Are Your Kids in Need of Chiropractic Care?

Most people are surprised to find out that the first stress placed on a child’s neck and back is during the birthing process. An estimated 60-90 lbs. of force is used on an infant’s neck during “normal” delivery. Do you think this could cause damage to your child’s spine and nervous system? Fact: The nervous system controls every cell and organ (heart, lungs, brain, stomach) in your body. Equally surprising is the fact that 26% of children surveyed at school reported a history of back pain.

Have you watched your child play outside or with their friends? They run, jump, fall, roll, and tackle every day. Many adults that come to a chiropractor’s office show evidence of childhood injuries that can be the cause for their pain today. Do you think it is too early to teach your kids to take care of their teeth? When do you think it is a good time to have your child’s spine checked for serious signs of spinal imbalances or misalignments?

Fortunately, Chiropractic has had many positive results in children with common childhood problems. Problems like headache, scoliosis, asthma, colic, ear infections, asthma, and even some cases of behavioral problems respond well with chiropractic care. In fact, a recent study showed that children under chiropractic care suffered fewer ear infections than those whose parent took them to medical care alone.

Are chiropractic adjustments safe for children? Absolutely! Because a child’s skeletal system is still developing, only light pressure is needed to adjust a child’s spine. The few minutes you invest in your child’s spinal checkup may save them needless suffering now and in the future.

How can I tell if my child has spinal imbalances?

Just as it is important that you have your children’s teeth checked by a dentist, it is also important to have their spine checked regularly for proper development. Use the following list to check for spinal imbalances:

• Have your child bend over with arms dangling forward. When you run your hand over his or her spine, does it curve from side to side?
• Look at your child from the rear, does one shoulder blade stick out or appear to be higher than the other?
• When looking at your child from the rear, is one ear higher than the other
• Does your child’s back appear to be humped or rounded?
• Do your child’s clothes fit properly; are hems and waistbands of skirts or pants even?

These “home evaluations” are just a few indicators why your child may need chiropractic care.

How about my infant?
You can also observe your baby to check for spinal imbalances:

• When your baby is lying on his/her back, does his/her head seem to tilt to one side?
• Does your baby prefer breastfeeding on one side?
• Does your baby arch his/her back while crying?
• Is your baby slow to develop adequate neck strength to hold his/her head up?
• An estimated 60-90 lbs. of force is used on an infant’s neck during “normal” delivery.Do you think this could cause damage to your child’s spine and nervous system?

I adjust infants and kids daily at the office, and it’s absolutely amazing! Chiropractic allows the body to heal and regulate as it was made to do, it’s all natural health care! Chiropractic adjustments allow kids to be kids, it allows them to live life with less restrictions. Life is simply better when you are able to live it at 100%, you can do that with chiropractic!

Until Then-

Walk in Excellence, Comfort, and Conviction with a Total Spirit of Love.
Dr. Erica

How We Are Making Our Children Sick – Dietary Fat Consumption

One of the absolute best articles that really highlights and explains why kids are so sick these days. The more kids get sick, the more medicine and drugs they get thrown at them in our traditional “health” care system… and as a result, they get even sicker. 

What should be a 2-day cold, turns into a 2 month illness… what should be a 2-day stuffy nose, turns into an ear and sinus infection… what should be only a few kids here and there having some minor allergies and breathing difficulties, turns into a generation suffering from pandemics of allergies and asthma! 

Something needs to change. If you’re child fits any of those descriptions and just can’t seem to get healthy, perhaps it’s time for a different path! This article will help you find that path.

Chicken nuggets, potato chips, and other fried foods, while convenient for parents, are relegating their children’s immune systems to behave badly. Another factor that has been identified as a contributor to the rise in allergic diseases is the increased consumption of omega-6 fatty acids and the decreased consumption of omega-3 fatty acids. It has been known for many years that individuals with allergic conditions have disproportionately high levels of omega- 6 fatty acids in their blood. Omega-6 fatty acids actually suppress the immune system and promote inflammation, and allergic responses are, by their very nature, inflammatory. Sources of omega-6 fatty acids are corn, cotton, soybean, peanut, safflower, and sunflower. Omega-6 fatty acids are also present in most animal products.

Inversely, omega-3 fatty acids are known to enhance immunity, reduce inflammation, and protect the nervous system. Dietary omega-3 fatty acids have well documented immunological effects. Sources are flax, hemp, walnut, and cold water fatty fish, especially salmon. It is important to note though that the plant sources of omega-3 fatty acids are inadequate for infants and thus offer minimal benefit early in life. One study showed that children who regularly consumed oily fish were 74% less likely to develop asthma. Other studies show that fish oil supplementation is associated with improved asthma symptoms and reduced medication usage. The immune benefits of omega-3 fatty acids are likely greater during the critical stages of early immune development before the allergic responses are established, so it is recommended that women monitor their fatty acid intake during pregnancy and continue to do while nursing. Once the child is old enough there are omega-3 products designed specifically for children.

Subluxation

The focus of science has shifted from separate entities of the immune system and nervous system to an interactive immunology model. It is now understood that there is an intimate connection between the nervous system and the immune system, and that neurotransmitters can influence the activities of the immune system. In fact, nerve fibers physically link the nervous system and the immune system and there is a constant traffic of information that goes back and forth between the brain and the immune system.

The sympathetic division of the nervous system is the part of the nervous system that reacts to stress. It is the “fight or flight” control center. The sympathetic division of the nervous system also regulates all aspects of immune function, and abnormal activity of the sympathetic nervous system contributes to the cause of conditions where a selection of humoral versus the cell-mediated response plays a role, including allergic reactions.

Spinal movement influences the sympathetic nervous system. Changes to the relative position or movement in the spine interfere with the sympathetic nervous system causing the release of stress hormones and altering immune cell function. The result is suppression of the cell-mediated immune response, and in its absence an increase of the humoral response.

Early stress and trauma is believed to play a profound role in the development of spinal dysfunction, or subluxation, causing immune imbalance. In his research, Gottfried Guttman M.D., found that spinal injury was present in more than 80% of the infants he examined shortly after birth, causing interference in sympathetic function. Tissue injury to the spine and surrounding soft tissue results in scar tissue deposition in the muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints. This leads to decreased motion in the joints and surrounding tissues. Neurologic changes accompany the spinal insult. This leads to chemical changes and a general shift in the body to the stress response or the “fight or flight” response. Subluxation in the infant and child has been associated with stress experienced at birth, particularly as the result of interventions, and early falls or other traumas.

Restoring proper function to the spine through chiropractic adjustments removes the interference in the nervous system shifting the body away from the sympathetic “alarm” response allowing the immune system to regain equilibrium and reducing hypersensitive reactions. In one study, 81 children under chiropractic care took part in a self-reported asthma impairment study. The children were assessed before and two months after chiropractic care using an asthma impairment questionnaire. Significantly lower impairment rating scores (improvement) was reported for 90.1% of subjects 60 days after chiropractic care in comparison to their pre-chiropractic scores. In addition, 30.9% of the children decreased their dosage of medication by an average of 66.5% while under chiropractic care. Twenty-four of the patients who reported asthma attacks 30-days prior to the study had significantly decreased attacks by an average of 44.9%.

Our children are born with an immune system that is capable of operating against anything that threatens it. Our role as parents should be to support the natural responses of their body in every way that we can; in some cases, that means giving the body a chance to overcome an infection on its own with out antibiotics. In another case, it means providing the proper nutrients to restore inner balance. Most importantly, it means realizing that when a child’s nervous system has interference, the body still knows what it is supposed to do, but is simply unable to do it. Let’s start by removing the interference from the body and then getting out of its way—appreciating that the fever and congestion and vomiting are all part of the miracle that is our child’s immune system working properly, not a sign that their body is failing. The less we focus on the eradication of germs and the more emphasis we place on creating a strong, balanced body, free of subluxation, the better off our children will be.

This article was published in Pathways To Family Wellness magazine, issue #20 by Dr. Sean Manning.
http://icpa4kids.org/Wellness-Articles/how-we-are-making-our-children-sick/Dietary-Fat-Consumption.html

Chiropractic 101- Who needs it? Why do I need it?

Chiropractic care is for everyone. From babies to grandma’s and grandpa’s, chiropractic benefits everyone with a live nervous system.

The nervous system controls and coordinates every function in our body. That means, the nerves in our body tell our heart to beat, our lungs to breathe, our stomach to digest, and our muscles to move just to name a few.

Subluxations are caused by stress; stress being: physical, chemical and emotional.

If subluxations are caused by stress, then why do babies need chiropractic?
Babies experience their first subluxation during the birth process. The birthing process involves a lot of twisting and pulling of baby’s head that can cause trauma to a newborn baby’s neck.

What is the first thing they tell someone holding a newborn baby?

Make sure you support it’s head….because it is it’s life-line. That is why it is so important that children are checked in our office, as early as possible, so that they can grow up with health and healing from Above-Down-Inside-Out (ADIO).

Proper Structure=Proper Function….what does that mean?
In our spine we have 3 curvatures that develop when we are babies. The curve in our neck and lower back is called the lordosis, and the curve in our middle back is called the kyphosis. Each of these curves have a range of degrees when measured that is considered normal.

If the curvatures have too much curve or too little curve, that will affect how well the nerves are able to function. The picture to the right shows the 4 phases of degeneration.

Phase 1-3 happens when there isn’t proper structure, when there have been lots of stress, and when we don’t take care of our spine.

Phase 1-3 is where degeneration of the spine occurs. This is where arthritis starts, and once it starts, it is irreversible damage to the spine. Chiropractic care can’t reverse the degenerative process, but, it can prevent furthering of spinal degeneration.

What phase are you?

Until then- –
Walk in Excellence, Conviction and Comfort with a Total Spirit of Love
–Dr. Erica