| |
(by Peter Fysh,
DC)
Four years ago when I was invited to write this regular pediatric
column for "DC," I was asked to supply it with a
title. Without hesitation I chose "Kids Need Chiropractic
Too!" To me it makes a statement about a most important
task facing the chiropractic profession: educating the general
public, and especially our patients, about why spinal check-ups
are so important for children.
The need for such education was highlighted for me some years
ago by one of my patients, and I have never forgotten his
rather pointed message. It seems that this patient, let's
call him John, had been sitting in the clinic reception area
waiting to see me for his regular chiropractic check-up and
happened to see a family with children going into one of the
treatment rooms. When it came time for me to see John, I arrived
in the treatment room with the traditional Aussie greeting,
"G'day," to which John replied, "Hey Doc, I
want to ask you something. I saw some kids come in here before;
don't tell me you treat kids in this clinic too!" I replied,
"Of course we do, kids need chiropractic care just as
much as adults do."
John's statement had a concerned yet inquiring tone, and
the question he asked really floored me: "What could
kids possibly have wrong with them, that they would need to
see a chiropractor?" How could one of my patients not
know that kids need chiropractic too? The truth of the matter
was that in my busy practice, I had not regularly taken the
time to educate my patients about the need to bring their
children in for regular spinal check-ups. On recollection,
most of the children that I was seeing had just seemed to
arrive, without any concerted effort or influence on my part.
John's question had all of a sudden made me feel rather badly.
I was letting the kids down by not getting the message out
to parents that chiropractic was for kids too. How many more
of my patients had children who had not had their spines checked,
I wondered.
It wasn't as if I did not know the benefits that chiropractic
had to offer for children. After all, I had three little "ankle-biters"
of my own whose health problems had responded dramatically
to chiropractic care. Jacqueline's growing pains, Patrick's
asthma, and Rebecca's tonsillitis had all rapidly responded
to care by our first chiropractor, a fine mentor whose work
inspired me to attend chiropractic college. Now here I was
letting the team down. After John's challenge, I decided from
that day onward not to let the kids miss out any longer.
Thereafter, I would consistently ask my patients as they
were leaving the treatment room after their adjustments, "How
long is it since your children have had an adjustment?"
Now most of the time, I already knew the answer to this question.
"Adjustment?" they would say, "Our kids have
never had an adjustment!" Well, that was all the encouragement
I needed to launch straight into a mini lecture on chiropractic
care for kids. "You don't mean to tell me that you have
never had their spine checked? Do you take them to the dentist?",
I would ask. "Well, of course, we don't want their teeth
to drop out," the parents would reply. "Then how
about bringing them into the clinic so that I can check to
see if they have any spinal subluxations, which may be producing
early spinal problems?", I would suggest. Usually these
patients got the message right away.
My practical education in chiropractic pediatrics has been
significantly influenced by the parents of the children that
I have treated. From my experience, kids who have regular
chiropractic care really just don't get sick very often, and
if they do it is usually only a minor problem. Parents frequently
tell me that since their children have been having regular
chiropractic care, they keep significantly better health and
don't lose nearly as much time off school. As chiropractic
doctors, we hear this type of response from parents all the
time. We know the great results that we get with kids, but
we are usually too busy to stop and educate even our patients,
let alone the public about what we have to offer. This must
all change, if we want to continue bringing the benefits of
chiropractic to the kids of the world. It is only by letting
the public know that we really do have something to offer
for kids, that pediatric chiropractic care will be accepted
as an important part of a child's health care program, just
as necessary as the dental check-up and sometimes a way to
dramatically improve a child's health.
What better time to focus our clinic efforts more on children's
health care than in our Centennial year!
Peter Fysh, DC
San Jose, California
|
about us