Chiropractic Care
Chiropractic Care for Children in St. Augustine
Pediatric chiropractic care is musculoskeletal care for a growing body, using a fraction of the force used on an adult. At Spinal Solutions that means back, neck and postural complaints, sports strain in student athletes, and gait or movement problems. It does not mean treating medical conditions of childhood, and we will say so when a child needs a pediatrician instead.
- Force scaled to the child, not the adult
- We refer out rather than stretch our scope
- Parents stay in the room throughout
What we treat, and what we do not
This page is deliberately narrower than most pediatric chiropractic pages you will read, including the one this practice used to publish.
What we treat in children is musculoskeletal: back and neck pain a child can locate, postural change, sports strain in student athletes, and gait or movement problems that a parent or a coach has noticed. Those are within a chiropractor’s scope, they respond well to conservative care, and the exam can actually tell us whether we are the right people.
What we do not treat is the long list of childhood medical conditions that pediatric chiropractic marketing often attaches itself to. Ear infections, colic, reflux, asthma, bedwetting and behavioral concerns are medical, they belong with a pediatrician, and we will not take a family’s money to treat them here.
Back pain in a child is also less common than in an adult and is taken more seriously as a result. the AAOS overview of back pain in children sets out the features that mean a child’s back pain needs prompt medical assessment rather than conservative care, and we screen for exactly those at the first visit.
Why the force is different
A child is not a small adult. Their joints have more range, their ligaments are more elastic, and their tissue responds to far less input. So the adjustment changes accordingly: less force, applied more specifically, and frequently with an instrument rather than by hand because that is the gentler and more repeatable option.
For younger children the amount of pressure involved surprises most parents, who are expecting something closer to what they have felt themselves. It is closer to the pressure you would use to check whether a tomato is ripe.
The things that actually move the needle
In a growing body, the visit is usually the smaller half of the work. School bag weight and how it is worn, desk and screen height, sleep position, and whether a young athlete gets any off-season at all tend to matter more than anything that happens on the table.
That is why the plan a family leaves with here is short and practical rather than long. If a child needs twenty visits to hold a change that a different backpack would have held for free, something has been sold rather than treated.
Conditions we treat with this
Who this helps, and who it does not
Usually a good fit
- A student athlete with a strain, or pain that returns each season
- Back or neck pain a child can point to and describe
- Posture that has changed noticeably, often alongside heavy school bags and screens
- A gait or movement pattern a parent or coach has flagged
Not the right treatment
- Fever, unexplained weight loss, or night pain that wakes a child, which need a pediatrician now
- Suspected fracture or an injury with visible deformity or swelling
- Ear infections, colic, reflux, asthma, bedwetting or behavioral concerns, which are not what this treats
- Any medical condition of childhood, all of which belong with the child's pediatrician
If this is you, we will say so and point you somewhere better.
What to expect
- 01 The parent talks first
What changed, when, what makes it worse, and what has already been tried. Sport, school bags, screens and sleep set-up all matter more in children than most parents expect.
- 02 A visit built around the child
Testing is done as movement rather than instruction where possible, so a younger child is playing rather than following commands. Parents stay in the room for all of it.
- 03 Low force, and only where it is needed
Force is scaled to the size of the child, and for the youngest that is little more than fingertip pressure. Instrument-assisted adjusting is used when it is the gentler option.
- 04 Home is where most of it happens
Bag weight, desk height, sleep position and a short piece of movement work. In a growing body these changes usually do more than the visits do.
What it costs and how payment works
Children start with the same $47 evaluation as everyone else, covering the consultation, age-appropriate orthopedic and neurological testing, and the findings review. Imaging is used sparingly in children and only where it is genuinely clinically necessary. Pediatric care generally falls outside Medicare, which is limited to manual spinal manipulation to correct a subluxation in adults, so most families use an in-house care plan or CareCredit financing. You will see the plan and its cost before care begins.
Why have it done here
A faith-based, family-owned practice where the doctors treat their own families, and where the boundary of what chiropractic can help a child with is stated out loud rather than left vague. Parents get told when something is not ours, which is the part that should make a practice worth trusting with a child.
This sits inside our family and pediatric chiropractic, so if it turns out not to be what you need, the alternative is in the same building.
Book the $47 evaluationWhat patients say
5.0 from 166 Google reviewsWe hold 166 five-star reviews across every kind of care in this practice. Rather than pick one that is not about this treatment, here is the whole profile, unedited.
Where to find us
The clinic sits at 276 Paseo Reyes Dr in St. Augustine, Florida, just off U.S. 1 at World Golf Parkway, near the entrance to the Palencia neighborhood. Most people coming in for children and student athletes drive in from across St. Johns County, and the office is a straight run up or down U.S. 1 from either end of it.
- Palencia
- World Golf Village
- Nocatee
- Ponte Vedra
- Julington Creek
- Downtown St. Augustine
Questions we get asked
Is chiropractic care safe for children?
For musculoskeletal complaints, and with force scaled to the child, it is a low-risk, non-invasive option. The safety of it depends heavily on the practitioner staying inside their scope, which is why this page is explicit about what we do not treat. If your child's problem is medical rather than musculoskeletal, the right answer is their pediatrician and we will tell you that at the first visit.
Do you treat ear infections, colic or bedwetting?
No. Those are medical concerns and they belong with your child's pediatrician. Older versions of this practice's website made broader claims about pediatric chiropractic than we are willing to stand behind, and we have removed them. What we treat in children is musculoskeletal.
How is a child's adjustment different from an adult's?
Mainly in force and in speed. A child's joints are more mobile and their tissue is far more compliant, so the amount of force required is a fraction of an adult's, and for infants and toddlers it is roughly the pressure you would use to test a ripe tomato. The technique is often instrument-assisted rather than manual.
Will my child need X-rays?
Usually not. Imaging in children is used sparingly and only where a specific clinical finding calls for it. If we think imaging is needed, we will explain exactly what we are looking for and why the exam alone cannot answer it.
Can I stay in the room?
Yes, and we would prefer it. A parent or guardian stays present for the entire visit every time. That is a fixed rule here, not a request you have to make.
My child plays a sport year-round. Is that a problem?
Single-sport specialization with no off-season is one of the more common reasons student athletes end up here, because the same tissue gets loaded the same way for twelve months. That is worth a conversation about load and recovery as much as it is worth treatment.
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