When parents ask why their children need chiropractic, it's best to start at the beginning.

The first visible structure in a growing embryo is the notochord, which becomes the brain and spinal chord. Next, the beginning of the spine grows around this structure to protect it. All the body's organs grow off of extensions from these first structures.

Certainly, there is significance in the order in which the body develops. The central nervous system develops to be the primary controlling organ for all bodily functions including healing.

Children may have many physical stresses to overcome in their short lives:

*** Birth trauma. Difficult labors -- forceps and vacuum extraction births, c-section births, etc., can all have traumatic impacts on a newborn, especially in the upper neck and cranium.

*** Infancy, Close to 50% of infants experience a significant fall in the first year of life from a bed, crib or infant dressing table Toddler How many times does a toddler fall learning to walk?

*** Childhood. Accidents, playground bumps and falls, sports injuries, large book bags, etc.

The human body is wonderfully designed to heal and release many traumas, but when there is no healing or release, there is a spinal subluxation -- a dysfunction between the spine and the nervous system, which creates interference in the normal nerve transmission between the brain and body.

Then, we not only have a subluxation at the point of injury, but elsewhere in the spine as the rest of the body compensates for that asymmetry. This sets up an abnormal pattern that the body will continue to grow into.

When our cars get new tires, they're re-aligned so that they wear evenly over time. The human body also needs alignment -- and the earlier in life, the better.

A basic law of engineering states that any change in structure causes a change in function.

As the spinal structures change in response to stress and trauma, the functioning of those tissues must be affected. It takes 10mm hg of pressure on a nerve to change the frequency of signal transmission through that nerve. In other words, it takes about the weight of a dime to significantly change the functioning of a nerve and, therefore, the functioning of whatever that nerve controls whether a muscle, an organ, or the immune system.

It's true, normally children don't have back pain. The human body is an amazing thing, allowing us to function for 10, 20, or even 30 years before we exhibit pain related to spinal subluxation, yet that doesn't mean we're not affected.

By keeping a child's spine free of subluxations, his or her body will function at a higher level. Although chiropractic is not meant to be a treatment for any specific health condition, by reducing spinal stress children with many different conditions have been helped. Research has shown children with colic, ear infections, asthma, learning disabilities have improved with chiropractic care.

Increasingly, parents are seeking out alternatives to drugs for their children's ailments as well as for wellness care. Chiropractic is a safe and effective alternative when a child has ear, respiratory or digestive health issues. In addition, a child's spine should be checked if his or her health or behavior is impacted by a fall or injury.

Children have their hearts, lungs, eyes and teeth checked. The health of the central nervous system and the spine are critically important to overall health. So, parents should have their child's spine checked as well as their own.