You think chiropractic treatments and you think of somebody older or maybe an athlete but do you think of kids? You should, because that’s a kind of patient that Dr. O’Reilly sees frequently. Hi Dr. O’Reilly.
Should kids see a chiropractor?
Dr. O’Reilly I know you’ve had some experiences recently with your son Holden, where a chiropractic solution seemed the right way to go and I guess it gets you thinking, what are applications for children in pediatric chiropractic therapy?
Funny enough my wife, Karen, made a comment to me last week. She said, one of our good friends asked, “Does Sean see kids?” I was kind of embarrassed about that because I feel like I should do a better job of educating my patients, the public, that chiropractic is a fantastic option for children. And Holden, my son, I’m going to brag on him a little bit, unfortunately he’s had a little bit of a low back issue and Holden’s nine years old, he’s very, very active. And I’m so proud to tell everyone that he plays flag football, and basketball, and lacrosse and he’s gotten really into baseball. And he’s just constantly doing things outside.
I would encourage all parents to really promote a lot of that with their children and not just that they need to be playing a bunch of sports but they need to be outside. They need to be away from the TV. They need to be off devices, video games and so forth. Many of us as kids, that’s how we grew up, that was our playground outside. I see that the way things are trending with many of our youth of today, many of the kids is that they’re spending so much time on the sofa which can potentially lend to different types of conditions.
But Holden had a little bit of a low back injury that we’ve been working with. And I do see children, and like I’d mentioned I think chiropractic is a fantastic option for kids and some different types of conditions. I don’t really see a ton of infants and toddlers, there’s a few chiropractors here in the Tulsa metro region that really focus and specialize on infant and toddler chiropractic care. It’s just not something that I’ve gone on and done postgraduate training and it’s not I’m uncomfortable with, but it’s not my sweet spots, so to speak.
You pick up more like at the adolescent level and up.
Correct. Yeah. And it’s typical that a lot of my patients have children. Just like it happened with Karen and her friends, yes, he will see them. And it’s typically associated with some form of activity. Just like with Holden, they’re very active, they’re playing different sports, they’re moving, they’re jumping, they’re hopping, they’re skipping. And then sadly I’m starting to see more of these kids, like I spoke up, that are spending too much time inside. They’re doing too much sitting, they’re in front of a TV, in front of a device, in front of a video game. And so it’s kind of the two areas that I’m seeing. And man, it’s tough to see those kids, because it’s a very realistic and honest conversation that I want to have with those parents, is that it’s important as these kids develop physically. That’s part of that developmental process of just getting out and moving.
I’ve spoken in the past about early specialization in sports. I’m a big believer in as kids are developing physically, they need to be developing different motor patterns. And what that means is, they’re not just playing the same sport five times a week. They’re playing basketball and they might be playing hockey or golf or whatever the case may be, and each of these sports is promoting or developing an additional motor pattern, which ultimately is going to obviously keep them healthier. But someday, if they’re very serious about playing one of these sports, it’s going to make them a very well rounded type athlete. But with Holden, he had a general sprain strain type injury in his low back that just was hanging on. With baseball, it’s a rotational type sport, and I’ve found that with Holden with excessive hitting and batting cages, he was starting to develop a little bit of one sided low back.
I brought him in. I did a quick orthopedic evaluation. I determined that it was primarily a sprain strain type of an injury, and made the appropriate treatment recommendations. With him, we did a little bit of chiropractic care. I utilized manipulation to reduce stress and pressure on the joints. We used some of the high intensity laser treatments to reduce inflammation and spasm to the muscle group. We also did a little general EMS or muscle stimulation, very common physical therapy modality and some heat, to kind of promote that healing process and manage the pain. And then ultimately, and most importantly in my opinion, we started giving him some things to work on. I looked at his mechanics, how he’s doing some things, and then we gave him some things to work on on his own. Because with many children, Charlie, they’ve not developed pathology and what that means is they’ve not developed like a disc herniation or advanced degenerative changes or Fossette disease.
It’s typical of some form of a sprain strain type injury. Just many times it’s cumulative or some overuse. They’re doing the same things over and over again. Now that being said, I have seen some children in the past that have developed some significant injuries in their lumbar spine, and x-rays, MRI, CT, bone scans are very good tools to identify those types of conditions. And I’d say with a lot of kids, primarily a lot of gymnasts and dancers, ballerinas, girls that are very hyper mobile, cheerleaders have a lot of mobility. I’ve seen some stress fractures in the lumbar spine or the low back and that’s just one of those acute disorders that you create a little bit of a fracture in an area of the spine. Bracing is your typical form of treatment on something like that and rest and you shut them down. That’s not a good case for chiropractic care obviously. My job or my role in those types of cases is make sure that I evaluate the individual properly and make the appropriate recommendations.
And I think that is so key is that we’ve spoken about in the past, you got to have a diagnosis or figure out what we think we’re treating before you make these recommendations. And then more importantly, you’ve got to get them in front of individuals that specialize in those types of cases. And so that’s one of those types of things obviously, traumatic fracture, dislocation, I typically don’t see those things. You’re going to present to the ER or an urgent care or your orthopedist for those types of things. But generally speaking, we see a lot of just mechanical, low back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain, those types of things, sprain strains, types of injuries. And we’re well-equipped to not only manage the condition, but hopefully make some recommendations moving forward that can prevent reoccurrence to these types of things.
What you’re saying is, these injuries and these conditions you’re treating in pediatric cases, either come from lack of movement or too much movement.
Absolutely, and sadly it’s the latter that lot of us adults that we suffer from is just the sedentary lifestyle. And I hate to see these kids going down that track of just inactivity. They start to lose mobility. Most of these kids are in some form of gym class at school. They’re required to do different things at school. Then potentially there’s an injury that occurs. So I just really want a lot of these kids to focus on activity, keep moving, get outside.
Get your kids moving earlier, sooner and develop better habits for a better life. That’s what Dr. O’Reilly’s talking about, and you can learn more about all of the treatment options at Tulsa Spine and Rehab, by exploring the site. Sean, thanks for joining us.
You got to Charlie. Thanks for letting me speak about Holden a little bit there.
Podcast: Play in new window
