Most 5 years olds don't walk into our office on their own. The most dramatic episode in my professional life was when one was carried in by his father.
I was working as an Associate in an established chiropractic office in Sandy Springs in the late 1980's.
On Saturdays I saw all the patients in the practice. I was getting ready to leave for the day when our receptionist told me that we had one more patient to see. There in the doorway was a man in his mid-30's clutching a young boy wheezing and gasping for breathe. I exclaimed to the father, "This boy belongs in the Emergency Room-not a chiropractic office!". The man replied, "We have tried that route before, but it doesn't work-please help my son!" I couldn't say no, so I had him place the boy on the chiropractic table. I palpated his spine and found several vertebra associated with the nerve supply to the lungs misaligned. I carefully placed my hands in the proper position and performed a swift thrust. The vertebra popped in to place. The boy immediately began breathing rhythmically and regularly with no sign of respiratory distress. He fell asleep in his father's arms, and together they left the clinic for their home.
The clinical experience of most chiropractic doctors will show that children tend to respond to chiropractic treatment for internal disorders. This is because their nervous system is more sensitive than adults, and subluxations of their spines will more commonly result in nerve disruption to internal organs, rather than trigger pain.
By the time a child has reached the age of 5 they have grown 500% or more since birth. They have learned to crawl, sit up, stand, climb, walk and run. Along the way they have had an opportunity to accumulate spills, falls and upsets that can result in subluxations of the spine.
The subluxations may cause nerve interference-even in the absence of pain.
44% of patients surveyed at our practice felt that it would be OK to bring a child to a chiropractor after the age of 5.
What do you think?
