A brief discussion of two very common childhood orthopedic problems:
OSGOOD-SCHLATTER’S DISEASE (SYNDROME)
This “disease” most commonly occurs in boys aged 10-18, though girls can have it too. It occurs when the area where the patella (knee) tendon attaches to the tibia (lower leg) bone is under too much stress and becomes inflamed or it pulls so hard on the insertion at the bone that it actually ruptures. This pain, as common as it is especially during a child’s growth spurt, is very unnecessary. And the fact that conventional medicine takes the “do nothing but ice and rest” approach because it usually resolves within 1-2 years (!!) makes it very frustrating for an active kid to participate in sports due to the pain.
Physical therapists and the medial community understand that it is often due to an imbalance between the quadriceps and hamstrings muscles, but they still have this idea that a muscle that is “weaker” needs more exercise and a muscle that is working too hard (stronger) needs to be stretched. Well, those imbalances don’t improve at all with that perspective because the imbalance is neurological — those muscles surrounding the knee are out of balance front to back and sometimes inside to outside for various reasons; it’s different for each kid. It could be due to another injury in the leg, or opposite leg. It could be from improper footwear. It could be from a dietary condition as the quadriceps are related to the small intestine. Food allergies can and often cause this imbalance. Yes, I’m saying that eating something the child is allergic to can cause this syndrome; I’ve seen it plenty of times. I’ve helped kids resolve their Osgood-Schlatter “Disease” quickly, sometimes within one treatment (one hour) by finding out exactly what their imbalance is. Kids are told to deal with it until they outgrow it. Although most will, it keeps them from performing as well as they should, and some kids can’t play the sports they want because of the pain. Some adults still have “weak knees” because of this syndrome. It’s unnecessary. I don’t think Dr. Osgood and Dr. Schlatter knew this way back in 1903.
Scoliosis, for those who are unfamiliar with the term, is a curvature of the spine from side to side. Chiropractors often help with preventing scoliosis and reversing or at least stopping its progression. Specific chiropractic adjustments to spinal vertebra may be beneficial. Certain exercises can also be performed to tone the back muscles and lessen scoliosis. Often there is muscular component to scoliosis that is due to a nutritional/hormonal imbalance. When the muscles on one side of the spine become too tight and those on the opposite side don’t respond, then the spine will curve or pull to the side that is too tight. This may occur due to a previous injury or from something causing the spine to respond in such a way. There is actually a very strong correlation between copper (too much) and scoliosis. Copper is a mineral needed by the body but if levels accumulate too high, then the excess copper can result in spinal scoliosis. Copper is a nutrient that likes to hang out with the hormone estrogen, so as estrogen levels [abnormally] increase, then copper goes along with it. This is why scoliosis is more common in women than men, and often occurs in girls as they begin puberty. Most girls are not properly detoxifying estrogen due to poor nutrition and estrogen exposure from cosmetics and foods (chicken, dairy), so they start to become estrogen dominant as their liver can’t keep up with the hormone. So high estrogen = high copper = scoliosis. Personally I’d say this is the most common reason for scoliosis, though of course not the only reason.