Remember When…

Something I often hear when I ask patients if they have any previous accidents or injuries, are stories about their childhood. Stories of going flying off bicycles, of falling out of trees or of careening down the ski hill out of control. Despite the fact these events have occurred 20, 30, 40+ years ago, most people have very specific memories of the incident and the residual effects. Often they tell me about how they suffered for a few days or weeks untreated, and eventually the pain dissipated. However, the next part of the story always starts with; “but I was never the same again”.

How incredible is it that decades can go by and we are still able to pinpoint the exact event the damage started. We know what the cause was and all too often I will hear that people just learned how to deal with the discomfort. As children, we have self-taught that some form of discomfort is not only normal, but commonplace. But it’s not. Pain should not be dismissed, particularly after a trauma.

Kids are incredibly resilient. They rebound from incidents quicker and more efficiently than adults; that’s just a fact. However, how they heal isn’t magic. They don’t simply transition back into their original state like a stretched elastic band. Kids heal incredibly quickly, but not always in the right way.

After a car accident, a sports injury, or even a bad spill down the stairs, there are residual issues that can persist both short term and long term. To make sure that these issues don’t become lasting problems, it’s a very good idea to get checked by a health professional. A chiropractor can help assess and diagnose any spinal or biomechanical dysfunctions that could have occurred due to the trauma. Getting your kids or yourself checked is very important to prevent a simple injury from turning into a chronic condition.