It’s that time of year again school is back in action.School being back also means those heavy back packs get pulled out again. Desk work begins. Tablets and computers get used more and more and children’s spines can starts to suffer.
All of these things may be impacting your child’s health and spine more than you think. I haven’t even started on playground and sports injuries yet.
We often hear parents say to their children in the office “oh you are too young for this” when in reality there is nothing further from the truth.
I love seeing kids and helping them grow healthy spines and function at their best. Getting adjusted not only helps with discomfort and posture but overall brain body connection. Which I think is pretty important when your meant to be learning and growing.
Reasons we recommend your school aged child should have their spine checked.
1. Back packs – Imagine lugging around a bag that in some cases is 1/3 of your body weight for even half an hour a day. Let alone between classes and after school as well. This added weight can alter children’s posture causing them to lean forward and putting stress on their backs. 5 days a week this adds up. Although your child’s spine is quite good at adapting to this stress and they may not be in any pain this doesn’t mean that it is not affecting their spinal and overall health. Just imagine how tight and tired their backs must be at the end of year 13.
2. Desk work – First of all the desks in schools are rarely the right size for children to be sitting at and there is a lot forward posture while sitting at the desk as well. Sitting in a forward stance can cause the chest muscles to become overactive making it very hard for the postural muscles at the back to actually do their job. This leaves some children stooped forward and when trying to correct their posture it can become painful .
3. Tablets and books – Anterior head carriage can cause so many issues, headaches being one of them. As our heads move forward the little muscles at the back of the skull try to pull it back , leaving these and other neck muscles tight. Tight muscles can then refer pain into the head.
4. Playground and sport injuries and falls. Kids are fearless which is fantastic for their confidence and learning new things. Falls, tackles, rollie pollies and many other play time activities sure can knock the spine around.
One of these things on it’s own may not be the reason for too much concern but when we combine them all and add up the years children’s bodies are exposed to these stresses then you can see how it may become an issue.
Getting a chiropractic tune up takes off the stress that the body is put under and wipes the slate clean, leaving your kids moving, functioning and growing better. Just because they are not in any pain doesn’t mean they could be functioning a whole lot better.
It’s better to grow healthy kids then fix broken adults after all.
Dr Nicole