It is not uncommon for a parent new to chiropractic to have questions about what an adjustment will be like for their child. In my fifteen years in practice, I have had many parents stepping foot into a chiropractor’s office for the first time, not for themselves, but for their child. “My pediatrician says I can try this but just don’t let them touch his neck.”, says the parent who brings their infant to me because his neck is so stiff that he can’t turn at all in one direction and is visually tight and uncomfortable. Obviously, that’s exactly where I’m going.
I think it is always helpful to describe what the adjustment is like for a child and walk a concerned parent through the process.
In my office, which is no different than the thousands of family practices across the world, siblings argue about who gets to go first on the table for their checkup. New parents comment repeatedly how relaxed their infant is during and after an adjustment. Because the adjustment involves a single finger, gentle, light, and sustained contact, it is very common that newborns and infants sleep through their entire adjustment. In the case of the little one with a stiff neck, no position is every forced. We work with the movement and motion to gently change the tight patterns, allowing the baby’s spine to relax and be flexible again.
One thing you will never see in my office, and I can confidently say in any family chiropractic practice, is the parent holding down a crying child for their adjustment, while telling them, “This will be over soon and then I will take you to McDonald’s!”
The reason we all flock to reviews these days is because we want to know first hand about someone’s experience.
Getting the experience from a hyped up media story or from a provider who has never brought their child to a chiropractor just doesn’t make sense and prevents a child who desperately needs care from receiving it. It’s like asking how a recipe will turn out from someone who has never made it themselves. How do they know?
Lastly, the satisfaction and safety studies on chiropractic care are enviable.
Chiropractors enjoy one of the highest safety and satisfaction rates and one of the lowest malpractice rates compared to all other providers of children (and adults). The numbers speak for themselves.
