Pediatric Chiropractic Centennial, CO

Gentle, Age-Appropriate Care
Personalized for Growing Bodies
Family-Centered Approach

Pediatric Chiropractic in Centennial, CO

Pediatric chiropractor Dr. Tony Nicholas examining a young athlete at Axis Health and Wellness in Centennial CO

Pediatric chiropractic care at Axis Health and Wellness in Centennial always starts with Dr. Tony Nicholas examining your child. After the examination, he can tell you whether your child needs chiropractic treatment, more evaluation, or the child simply needs a couple of weeks off the field.

There are many reasons you may bring your kid to our Centennial office. It can be that your kid favors one leg since Saturday. It can also be that his knee hurts at each practice right on the bump below his kneecap. Another reason is that your kid came off the field holding his neck but told you he’s fine. Your kid’s condition may be nothing. But in some cases, a hidden problem is affecting his body.

Dr. Tony has two kids of his own. They are both deep into soccer, baseball, and basketball. He, too, sat in the same chair as you sit in. He has seen his kids limping off. That’s why Dr. Tony knows how to handle this kind of situation.

Why Parents Bring a Child for Pediatric Chiropractic Care

Pediatric chiropractic care is always something mechanical. It can be about a complaint your kid has that keeps coming back or a fall that didn’t look like much at the time.

Do you know what a backpack loaded like a rucksack can do to your kid’s neck? This affects your child’s posture. It’s worth correcting now because it’s easier to correct than when he’s 40.

Growing Bodies Break in Their Own Ways

When kids sustain injuries, they are not small adult injuries. Their skeletons are still developing. A growing skeleton has softer areas of cartilage near the ends of bones where new bone is being laid down. Tendons pull on those areas. During a growth spurt, this pull becomes a problem when bone lengthens faster than muscle and tendon can keep up.

Two conditions can result from this. We treat both of them.

Osgood-Schlatter Disease

This involves the knee. It’s a common knee injury that causes pain and a tender bump below the kneecap, where the tendon attaches to the shin bone. It shows up during the kid’s growth years. It gets worse with running, jumping, and kneeling. It’s the reason a lot of young athletes are advised to rest it indefinitely.

Sever’s Disease

It affects the heel. This disease causes pain at the back of your kid’s heel where the Achilles attaches. It’s common in kids who run and jump on hard surfaces. Parents usually describe a child limping after practice. A child may seem fine by morning.

Both of these conditions can be treated with SoftWave therapy. It’s a non invasive treatment that doesn’t involve needles or injections. This matters to your kid more than anything else you could say about a treatment.

Sports Injuries and Head Hits

Youth sports produce a stream of collisions, awkward landings, and hits that get waved off. Most of it is fine. The problem is that your kids may not tell you the truth about their injuries, especially when they know that they had to come out of the game.

Dr. Tony holds an IMPACT certification that matters a lot after any head impact because a concussion requires a proper assessment.

If your child hit his head, he must see a medical doctor first. This is especially true after your kid lost consciousness, vomited, was confused, or suffered from a worsening headache. If there’s nothing wrong medically, come and see Dr. Tony.

How Care for a Child Is Different

At Axis Health and Wellness, our first principle is to do no harm. It works more with a child than with anyone else.

Chiropractic is physical. Thus, before doing anything, Dr. Tony finds out first where your kid’s pain level is. He works inside it, instead of through it.

“You do not want to cause more pain than they are already in. If I hurt somebody on the first visit, they are reluctant to come back, and then I cannot help them at all.”

Dr. Tony Nicholas, D.C.

Speed can also make a real difference. Kids do heal faster. A 13-year-old recovers quicker than a 60-year-old with the same injury. It usually means fewer visits and a shorter plan.

What the First Visit Looks Like

Kids do better when they see the room they go into. They get a warm greeting and welcome during a quick tour of the office.
Dr. Tony listens to everything that you and your child tell him about the injury and what happened. Kids can sometimes mention things that matter most in the middle of their story about something that happened.
Then, they undergo a thorough exam. Imaging is used only if necessary. It’s not a routine box that Dr. Tony ticks.
After a thorough evaluation, you get a straight answer from Dr. Tony. He can give you a referral or a treatment plan.

What We Do Not Claim to Treat

Pediatric chiropractic care is focused on the musculoskeletal system. Joints, muscles, the spine, and the nerves run through it. This is where chiropractic care is genuinely good at.

We don’t present our chiropractic care as a treatment for ear infections, colic, asthma, behavioural or developmental conditions, or immune function. Thus, if your child has a medical condition, Dr. Tony will refer you to a pediatrician. He will tell it to you candidly, instead of booking you an appointment.

When Your Child Needs a Medical Doctor First

Any injury where a fracture or dislocation is possible, especially near a growth plate.
A head impact that includes loss of consciousness, vomiting, confusion, slurred speech, or a headache that gets worse.
Pain with fever, or joint pain with swelling or no injury to explain it.
Night pain that wakes your child from sleep
Severe pain that can’t be explained.
New weakness, numbness, or loss of bowel or bladder control

Dr. Tony will also re-evaluate your child every week. If care isn’t producing results after the 8th or 12th mark, Dr. Tony will refer your kid to another provider instead of continuing the treatment. This rule applies to every patient in this office.

Pediatric Chiropractic FAQs

Is chiropractic care safe for children?

Care is matched to your child in front of him. Dr. Tony’s first principle is to do no harm. It means establishing where a child’s pain level is before he performs the care. A force approach for an adult isn’t what a child gets.

It also means that a thorough exam comes first, always. A child who must be seen by a medical doctor gets sent to one instead of being treated here.

How old does my child need to be to see a chiropractor?

It depends on the reason for the case rather than the child’s age. Most of the young patients here are school-age kids. We also treat teen athletes for sports injuries, growth-related knee and heel pain, as well as posture problems or headaches.

If your kid is younger than that, please give us a call at (303) 221-1185 and describe what is going on. We’d rather talk it through with you first than book an appointment.

Will an adjustment hurt my child?

An adjustment should not hurt your child. Dr. Tony works within a patient’s existing pain level, instead of through it. This matters to kids because a child who gets hurt at an office doesn’t want to come back.

That’s why Dr. Tony will explain everything as it happens to your child and to you. Kids can handle it better when they know what’s going on and what will come next.

What is Osgood-Schlatter disease?

Osgood-Schlatter disease is a growth-related knee condition in active kids. It causes pain and a tender bump below the kneecap where the tendon attaches to the shin bone. It flares with running, jumping, and kneeling. It usually appears during a growth spurt when bone outpaces tendon.

Dr. Tony treats it with SoftWave therapy. It’s non-invasive, and it takes about 10 minutes to complete.

What is Sever’s disease?

Sever’s disease causes heel pain in growing children. It affects the back of the heel where the Achilles tendon attaches. It’s common in kids who run and jump on hard surfaces. Parents describe a child limping after practice who seems fine again the next morning. It responds to SoftWave therapy.

Does my child need X-rays?

Your child may need X-rays when the exam calls for it. The result may change what happens next. Imaging is a tool that offers answers. But it’s not always a must.

If Dr. Tony thinks imaging is required, he will tell you what he’s looking for and why before anything is taken.

My child hit his head at a game. What should I do?

He must get a medical evaluation first. This is especially true if there was any loss of consciousness, vomiting, confusion, slurred speech, balance problems, or a headache that gets worse. This is an emergency room question. It’s not a chiropractic one.

Once it is cleared, Dr. Tony can help with what remains. He holds an IMPACT concussion certification, so he can handle this situation perfectly, including the neck injury that comes with a head impact and gets overlooked.

How many chiropractic visits will my child need?

It’s usually fewer than an adult with the same problem. Younger patients heal faster, so plans tend to be shorter. Still, the biggest factor is how long the issue has been going on.

Your child is re-evaluated as care goes on. There’s no package being sold here. If treatment is not working after the 8th or 12th visit, your child will be referred out.

Get a Straight Answer About Your Kid

Sometimes the answer is treatment, sometimes it is a referral, and sometimes it is that this will settle down with a couple of weeks of managed activity. Dr. Tony will examine your child and tell you which one it is. Axis Health and Wellness has served Centennial, Greenwood Village, Lone Tree, Highlands Ranch, Littleton, Aurora, Parker, Castle Rock, and the south Denver metro since 1997.

Request an Appointment (303) 221-1185