About half of all children will suffer from low-back pain
at some point, with nearly 15% experiencing frequent or ongoing
pain. In North America, the primary providers of spinal manipulation
are chiropractors. More studies are now being done to evaluate
the role
of chiropractic in treating back pain in minors.
In a study appearing in the Journal of Manipulative and
Physiological Therapeutics, 15 randomly chosen Canadian
chiropractors provided data on their pediatric patients between
the ages of 4 to 18 and suffering from lower back pain. Information
was gathered on treatment type and outcome of care, based
on patient-rated pain scales. Characteristics of the children
with back pain included:
- The average age of sufferers was 13 years old.
- Nearly 60 percent were male.
- Half attributed pain onset to trauma (usually sports-related).
- One in four reported pain of over three months duration.
The most common diagnosis was a "subluxation," appearing
in half of these children. Patients were almost universally
treated with spinal adjustments, with few requiring other
forms of therapy. After six weeks of treatment, major improvement
(defined as "much improved" or "resolved") was seen in nearly
90% of patients, based on one of the pain scales, and there
were no reported complications in any of the patients.
In children, as in adults, chiropractic treatment is extremely
effective for back pain, regardless of the cause or characteristics.
Your doctor of chiropractic can provide more information about
treating childhood back pain.
Reference:
Hayden JA, Mior SA, Verhoef MJ. Evaluation of chiropractic
management of pediatric patients with low back pain: A prospective
cohort study. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological
Therapeutics 2003:26(1), pp. 1-8.
For more information about pediatric health, check out www.chiroweb.com/find/tellmeabout/childhood.html.
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