Does Pediatric Chiropractic work? Yes, but not in the way that you might think. Sometimes people have a “pre-existing condition” of how they want Chiropractic to work. They base how Chiropractic should work by how medicine has worked for them in the past.
Chiropractic does not work how medicine works. The same could be said for medicine; it doesn’t work in the same way as Chiropractic.
Chiropractic works by focusing on subluxations. Medicine works by focusing on symptoms. Two “S” words with different meanings.
A subluxation objectively decreases how well you function. Symptoms are subjective indications of how well or how unwell you are functioning. Yes, Pediatric Chiropractors take care of children who are dealing with symptoms. But treating symptoms is not the goal.
Yes, children who have their subluxations corrected have their symptoms decrease or resolve while under care. But treating symptoms is still not the goal.
Chiropractic works by increasing functional outcomes, not by decreasing symptom presentations. Function outranks symptoms.
Health is based on function, not on symptoms alone. A subluxation is a disruption to proper function. Correcting a subluxation helps promote better function and health. In turn, health is the main objective. Pediatric Chiropractic works on the premise that the Nerve System functions better without disruption.
Pediatric Chiropractic works differently than Adult Chiropractic as well. As we know, both adults and children have spines, Nerve Systems, and can get vertebral subluxations. But how those three things interact in a child is different than an adult. This because a child’s spine works differently than an adult’s spine.
Quoting from the Pediatric Chiropractic Textbook: “In the skeletally adult spine, the structure primarily dictates function with regards to joint movement. For the developing pediatric spine, the functional demands drive the formation of bones and joint surfaces.”
In children, nerve function is the main driver in development.
Before the body can lay down any structure, it has to have the proper function at the start. Since our nerves control every movement we make, sense everything we feel, control and regulates every bodily function and relate us to the outside world; if we don’t have a proper functioning Nerve System from the start, our development can stumble.
Vertebral subluxations create fault-lines in the patterns of development. The earlier a subluxation can be corrected, the stronger the patterns of development can become.
The vision for Pediatric Chiropractic can be boiled down to this statement: "Chiropractic Today for a Better World Tomorrow." Who is the world of tomorrow? Our children. Improving the health of our children today will create a future of well-being.
Reaching for and obtaining this vision can be more than an idea if we are willing to work for it. To quote Sir Frederick G. Banting: “You must begin with an ideal and end with an ideal.”
What is Pediatric Chiropractic? For more information, please click here.
- Jarek Esarco, DC, CACCP
Jarek Esarco, DC, CACCP is a pediatric, family wellness and upper cervical specific Chiropractor. He is an active member of the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (ICPA). Dr. Jarek has postgraduate certification in Pediatric Chiropractic through the ICPA. Dr. Jarek also has postgraduate certification in the HIO Specific Brain Stem technique through The TIC Institute. Dr. Jarek is happily married to his wife Regina. They live in Youngstown, Ohio with their daughter Ruby.