Most people have seen a chiropractic adjustment performed on an adult, consisting of pops and cracks. An adjustment on a child often looks much different. Most pediatric adjustments have no more force than what it takes to bruise a peach. The adjustment also will not usually cause a popping sound. Infants and most children under the age of 3 do not need a physical force to be adjusted.

Why might a child need to get adjusted? The first and the most important reason is to make sure their nervous system is free and clear from any interference. A lot of times childbirth can be traumatic and cause various misalignments in the child’s body. For example, if the child was forcefully removed from the vaginal canal with forceps it can be very traumatic to the neck. It has been found that ear infections could possibly be correlated to this type of birth. This is why it is important to have a baby checked by a chiropractor as soon after birth as possible. There are various research articles and case studies mentioning how chiropractic can help with a variety of childhood issues such as colic, constipation, breast feeding, ADHD, sleeping through the night, developmental delays and much more.

There are many different chiropractic techniques with various research and case studies correlating to them. Some of the techniques include: ICPA, network spinal, craniosacral, Webster, and activator. All of these techniques are low force and some even use a handheld instrument. It can be helpful to check into what technique a chiropractor uses or find a pediatric specific chiropractor. Making sure a child’s nervous system is clear of interference gives them the best chance at growing up disease free!