I think most parents would agree that the pressure on our children nowadays is quite different to what we experienced in our own school years. The demands of coursework, homework, P.E and extracurricular activities can put a lot of strain on a body that is still growing and developing.
One of the main things I’ve learnt whilst working in a specialist Children’s Osteopathic Centre in London, is that children and adolescents are not simply small adults. Although teenagers can be emotionally mature beyond their years, physically, their hormonal, muscular and skeletal systems are still developing. One of the things we try to do as Osteopaths is to balance the forces on the growing skeleton in the hope that when they reach adulthood, their bodies are in the optimum condition.
Recently I’ve worked with a teenager whose sporting schedule amounted to 20-25 hours of training and matches a week, on top their normal academic work. This required an impressive amount of dedication and we used this passion to achieve our goal. My approach with children and adolescents is for treatment intervention to be minimal but to educate and give advice, in this case we produced a personalised stretching routine, and encouraged sufficient rest time to aid recovery.
This approach allows them to take charge of their own health and hopefully they get to appreciate taking care of their body at an early age. I feel this is important as I meet many adults who wish they’d looked after themselves better when they were younger.
If you and your children would like to find out more about how osteopathy can help, we offer free consultations
Posted 04-05-18