Spinal care for the whole family
Chiropractor and researcher Dr Angela Todd has spent the past six years studying and publishing papers on chiropractic care as it relates to children.
As part of Spinal HealthWeek 2017 (May 2228), she is raising the awareness of the effect of spinal dysfunction in children and adolescents and how this may be associated with longer term, or chronic pain in adulthood.
Dr Todd has drawn conclusions from her work over the past several years, based on various studies, but a 2013 study published in the journal of BMC Paediatrics, discussed how low back pain was common in children and adolescents and the authors of the paper reported that it was becoming a public health concern.
More recently in early 2017, a three year Danish study of more than 1000 children aged between eight and 15 years of age concluded that whilst most of the children had only one episode of back pain lasting for up to a week, at least one quarter of the whole group had pain lasting for more than four to five weeks, and up to four episodes a year.
The authors of this paper also discussed the potential health problems related to the use of pain killer medication in children with long term pain, and how other authors have also found an association between low back pain in adolescence and low back pain into adulthood.
Chiropractors are suitably placed to check the function of your child’s spine as they grow and develop throughout life.
Chiropractors undertake a five year university qualification and are registered health professionals who use a variety of age appropriate manual therapy treatments, give advice on exercise, nutrition and lifestyle changes, and where needed will refer you to other healthcare providers to assist with care.
Spinal Health Week serves as a reminder to us all, that it is not just our teeth we need to look after throughout our life, but our spine is equally as important.
Chiropractors throughout Gippsland are making themselves available to perform spinal screen examinations for your family, so call Todd Clinic in Warragul on 5623 5900 to book an appointment during Spinal Health Week (May 22-28).