THE GROWING PAINS OF CHILDHOOD

Most children easily shrug off the rough and tumble of daily life. As life progresses, however there are many incidents which can lead to niggling discomfort, poor concentratin, and ability to sit still, and also more specific problems such as back or neck pain, migraines or headaches.
These childhood problems can be as the result of a difficult birth, the numerous bumps, falls and tumbles that are an inevitable part of childhood, poor posture, carrying heavy bags to and from school or sitting at ill fitting furniture, or spending long periods of time sitting slouched in front of a TV, computer or any other screen.

BIRTH- A HARD INTRODUCTION TO LIFE
Birth is probably one of the toughest events we undergo as humans. A baby's body has to squeeze throught the small birth canal to be born. In doing so the baby's head in particular will absorb much of the shock, and the soft bones will yield slightly allowing it to travel down the birth canal. This is called "moulding" and it is important that the mother's pelvis is aligned prior to giving birth, so that this moulding process is uniform.After birth the baby's head will gradually revert to a more normal shape, however if this "unmoulding" process does not take place completely, the baby can be left in some discomfort which they communicate by constantly crying

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Most babies cope extremely well with the process and emerge contented, happy, able to feed, sleep and grow normally. However for some, recovery can take longer, especially those who had a particularly difficult entry into the world. Babies that are induced, require forceps or are delivered by Caesarean section, where the head does not have a chance to go through the moulding process, may not be the happy contented baby of the adverts.

      
Research has been done on Chiropractic care and babies and can be found on the "Research" page.

Misalignments could be causing discomfort, and many parents report that whatever they do, whether they lift their baby up or lie him down, it seems to make no difference, and the crying continues. Feeding problems may indicate that there is interfernce with nerves to the base of the skull and that the digestive system is compromised, or more simply, the baby may be uncomfortable sucking due to mechanical stresses on its skeletal structure.

Joy has treated a baby with "flat head syndrome" (plagiocephaly) with remarkable results. She worked in close liason with the team in Glasgow which fit the Starband TM helmets, which help with the treatment of this condition.

OLDER CHILDREN
The simple bumps and tumbles associated with growing up can often cause misalignments of the skeleton. In addition, carrying heavy bags, playing sports, sitting on ill-fitting furniture at school and playing for hours in front of a compter in the wrong position can all lead to problems such as

Headaches or Migraines
Back and Neck Pain

There is also a range of problems which cannot necessarily be associated with a fall or a bump, but which may nonetheless be due to a bony misalignment and the subsequent interference with nerves. There are many recorded incidences where treatment has been beneficial (see research for published case studies)

Read the national newspaper article which explains the changes brought, not only to the child, but the effect on the whole family, once the young boy had received McTimoney Chiropractic treatment, by clicking on the link at:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/main.jhtml?xml=/health/2005/05/26/hchiro26.xml

 Contact Joy 01292 287827   Email appointments@joyofchiropractic.co.uk