Question
my 12 year old son was diagnosed with a broken or dislocated xyphoid process injury by our family chiropractor,. The injury was sustained while doing a lay away to front uprise on the p-bars. The prescribed treatment was rest and calcium and bone mending supplements.  I was wondering what we can do about exercises for rehabilitation and something for the pain.  Thank you

Answer
Jan,

There are no exercises for the xiphoid short of taking deep breaths.   Likely the calcium is a waste of time/money.  The xiphoid likely isn't fractured.  It dislocates or the joint gets sprained (or both).  This requires x-ray to confirm, no guessing...   Rest and time...   If your son is vitamin-D deficient, then getting him on about 5000 IU's per day (that's 125 micrograms) can aid in healing.  Low level laser also can speed up healing (that's proven).   Pain meds must be Rx'd by his MD/Pediatrician, but my guess is that it will only be acetaminophen.

Dr. G