Hey everyone, it’s Dr. Dalynes from Outbound Chiropractic! Today I wanted to talk to you about how chiropractic adjustments look for our pediatric patients with ear infections. In our office we have different types of adjustments, and today I’m going to tell you how we do them. We have two different methods that we use. The first one is done by using a device called an Activator. This Activator comes with different settings that we use very specifically depending on what we want to adjust for our kids. The other one is a sustained contact which is a very, very light touch that we use in our infants.
Adjustments In our office for infants and young children involve very light, fingertip pressure to correct spinal misalignments and this amount of force is about the same as the amount of pressure down you will place on an eyeball. This is usually just enough to restore mobility to spinal joints, which have become locked; therefore, causing interference to the normal nervous system function. First, we place them on a baby pillow, for their size, which has a hole in the middle which is very, very comfy for our infants. We then we look at the leg length of the baby. What we do next, is very specific. Let's just say that this baby has left side in the leg length making it look shorter than the right. This is gonna let us know that there is a misalignment in the upper cervical area, which is very close to our eustachian tubes. For this adjustment, we were going to use the fingertip. With my left hand, I hold the babies head in place, while the right hand fingers actually do the adjustment. This type is just the pressure that you will place on your own eyeball. And after that adjustment, we're going to recheck and everything will read normal.
When we use the Activator, it has different settings from one to four. For our babies, we use the most gentle setting, which is the first one. I will place my fingertip on the baby's Upper Cervical, place the Activator on my nail, and then I will do the adjustment. Sometimes these subluxations in the spine are often the result of birth trauma. When a child is born, they undergo a lot of stress in the spine. And this is very often the first misalignment that infants or babies face. So when the baby's born, all the turn to get the baby out is what is going to cause the first misalignment in the spine and Upper Cervical Area. And when these happen, it can cause stress on the nervous system and a blockage to the eustachian tubes. These tubes are very, very close to that first bone in the cervical that can cause unresolved and chronic ear infections, if not corrected. These chiropractic adjustment will make a popping sound when spinal joins are moved; however, this is not always heard when children's spines are adjusted.
Somebody asked if chiropractic adjustments are going to hurt their child. In general, chiropractic care for children is painless. Overall, most parents report that their children enjoy their spinal adjustments and that they look forward to their next visit. So that's why it's very very important to have your kid your babies checked by a chiropractor!
