You likely already know about the importance of chiropractic for adults at a variety of stages in their lives, particularly as they transition from middle age into their senior years. Proper chiropractic maintenance care can help protect the entire musculoskeletal system as it ages, slowing down the progression of joint pain and stiffness, as well as osteoarthritis. Furthermore, if you are at all athletic, you probably also appreciate the benefits that ongoing chiropractic care can offer in terms of keeping you in the game. With proper chiropractic adjustments, you can recover faster after sports injuries, and protect yourself against re-injury and future injuries.

However, you may not realize the benefits that chiropractic may have for teens. One of the main concerns that Dr. Nathen Horst hears in regard to chiropractic care for teens is that adjustments may not be safe because the musculoskeletal system is undergoing tremendous changes due to the growth spurt that all adolescents undergo. In fact, proper chiropractic care during the musculoskeletal changes associated with adolescence will help guide proper joint, tendon, and ligament development to prevent serious problems later in life.

Posture Improvement

You may remember being told to stand up straight, stop slouching, and stop hunching over your desk. If you don’t have good posture habits in adolescence, any misalignments in your spine will only become worse as an adult. The end result could be chronic back pain that becomes more difficult to treat later in life. This is why Dr. Horst strongly encourages ongoing chiropractic care for teens, along with ongoing reminders for them to improve their posture.

Heavy Loads

Today’s teens carry around stacks of books, binders, and possibly a laptop, all of which must fit into a backpack. Hauling the backpack around all day can put a tremendous load on the neck, shoulders, and back. If they also tote around a gym bag, that will add even more pressure.

Spinal adjustments can help put the vertebrae back into proper alignment, which will relieve pressure on the neck and shoulders as a result of having to bear the weight of overly heavy backpacks. If you want to help your teen maintain proper alignment in the spine between chiropractic adjustments, a good rule of thumb to follow is that the combined weight of the various bags a teen carries around on a typical school day should not exceed 10 percent of his or her body weight.

Be a Good Sport

Odds are good that if your teen plays some type of sport, they’ve sustained an injury at some point. In most cases, it will seem to be relatively minor. The coach will often advise your child to just “walk it off,” and the injury may appear to resolve itself with a few days rest and application of ice or heat and over-the-counter pain medication.

Unfortunately, there may be cumulative damage over time, the results of which may not show up for decades. Ten or even 20 years down the line, that nagging shoulder or knee pain might be the result of numerous re-injuries that were never properly treated during the teen years.

Fortunately, regular chiropractic adjustments will protect their growing bones and joints from the sometimes rough and tumble action of sports, as well as help them heal faster if they do get injured. Proper chiropractic care now will also save your teen from nagging musculoskeletal injuries later on in adulthood.

Adolescence is a time of tremendous growth and change, both emotionally and physically. Regular chiropractic adjustments as part of a wellness lifestyle can help your teen cope with those physical changes with a minimal amount of stress and pain.