Kids Chiropractor
Safe and soothing treatment tailored to your child
Reputable and experienced paediatric chiropractor with child-friendly room
Active listening and observation to understand your child
Safe, gentle, soothing techniques tailored to kids of different ages
Are you worried about your child’s development?
Would you like to correct your child’s poor posture, sleep, or other concern before it gets worse?
Chiropractic for kids, also known as paediatric chiropractic, is a safe and gentle therapy for children.
Children are treated in a different way from adults - you wouldn’t give your newborn the same medicine and dosage as you would take yourself would you?
Well, we’ll treat your child according to their age and complaint. Always making sure we explain what we are doing, why we are doing it, and even demonstrating what we’ll do on you, before we touch your child.
It’s hard enough to see your child in pain. That’s why we do all we can to make sure you understand what’s going on - and feel comfortable with your child’s treatment.
You see, we’ll only ever treat your child with the thumbs up from you.
Why see a kids chiropractor?
You know your child best.
If you still can’t get your child to sleep, they’ve taken a big fall in the playground, or you’re worried about their development, it may resolve itself. Or it may need more attention.
As a parent, you know when something doesn’t feel right.
So, when you’ve decided to try out a chiropractor that enjoys regularly treating kids, get an assessment from a practitioner you know and trust - or one who has been recommended.
Many parents in Australia and around the world bring their children to paediatric chiropractors when they need help with:
Slouching or poor posture
Poor coordination
Poor sleep due to pain
Abnormal ‘W’ seated position
Slow to reach developmental milestones
Sports injuries
Knee and hip pain
Flat feet and knocked knees
Playground rough and tumble, injuries, pains & check-ups
Sleeping in weird and wonderful positions
Falls from strollers, down the stairs or off the swings
If chiropractic treatment is suitable for your child, it may help your child enjoy a pain-free childhood. So they can focus on being a kid - playing, having fun, and learning.
Is chiropractic really safe for kids
Oh - what a controversial topic!
Yes, chiropractic for children is safe when you visit a reputable, qualified paediatric chiropractor. You can expect your paediatric chiropractor to treat your child safely and gently.
After we run through your child’s detailed history and assessment - and we decide whether chiropractic care may help your child, we’ll let you know what specific techniques we’ll use.
You may be relieved and surprised to know there’s no ‘cracking’ involved. The techniques used for an adult, a 16 year-old, and a 16 month-old are all different.
Your child is unique and we’ll take a special approach.
We’ll use techniques suited to your child’s complaint and age, such as:
Cranial therapy
Gentle holds
Massage
Stretches
Supplements and basic nutritional counseling
Low-force, non-cracking adjustments (using an activator, blocks or a drop-piece table)
Manual adjustments (only for mature bodies after thorough discussion with you and your child)
Home exercises or games to play to strengthen the core and encourage brain development
Lifestyle advice such as:
sleep positions
pillows & mattresses
Is chiropractic treatment suitable for babies?
Yes. Babies have fragile spines and bodies as well as a developing brain & nervous system. This is why they need extra gentle chiropractic care.
We understand you prefer the most natural, gentle approach possible to help you baby feel better. You want your bub to be comfortable and grow well.
Will treatment hurt my baby?
When you bring your baby to see us, we’ll free up restricted joints. So you can expect a lot of sleeping.
The pressure placed on the joints is no more than you would use on your own eyeball - it’s so light and comforting, parents often comment: ‘Is that it?’. To reassure you, we’ll show you what we’ll do - and the pressure we’ll use - before we treat your child.
Why do parents bring babies for chiropractic treatments?
As a parent, you know how traumatic the birthing process was on your baby. It’s especially stressful on their developing bones and joints.
Your baby may need to be nursed 3 times a night to go back to sleep. Or maybe your little one has trouble latching on during feeding. These situations can be tiring, frustrating, and worrying for you.
You may have seen a GP, your maternal health nurse, or other specialists. But nothing has worked so far.
Be assured, other parents are going through the same frustrations. That’s why they decide to give chiropractic a go for:
Feeding issues due to jaw or neck restrictions
Sleeping difficulties due to pain
Low muscle tone (hypotonia or floppy baby)
General check-up of their neurological maturity (primitive reflexes)
Crawling, rolling over or movement difficulties
Flatness over one side of the head (plagiocephaly)
Poor head control
Does treatment involve cracking or crunching?
No.
When you think of a chiropractor, you may imagine the ‘cracking’ (we use the term ‘adjustment’) that happens in adult chiropractic sessions. What you may not realise is that adults can be safely adjusted in a way that’s not suitable for children.
Kids need to be treated gently - and always safely - to suit their age and complaint.
Will my child get side effects after seeing a chiropractor?
It’s possible. Around 1 in 100 children get irritable after a treatment - and this usually lasts less than 24 hours.
If you have an older child that has had manual adjustments done, they may pull up a little tender. Just like the tenderness you may feel after a massage - or when your kids play netball or footy after the off-season.
This usually goes away within a few days.
What can I expect for my child’s first session?
We are here to help you and your child. So we’ll explain everything we do in a way that’s easy for you to understand.
At the first session we’ll:
Chat about your child’s complaint and development
Do assessments with your child
During this session, the paediatric chiropractor aims to answer 5 questions:
Why are you worried?
Does the complaint have anything to do with the way your child moves, eats, sleeps, or other daily activity?
Is your child’s brain maturing and developing as expected for their age?
Does your child have tight muscles or are joints restricted which may affect the way they move and develop?
Is chiropractic suitable for your child?
We want to find out more about your child so we can decide if we can help - and if so - how we can help.
Our chat with you - and assessments on your child will help us answer these 5 questions:
What are assessments?
These are not as formal or as scary as they sound. Think of assessments as us simply asking your child to do something - and we take note of what they do, and how they do it.
This could involve asking your child to catch a ball, jump, sit at a desk, or look in a certain direction (if your child can easily understand instructions).
We’ll assess any of the following areas:
Postural assessment: including standing, seated at their desk and sleeping
Movement pattern assessment: including running, jumping, squatting and playing
Primitive reflexes (automatic reflexes) and neurological maturity assessment
Sensory patterns assessment (how your child reacts to the info they receive from their senses)
Sensory and motor integration patterns assessment
Joints and muscles assessment
From this initial assessment, we may arrange a brain scan, also known as ‘Functional Brain Scans - Quantitative Electroencephalograms (QEEG)’.
About brain scans
A brain scan gives us a map of how your child’s brain works. It analyses the electrical activity in your child’s brain and highlights patterns.
When you see this map - and we explain what it means - you’ll understand what’s causing problems and why we use specific techniques. It will also make it clear how you can help your child with activities we may suggest you do at home.
Are chiropractors medical doctors?
No. Our Paediatric Chiropractor, Dr Cassie is a chiropractor who has done postgraduate studies in Chiropractic Functional Neuro-Rehabilitation.
She is not a medical doctor and has not been medically trained in neurology.
If you’d like medical advice before your child’s consultation, please speak to your medical neurologist.
About your paediatric chiropractor
Before she became Dr Cassie Atkinson-Quinton, Cassie was an unsettled child struggling with sensory defensiveness, frequent headaches and learning difficulties.
Fast forward to the adult Dr Cassie and you wouldn’t realise she went through these struggles. She has tutored school kids and worked in paediatric chiropractic for ten years.
As a parent, you may appreciate her down-to-earth nature, easy way with kids, and how she makes it easy to understand what’s going on. Treating your child in a kid-friendly room with toys may help too!
Dr Cassie is passionate about helping kids lead fun, creative and confident lives by decreasing their pain, improving their posture and assisting brain development.
● Dr Cassie Atkinson-Quinton: read more
Types of chiropractor appointments available
First appointment: 30 minutes
Regular appointments: 10 - 30 minutes depending on what your child is presenting with
Review: 30 minutes
● Chiropractor appointments: read more on the Chiropractor page
Kids chiropractor in Melbourne’s western suburbs
We’re based in Moonee Ponds and are visited by patients from the Western suburbs of Melbourne, and beyond. Includes:
Altona
Ascot Vale
Brunswick
Coburg
Essendon
Flemington
Footscray
Maribyrnong
Moonee Ponds
Niddrie
Pascoe Vale
Williamstown
Yarraville
Melbourne
Kids chiropractor at Body and Brain Centre
Soothing and gentle treatment tailored to your child
Relaxed, child-friendly play-based treatment room
All techniques explained so you fully understand your child’s treatment
"Children are not a distraction from more important work. They are the most important work." - C.S. Lewis.
Make a booking or contact us if you have any questions.