Why we work with children

By Matthew Lapp, MS, D, Columnist, The Times

Sometimes when people visit our office and see our wall of children’s pictures they ask why a child would go to a chiropractor.  The answer is simple.  In most cases we see children not because there is something wrong with them, but because we believe that there is something right with them! Each of us embodies an incredibly wise and wonderfully innate ability to thrive, and children are no exception. And as wellness-based Chiropractors, we work with the body’s central nervous system, which organizes, coordinates and helps facilitate the body’s ability to continually adapt to both internal and external circumstances.

My wife began seeing a chiropractor at the age of six as a result of an injury to her neck, incurred after tumbling off of the family couch.  However, that is not the reason that she became a chiropractor or continues to receive care decades later. In fact, the reason we both chose to become chiropractors is because of the experiences we had in our chiropractors’ offices as children. We recognized, innately, that something incredible was happening inside of us each time we got adjusted.  Aside from simply feeling better, we were better able to appreciate the incredible healing power within each of us.

Recognizing and facilitating this innate wisdom and the body’s power to heal is important, especially when you consider all of the stresses that children face today. Research has shown that stress in a child’s world ranges from their experience in the womb to their actual delivery, the food they eat, the chemicals and toxins they are exposed to in our environment, the emotional turmoil of growing up, the lack (or excess) of physical activities, time management between those activities, parents under stress, and the social and personal pressures of having or being enough. Many of these stresses are no different from generation to generation, however, today they are magnified and are often thought of as a “normal” part of childhood.

Some people think of children as “mini-adults,” but in reality that couldn’t be further from the truth.  Children are growing and developing at a tremendous rate and actively trying to integrate their inner and outer worlds.  That’s challenging enough, without the added stresses listed above, thus, each stress that they experience is exponentially multiplied.

A child under Network Care has the advantage of both connecting to, and releasing the tension patterns that the body has created and stored in order to handle these stresses.  Network Care not only allows each child to experience greater connection, but also greater consciousness and new strategies to thrive in the face of life’s challenges. We are so grateful when we get to work with children because we know that their bodies will be in a greater state of harmony and ease and that they have a greater likelihood of being joyous and well.   The truth is that this is our goal when working with anyone!

In reality, it’s not just children who possess this ability to heal and thrive in the face of life’s adversities.  We all have this ability, but many of us have lost touch with it or allow age to become a linear and physical restriction.  It’s contrary to popular culture to trust the miraculous capabilities that our physical bodies are born with.  Instead, we’re often encouraged to numb the pain, cut it out, or stay on a path that is leading us to fight against the dis-ease that the body has created as a warning sign for us to pay attention to.  If instead, we did as children do and expressed our feelings authentically, focused inward from time to time, and paid attention to the cues of our innate wisdom, we’d all experience greater health, vitality, and joy.

Drs. Allison and Matthew Lapp are the owners of Salus Chiropractic Studio in Thorndale. For more information, visit him on the web at http://www.thorndalechiropractor.com/