Southside Osteopathy
Osteopathy & Children
Osteopathy and Children
Osteopathy has been shown to be especially suitable for treating a wide range of health conditions in children and infants. Your osteopaths at Southside Osteopathy are highly trained in gentle, non-manipulative techniques that are very beneficial in optimising the health of children and babies.
Babies
Birth is a wonderful part of the cycle of life. However labour can sometimes be a very physical, and sometimes stressful, process on a baby’s body. The birthing process is even capable of becoming a baby’s very first ‘trauma’. At birth, much of a baby’s skeleton is more like cartilage, especially the plate-like bones that make up the skull. These bones are quite soft and malleable, and are designed to overlap and glide over each other, enabling them to sustain the forces of labour and allow the head to pass through the birth canal. However, this pliability may mean that they are susceptible to strain and ‘moulding’, which is often evident after birth in babies that have asymmetrical, flattened, or markedly pointed head shapes.
A degree of moulding is normal, and usually resolves within the first few days after birth along with the normal processes of adapting to breathing in air, crying and sucking. However, in some cases the moulding can be retained and will need attention. Left untreated, the bony plates may remain overlapped, pulled apart, or under excessive strain. This is turn can cause tension or pinching in the delicate membranes that cover the brain and nervous system. Overstrain of tissues and compression of joints in the head, neck and upper back may also occur as a result. This may affect the nerves which come from the base of the skull and help in body functions such as feeding, digestion and breathing, and may cause other imbalances in the rest of the body.
Such problems may be accentuated if the labour has been too long, too short, caesarean, breech, or traumatic such as births when instruments/forceps are used.
Signs to look out for that may indicate a need for an osteopathic check-up for your baby include:
- Irritability & difficulty sleeping
- Excessive crying or colic
- Reflux, wind or digestive issues
- Feeding difficulties such as attaching or sucking
- Difficult birth such as assisted delivery or caesarean.
- Obvious asymmetries in head shape, or bruising
Osteopaths are trained to detect strain patterns throughout the whole body. They use their highly developed sense of touch to assess the subtle movements of the baby’s skull and body, and use equally gentle techniques to release restrictions and to stimulate the babies own inherent healing mechanisms, aiding a return to health.
Children
Some of the conditions that occur in babies may persist or become apparent in the young child.
Some common problems in young children that osteopaths can help with include:
- Headaches
- Postural problems
- Sinus problems
- Recurrent chest infections and asthma
- Recurrent ear infections that may lead to some hearing problems
- Learning and behavioural difficulties
- ‘Growing Pains’
- Bedwetting
It can be beneficial for your child to have an osteopathic assessment if they have a fall, especially if they hit their head, or land on their spine or bottom. Children have an amazing ability to ‘bounce back’, however some trauma can be retained in the tissues and joints of the body that may not be immediately apparent, but which can go on to cause problems later on in life. Your osteopath will be able to find any restrictions that may be present, and then through treatment, they can prevent further problems from occurring.
Sporting injuries are also common in children, as are other adolescent conditions such as Osgood Schlatter’s and Scheuermann’s disease. Osteopathy can be of great benefit in such conditions as well as with recurrent problems such as ankle sprains.
Keeping an eye on your child’s posture is very important. Influences such as carrying heavy school bags and increased use of computers can cause postural problems that may become more difficult to address as your child gets older. Signs to look out for, which indicate an early problem with posture include asymmetry in the shoulders (one higher or more forward than the other), excessive slouching, curvature of the spine or turning in or out of the feet. Check your child’s shoes - do they wear out quickly on one side more than the other? This can also point towards postural imbalance.