A text-book on hygiene and pediatrics from a chiropractic standpointCraven, J. H. (John Henry)
Science
A text-book on hygiene and pediatrics from a chiropractic standpoint
Craven, J. H. (John Henry)
Children -- Diseases; Chiropractic; Sanitation
Under normal conditions the anterior fontanels should be completely
closed at the age of one and a half years. If at the end of two
years they have not completely closed it is abnormal and indicates
cretinism, rickets or hydrocephalus. In case of hydrocephalus the
sutures will be distinctly separated and the head will be enlarged.
This condition may also obtain in rickets. When the fontanels are
slow in closing the child should be very carefully analyzed and an
effort made to find symptoms of other conditions which might be
responsible for this abnormality. Most excellent results have been
obtained from chiropractic adjustments in these cases. It is quite
as objectionable for the fontanels to close too soon as it is for
them to be too slow in closing and it may be much more serious. There
are many cases on record in which the fontanels have been closed
when the child was born. A case of this kind is ordinarily beyond
the reach of Chiropractic. The closure of the fontanels during the
first few weeks, or even at the middle of the first year, indicates
microcephalus.
Normally the anterior fontanels should be completely closed about the
eighteenth month, although it may be as late as the twenty-second
month. In rachitic children it may be as late as the third year. In
cretinism the fontanels may become very large and sometimes do not
close until the eighth year. In hydrocephalus also the fontanels
become very large, the head develops rapidly to an enormous size and
this results in the spreading of the sutures. If these cases receive
adjustments early enough in life, excellent results are obtained.
The posterior fontanel is very much smaller than the anterior and
closes about the second month, normally.
Shape
In most cases the head of the infant is more or less compressed
during labor. In hard labor it may be so greatly compressed that it
gives the appearance of being deformed, but this apparent deformity
soon disappears, usually from the third to the fifth week. Healthy
children and especially good natured ones are sometimes neglected and
permitted to lie in one position for such a length of time that the
head becomes misshapen. Usually in such cases the child is placed on
his back. This results in the flattening of the back of the head.
This, however, may be easily corrected by changing the position of
the child occasionally. These variations should not be mistaken for
actual deformities of the head.
THORAX
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