Keeping Kids Healthy with Chiropractic Care

Now is the time to teach your child how to deal effectively to these demands. By instilling healthy lifelong habits, you will make great strides in decreasing the chances of developmental issues occurring in their growing bodies. Dr Vollrath can also provide beneficial advice to help their young bodies function at their peak level.

During their formative, growing years, children will encounter many physical stresses. Problems with a child's spine can occur at almost any stage in their growth development. At regular visits, Dr Vollrath can identify any potential spinal dysfunction by ensuring their bones, muscles, joints and nerves are working together correctly, ultimately reducing any the stress placed on ligaments.

Frequent carrying of backpacks can place unnecessary stress on growing spines. These risks include poor posture, distortion of the spinal column, muscle strain, headaches, neck and arm pain, and even nerve damage. 

Some helpful tips:

• Pick a bag that has adjustable wide padded shoulder straps along with hip or waist strap, a padded back piece and plenty of pockets.

• Select a backpack made of a lightweight material, such as vinyl or canvas.

• The maximum weight of the pack should not exceed 15% of the child's body weight.

• Always use both shoulder straps 

• By using the waist strap, the strain put on the child's back is reduced and transfers some of the load to their hips.

Issues like text neck become real developmental threats as kids are spending more and more time using devices. Chronic use of these devices often results in poor posture along with many of other associated risks such as headaches; neck and shoulder pain; upper and lower back pain; and sore hands/fingers/forearms.

Some helpful tips:

• Impose limits on the number of hours your child sits with their device(s).

• Ensure your child is getting up and engaging in regular physical activity.

• If your child must look down at their device, encourage them to tuck their chin into their neck instead of hanging their head forward.

• When required to sit, always encourage your child to sit up straight with chest out and shoulders back.

• To strengthen their posture, make sure your kids stretch their hand, shoulder and neck muscles.

An overindulgence in sedentary behaviour often produces entirely avoidable health risks, such as neck/shoulder/ back pain, and tension headaches. Additionally, a slouching posture may affect your child's level of confidence. 

Some helpful tips:

• Make sure your child is reaching the recommended daily limit for physical activity of at least 60 minutes of daily exercise. 

• Make sure kids do not sit for more than 45 minutes getting up to stand or and stretch.

• Make a visible reminder such as a bracelet or tying a colourful string around your child's wrist to remember to change position, get up and move around.

Dr Vollrath is a spine and musculoskeletal system expert trained to assess, diagnosis and treat spinal health. He is proficient at treating all age groups, including children. Book a consultation with Dr Vollrath at Core Chiropractic today.