pain. Chiropractic can also help adults who are experiencing other symptoms such as headaches or sciatica. Even when there is no pain present, adjustments are still beneficial as they keep the immune system boosted and the nervous system running smoothly.
Active Adults
Adjustments are an even better idea for adults who play sports or exercise regularly. Not only is maintenance care a helpful too, adjustments right before exercising are seen to be extremely beneficial. When the spine is manipulated, all the muscles around it are balanced and misalignments are corrected. This means that proper communication is restored between the central nervous system and the rest of the body, which means it can function and move better. Adjustments also relax muscles and increase flexibility, decreasing the chance of injury and making a workout more effective. If injury does occur, chiropractic treatment can help alleviate pain and expedite the recovery process.
Seniors
As we age, so do our bodies, and this is something that no one can avoid. However, aging does not have to mean reducing our way of life. Many senior citizens life with poor mobility and intense pain that are treated with prescription medications (or written off as untreatable.) This does not have to continue to become a reality for people as they grow older! Other treatment options are available that are non-invasive, pain free, and medication free, one of these examples being chiropractic care.
Due to their age, senior citizens are more prone to accidents and falls than other age groups. Adjustments can help realign the spine when these accidents happen and treat the pain that results from them in the meantime. If a senior patient is experiencing pain from a chronic condition, adjustments are a medication-free way to manage this pain without any unwanted side effects. In addition to pain management, chiropractic adjustments can also maximize the function of the nervous and immune systems to keep these patients healthier overall. When combined with proper diet and mild exercise, chiropractic can help keep the “golden years” feeling golden and allow a person to live life more comfortably as they get older.
It is never too late to start getting adjusted! No one is too young or old to benefit from chiropractic care, because each stage of life has its own obstacles and stressors that chiropractic can help with. Pain or no pain, consider trying maintenance chiropractic adjustments, you will be surprised by all of the ways it can truly improve your quality of life. Thanks for reading Dr. Joe