WAG Chiropractor for gymnasts? Thoughts?

[meganliz77]

Given the physical rigors of the sport of gymnastics, wondering about the use of chiropractic care for our gymnasts?

Let me start by saying, I was very anti-chiropractor up until the last year or so. Basically, I thought it was a bunch of hocus pocus, and an unnecessary cost. I think those beliefs were mostly due to fear of the unknown. I ended up utilizing a chiro last year after prolonged headaches and issues with my hip. Not sure that it worked, but it felt good....

My hubby utilizes a chiro fairly regularly and has for years.

My 7 yr old gymmie, suffers from headaches about 2-3 times per month. It doesn't seem to be exacerbated by gym, but I have to wonder if the way she contorts her body is a factor. I usually just have her drink a bunch of water and rest when they come on.

Anyhow, I'm most interested in people's thoughts about utilizing a chiropractor on an ongoing basis for gymnasts... Is there a problem with that? Could it cause issues? Just curious, I guess since I'm still a bit of skeptic....

 

[profmom]

Caveat: I am a big believer in the double blind model for determining the efficacy and safety of treatments. Many who support alternative medicine have major issues with this approach as a means of determining the value of treatments. But with that said,

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2794701/ A somewhat dated study that reviews studies on chiropractic treatment of pediatric patients and suggests that they are not of significant benefit.

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/pediatric-chiropractic-care-scientifically-indefensible/ A harder-edged blog post that cites studies raising concerns about chiropractic treatments for pediatric patients.

A few years ago, there was a go-round in the journal Pediatrics about possible adverse outcomes; defenders of chiropractors claimed that studies finding adverse effects had not sufficiently disaggregated practitioner types and interventions.

I do know people who've used chiropractic care and swear by it, and I don't at all dismiss their experience. I would say, however, that if you are going to go this route, find a well established and well recommended practitioner who is very experienced in working with children. Gymnasts' spines are already in for more than their fair share of abuse, so you don't want anyone mucking around there ignorantly -- the long-term stakes are just too high. I'd also recommend not allowing a lot of X rays. Some chiropractors do a lot of imaging, and you have to figure that gymnasts in it for the long term will probably already be in for more than their fair share.

Have you discussed the headaches with your daughter's pediatrician?

 

[bookworm]

my girls have gone to the chiro for years (10+) and love it...they've tried massages as well but felt the chiro gets them feeling better and for longer...

 

[meganliz77]

I do know people who've used chiropractic care and swear by it, and I don't at all dismiss their experience. I would say, however, that if you are going to go this route, find a well established and well recommended practitioner who is very experienced in working with children. Gymnasts' spines are already in for more than their fair share of abuse, so you don't want anyone mucking around there ignorantly -- the long-term stakes are just too high. I'd also recommend not allowing a lot of X rays. Some chiropractors do a lot of imaging, and you have to figure that gymnasts in it for the long term will probably already be in for more than their fair share.

Have you discussed the headaches with your daughter's pediatrician?[/QUOTE]

Wow Profmom... What a response and food for thought!!! Thank you!!

This comment above is exactly where my concern lies. The idea of someone messing around with such important structures of the body make me nervous. I will say that this post was truly rooted in curiosity of chiro care particularly with gymnasts... I didn't know if it was common practice/care or not. I'm definitely naive as gymnastics is completely new to us (1 yr).

I have talked with her pediatrician about it a bit last year, and she is due for a well child checkup as she just turned 7. She didn't seem too concerned. But I think 2-3 a month are enough to be concerned about.

 

[fuzi]

I have little to say on the chiropractor issue. I've only used one once, after a car accident, and she used a very gentle technique that seemed to offer some relief. Mostly though, I saw her so that she could order massages and the car insurance would pay for it.

Whenever I hear a growing child complaining of headaches, my gut reaction is to ask if they've had their eyes checked recently? More than once, one of my gymnasts' headache issues ended up to be a need for glasses.

 

[bogwoppit]

I would choose to avoid chiropractic care for anything involving the neck and spine. I have not read any evidence that suggests the benefits outweigh the risks.

 

[Justmehere]

I swear by chiropractic care. I don't know about other chiropractors but mine is genuinely concerned about making sure my body stays aligned and that no parts of me hurt or are aching and if they are what he can do to fix it.

 

[SuperGirlmlm]

I go to the chiro twice a week for my back It's a pain to have to go, but it really helps and it worth it considering my back pain probably will never completely go away.

 

[jessmomto2]

I would say get her eyes checked too. This is the first thing my dd's ped. had us do when she started getting headaches. It turned out to be migraines with her and not her vision but vision is a common cause.

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

I'm a big believer in chiropractic care, when it comes to aches and muscle pains (pulled anythings etc) that's the first place we go. Our chiro doesn't do un-necessary X-rays (in fact have never done a single one of my kids). There are things I will take my kids to their regular doctor for, and things I take them (or myself) straight to the chiro for. Our chiro is really good at figuring out what the issue is and great at giving us tools to help heal it at home.

 

[Amusibus]

In 99+% of cases where a child sees a chiropractor, they should be all better in a handful of visits, i.e., 2 to 5 or 6, perhaps excluding motor vehicle injuries which can take longer. Children do not get musculoskeletal pain nearly as often as adults, and when they do, they bounce back quickly with chiropractic care. It should be a red flag that you are seeing the wrong kind of chiropractor if he or she tells you your healthy, pain-free child needs to continue coming in on a regular basis.

 

[3rd_time_around]

Chiropractors are terrific, especially for children and yes gymnasts. My dd rolled both ankles, and they swelled up like balloons. After getting X-rays at the Ortho and determining there were no broken bones, i took her to the chiropractor where she adjusted her feet (those 8 ankle bones get out of place causing pain and putting them back in place begins the healing process) and it was like magic--the swelling literally disappeared. She didn't need a boot on either foot. After taking some time off of training and going back for 2 more adjustments she was so much better.

She goes about once a month to put things back in proper alignment. Think about a car--when is out of alignment it doesn't work properly. Tires wear unevenly, brakes wear out quicker, it can shimmy or shake, make strange noises, etc. What do you do? you go get your car realigned and then it works properly again.

Our spines are our lifelines. Every nerve and body function is connected to the spine. When the spine is out of alignment, we have pain, sickness, stiffness, etc. Realigning the spine puts our bodies back into prime working condition. Gymnasts fall a lot. Even a small fall can knock your vertebrae out of its proper spaces and pinch nerves, etc. The chiro puts the vertebrae back where it belongs.

Chiropractors go to school longer that Medical Doctors. I don't remember the exact amount of time, but it is significant. They are very knowledgeable about bones, nerves, body systems, and how they all work together. Most today don't use the "rack and crack" method of adjustments, they use gentle methods and tools and get better results.

I take my 4 year old and have since birth. She has always had a vertebrae out of place between her shoulder blades. The chiro has been taking care of her to get her spine normal without surgery or a brace, and it's working. She is also a gymnast, and she is a preschooler and falls often. I have taken all of my kids to the chiro from birth. And my gymnast daughter used to just lie on her stomach and cry and not turn her head side to side as a baby. One trip to the chiro and she could lay on her stomach and turn her head and lift it up. The trauma of birth messes up a baby's spine as well.

Any studies conducted by medical doctors or groups led by medical doctors will always discredit chiropractors, so you have to take them with a grain of salt. They will be biased, because chiropractors cause MDs to lose money and patients. They will not recommend them. They are very beneficial to children, even babies, and especially gymnasts. I could go on and on with all the times my dd fell at gym or landed funny and had a lot of pain and could hardly do anything, and after a visit to the chiropractor she was back in the gym the next day or even the same day.

One more, my middle daughter is a competitive cheerleader. She smacked her head hard against her teammate during a skill. We thought she had a concussion. So did the MD (we didn't have a CT scan or X-rays, so going by symptoms). She missed 3 days of school and had a headache for days. It didn't occur to me it could be her neck. I took her to the chiropractor and she had whip lash! The chiropractor adjusted her and massaged her and did some ultrasound therapy and my dd's headache went away and she felt sooo much better..."Normal" is how she put it. And her spine was back where it belonged.
Our chiropractor also doesn't take X-rays. If they feel that they are necessary for a diagnosis, they won't treat them until they get one to rule out breaks, etc. I know this is long, but I get so tired of hearing that chiropractic care has no benefits. I've seen my dd barely able to walk or move or have a severe headache and leave the DC's office walking, moving, and pain-free.

 

[littlegirlsdream]

I would recommend no neck adjustment. I know they tell you it's rare but, I have 2 young friends who have had strokes after neck adjustments as a consequence of torn arteries. Both were rushed to the hospital immediately from chiropractic offices and both survived however, they do have life time deficits due to it. I absolutely would never have my child's neck manually adjusted (or mine).

 

[Faolmor]

Bones are held in place by ligaments and muscles...it should follow that, in most cases, just manipulating the bones without also providing correction or support to the affected muscles would have little benefit, as the bones will just be pulled out of place again. Or so I was told by a physiotherapist once! A good physio is also working on bone alignment, albeit indirectly, because they are helping to correct and support healthy muscle and ligaments. I'd personally go to a physio over a chiro.

I've also heard good things about bowen therapy, which also works on muscle groups, and indirectly affects bone alignment.

 

[3rd_time_around]

I have seen and experienced too many great things from chiropractic care to ever not recommend it. My neck is my problem and without the chiropractor I would probably be on heavy narcotics to control my migraines (that are directly from my neck getting out of place as the result 0f an injury from when I was 4, that should have been treated then and I wouldn't be suffering now) and possibly be in a wheelchair by now. Plus the two cases of whiplash I've had as an adult, I recovered from more quickly due to my chiropractor's care. And as I stated in my quite lengthy post above, I take my babies, toddlers, kids, teens... I don't think my gymnast could have made it to level 1o without our chiropractor.

 

[Aero]

A few years ago I was having some pain in my lower back and couldn't figure out why. It wasn't anything severe, but it was annoying and wasn't going away. My grandparents suggested I try some chiropractic sessions and they recommended me to their chiro who they've been going to for years. He's a very knowledgeable guy and very friendly (he's basically a family friend because my grandparents have been clients for so long), but he told me everything straight and never beat around the bush. During my first visit he had me explain my pain and he immediately took an x-ray of the area. He put it up on the light board and showed me the issue: I had a subluxation of one of my lumbar vertebra. He explained very clearly to me that the most he could do was give me the occasional adjustment for temporary relief, and that if I wanted to fix the problem I had to strengthen my core muscles more, mainly my abdominals. He explained that it was a muscle imbalance between my back muscles and abdominals, and that the particular vertebra wasn't being properly supported during impacts and landings and during the execution of some skills (I practice parkour and tricking). Lo and behold, after doing some stomach vacuums for my transversus abdominus and some other various exercises for my rectus abdominus and obliques, my lower back pain went away and hasn't come back since. I only got about six adjustments until I was strong enough to not need them anymore. He knew exactly what was wrong and helped me fix the issue. Because of this, my experience with chiropractic care was very positive, albeit pretty brief. From what I understand, chiropractic adjustments usually provide only temporary relief, and I can attest to this because the pain would flare up again about 4 days after each adjustment until it started receding due to my strengthening exercises. I hope my anecdote here was enough to give you some insight!

 

[BlairBob]

At one gym I was at, 6 or so years ago, the Head Coach had made it a point to find a local chiropractor he could bring in that he could trust. He eventually came to our gym after the HC found that he had done some really good work on his ankle that had been plaguing him for 20 years or so.

So he generally came in on Friday nights and would do short sessions with any kids that signed up for it. I actually went to his office once. No X-rays though he had a helluva time adjusting me as he was an older gentleman and my shoulders and hips were pretty messed up. He said I was going to be his work in progress compared to the kids. Most of the time I never had time on Friday nights to get worked on because of how many kids we had.

I do not remember if he did any neck manipulations as I have heard these can be real dangerous.

OTOH, my buddy and teacher is actually a Chiropractor and Dr of Neurology, Chinese medicine, etc. He has a fairly long resume in Dallas. In anycase, he often will work on some of us if we ask him so we can either train or if we need an adjustment after training.

He did some good work on my wrist, elbow, and shoulder and confirmed that I really done a magnificent job of screwing them all up from a missed Clean in January that sprained my wrist and probably did some joint damage. He also loves to give me crap about my CrossFit ways and connections (he says they are great for business down there).

So do the work and vet your chiropractor. It's just like any other profession, some are crummy and some are good.

I would be VERY cautious about spinal manipulations but I've never had to take X-rays. Either chiro could tell what was not working by diagnosing what was wrong in the joint by touch and manipulating the joint and examining the ROM or lack thereof.


Osteopathy, a similar practice is pretty common in Japan. Osteopathy, PT, Chiro, all tend to border each other.

Heck, even a massage can do some good and set things to working right. And there are different branches of Chiro that now employ non aggressive techniques to get things working besides ART and a zillion different disciplines even in Chiro.

 

[BlairBob]

Yeah, both Chiros told me if it took them longer than 3 sessions to get me working to go find someone else. You can do a monthly as a check up but any major issues should be solved within a few sessions.

None of this go weekly to pad their wallets BS.

 

[meganliz77]

Thanks for all the feedback! Given my overall hesitation, I don't think I'll be running to a chiro any time real soon with DD and will definitely continue to research benefits and risk. I thought asking all of you for anecdotal info would be worthwhile as I sort through this, particularly given gymnastics is still pretty new to our family and recognizing the mass amount of knowledge of this sport with those on this site.

As far as the eyes, she had them checked within the last six months and they are fine. The headaches may have nothing to do with the way she contorts her body with this crazy sport, or, well it could be I guess. As a parent, it was something I considered as a potential cause. It could be as simple as her not drinking enough water on that particular day... Something I will need to track better.

I appreciate everyone's feedback!!! It's been very helpful!

 

[Amusibus]

1. Chiropractic education is not longer than that of other types of physicians. Most chiropractic programs are now 4 year post-university graduate degree programs. That is, an undergraduate degree at a 4 year university is required as a pre-requisite to entry, then chiropractic school is an additional 4 years. Most medical programs then move on to residency etc, whereas chiropractors typically begin working and any additional education is up to the individual chiropractor (ie specialties in neurology, rehabilitation, etc). Chiropractors in most states are required to complete continuing education credits each year to maintain liscensure.

2. Chiropractors use many other techniques besides just adjustments. If adjustments alone are used, this will not be very effective for the majority of patients. It will also necessitate frequent return visits as it places the burden of healing on the doctor not the patient. Ideally many approaches are used at once that will address not only joints but also muscles, nerves, and spinal stability. Used in this way, chiropractic care is extremely effective for musculoskeletal pain.

3. While many MDs are reluctant to refer to chiropractors either because of bias or fear or losing patients as someone mentioned above, more and more MDs are now referring patients to chiropractors and working cooperatively with them. This is not at all uncommon.

4. Of course it is always a personal choice whether or not your want your neck adjusted. The incidence of vertebral artery dissection/stroke associated with cervical spine manipulation is estimated to be about 1 in every 500,000 adjustments at the most. There are plenty of other ways chiropractors can use to treat neck pain and headaches besides "cracking" if you are uncomfortable with that.

4. Bones don't really go out of place. That's just an old-fashioned way some chiropractors use to explain to patients about what they do. It is more of a loss of normal movement of a joint in certain planes, that is restored with adjustments. The noise you hear is due to nitrogen in the joint fluid suddenly coming out of solution and forming a tiny bubble as the joint is moved. It reabsorbs shortly.

5. I think that's all actually. My personal experience with chiropractors has generally been very positive. I will tell you one little anecdote. My first two pregnancies, I didn't get adjusted that often. Only maybe 3 times over the 9 months. My pelvis is always a little off because of a club foot causing a 1 inch leg length discrepancy. Those 2 births were long and horrible. Back labor, etc (shiver). Third pregnancy I got treated more regularly. Once a week for the third trimester. As I began to go into labor, I stopped at my chiropractor on the way to the hospital. That birth was 2.5 hours labor, easy, pain never reached 10/10. I did not need an epidural, and the baby was out in 1 push. It was so easy and beautiful as I feel birth ought to be, as compared to the 20 hour drug-laden horror flick the first two were. So.... I am sold!