Appetizing picture, huh? I’ve been asked many times before, “How young is too young to get an adjustment?” Great question.
If we consider the fact that a baby’s skeleton at birth is still mostly cartilage, the birth process itself can be quite traumatic. In fact, it is the most physically traumatic experience that many people will ever experience.
Historically until about the last two hundred years most births were squatting births or water births. It makes sense that if you are trying to give birth that you would try and use gravity to your advantage. It wasn’t until the advent of modern medicine that women were made to lie on their backs and give birth…not as easy of a process. Without the aid of gravity, as in a squatting birth, the birthing process is much more difficult. It’s kind a of gross question, but you wouldn’t lie on your back to have a bowel movement, would you?
Enter forceps and suction. These medical techniques involve grabbing onto the baby’s head and pulling it out with either a forcep device like the one in the picture or a suction cup that is sucked up against the baby’s head and pulled out. Again, when we consider that the newborn spine is so delicate, it makes sense that bones can be pushed or twisted out of alignment fairly easily, causing subluxation in the spine and resulting nerve interference leading to many different types of ailments. Many babies end up with digestive issues, colic, respiratory problems, among many others due to subluxations from the birth process.
Even in natural births these subluxations can occur and are very common. This is why we often recommend having babies checked at a young age, as early as one day old for subluxations in the spine. I’ve adjusted many babies barely 2 weeks old in my office.
The adjustments that we perform on babies are obviously different than those on an adult spine. Usually light fingertip pressure or the aid of a safe and gentle instrument are sufficient. The great thing about treating babies is that their little bodies are so resilient. They respond very quickly and usually do not need as much work as us “old folks.”
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, right?