Testing for Proper Balance and Posture is Very Important for Growing Children!
Whether there is indeed a posture crisis among children in our population today is a point of debate. However, with youngsters spending many hours behind computers or in front of television sets, not to mention lugging around backpacks of many shapes and varying sizes, the possibility of misplaced posture seems greater than in decades past.
Many chiropractors pay a great deal of attention to proper posture, pedal (foot) balance and structural development in their practices with children. Proper alignment in youth can prevent a great deal of problems that can occur in later life when the fundamentals have been ignored at an early age.
Basically, here are 4 primary stages of development a child goes through and can be observed in terms of pedal development: 1) By 6 months, a child exhibits bowed legs and feet point outward, 2) By age 2, the child is walking and the lower extremities seem to straighten out, 3) By around age 3, when skeletal growth accelerates, knock-knees and in-toeing may appear, 4) Around age 6 or 7, growth rate stabilizes and a healthy alignment of feet and legs should be seen.
According to Mark Charrette, DC, a recognized authority on extremity adjusting, biomechanics (the function of the body and its parts) and spinal adjusting techniques, it is in the fourth stage when an exam should take place. This is the phase of musculoskeletal development when a check should be done for pedal stability and integrity, Dr. Charrette advises.
Untrained parents will find it difficult to recognize pedal imbalances that could be causing problems with their children as there is often no indication of difficulties occurring. This can easily happen as foot imbalance is usually not a painful condition. Thus, it is very important to have the check performed by a trained chiropractor. The fact that this problem can lead to subluxation issues (partial dislocations) in the future makes testing doubly important.
Here is what a chiropractor will look for, according to Dr. Charrette: “A simple visual exam will indicate the need for further testing for pedal imbalance in children. Watch the gait for signs of foot flare and toeing out. If the child is wearing everyday shoes, check the heels for signs of excessive lateral wear, another sign of imbalance. When the patient is standing barefoot, look for three other important clues to pedal instability: low medial (toward the center of the body) arches, Achilles tendon bowing and patellar (kneecap) displacement.”