Are Drugs the Answer?

With today's profuse advertising for drugs, when a child is unwell most parents look upon pharmaceutical products as a torch in the dark, a reputable "savior."  We often gain security from smart packaging and advertising.

Do you allow your children the opportunity to strengthen their immunity or you panic at the first sign of an infection and reach for antibiotics?  When your child has a runny nose, a temperature, or an earache...Do you run for a prescription? 


Unfortunately, most parents have little appreciation for the nature of the chemical compounds found in these commonplace drugs.  Potentially harmful chemicals are often prescribed unnecessarily for minor, self-inflicting ailments.  Antibiotics in particular are extremely powerful and should be reserved for the rare occasions that actually require them!


If we interfere with the innate intelligence of the body by consistently lowering a child's temperature, we can compromise their immune system and make them less capable of mounting immune responses in the future.  Inexperienced immunities then take offense to natural allergens, rendering the child susceptible to chronic illness. 


I encourage you to think twice before asking your physician for an immediate prescription for your child's infection. Their body is smart, and knows how to adapt. It just takes time!

Cracking the Case of Infertility

Infertility. If you haven't struggled with it yourself, chances are you know someone who wants to become pregnant but can't...

While many traditional medical alternatives are mainstream in today's society, they are often focused at the symptom rather than the cause of the problem.

Infertility occurs because the body is out of its natural state of balance.  This could be a physical, chemical, or emotional imbalance- and can be in either the female or the male!   Factors that may influence fertility include: diet (including allergies to certain foods), obesity, insulin resistance, thyroid dysfunction, adrenal exhaustion, inactivity, prior history of STD's resulting in damage to reproductive organs, environmental toxins and chemicals (which may decrease sperm count or influence a woman's cycle), and contraceptives. 

While Chiropractic cannot magically allow you and your spouse to "get pregnant" per se, your Chiropractor can identify and correct subluxations, which can improve the function of your reproductive system, and thus result in fertility! Your Chiropractor can also assess your lifestyle habits and try and get you on a healthier track to conceiving naturally, and maintaining pregnancy. 

Getting adjusted on a regular basis has been found to improve autonomic and motor system function as demonstrated on her sEMG and thermography scans.  While many different techniques have been studied- Diversified, Gonstead, Sacro-Occipital Technique, etc- the concept remains the same! Chiropractic adjustments remove nerve interference and allow the body to attain a state of balance, resulting in optimal functioning of all the body systems! 

Pregnancy & Chiropractic!

I'm sure any mother-to-be would agree that pregnancy put's a great amount of stress on the body- chemically, physically, and emotionally. Often women learn to just accept pregnancy discomforts such as nausea, heartburn, shortness of breath, constipation, hemorrhoids, frequent urination, when in fact they don't need to.  The purpose of regular Chiropractic Care is to reduce the amount of stress on the nervous system, and to allow the body to function optimally.   A well functioning nervous system enables a mother to easily combat many of the hurdles of pregnancy.

As your pregnancy progresses, the weight of your baby can become a major load to bear and hormonal changes begin to relax the supporting tissues of the spine.  It is vitally important that your spine maintains correct alignment for both the mother & baby.  Having your spine checked by a chiropractor ensures that your pelvis is sitting correctly to allow optimum room for your baby to grow and move. Maintaining the integrity of the thoracic spine (mid back) with chiropractic adjustments can help alleviate mid back pain (due to an increase in breast size), shortness of breath and heartburn. Maintaining thoracolumbar (mid-to-low back) and lumbosacral (lower) flexibility free of subluxations can help with other unnecessary discomforts such as constipation, frequent urination, sciatica, lower back pain, symphysis pubis pain and pelvic pain.  And of course having your neck checked ensures that you have a proper mind-body connection through this joyous, yet stressful time.

In addition to adjusting your spine and clearing your nervous system, a wellness oriented chiropractor may talk to you about the importance of stretching, yoga or physical activity.  They may also discuss the importance of increasing your water and fiber intake to prevent hemorrhoids.

Research shows that correct alignment of the pelvis and spine contributes to a more straightforward labor with less pain and trauma for mother and child.  It is also reported that women who received chiropractic care in their 3rd trimester were able to cary and deliver their child with much more comfort.  Chiropractic care has been shown to significantly reduce labor time (~average 24% for first time mothers, and ~39% for those who have given birth before) for women who had care throughout their pregnancy. 

These maternal subluxations have also been implicated in fetal constraints (constraint within the uterus within you pelvis).  These constraints can interfere with your baby's presentation at birth and natural delivery, and studies have now begun to look at the more long-term effects of constraints in the uterus and the development effects on infants.

As you can see there are many benefits of chiropractic care for both the mommy & baby pre, during, and post pregnancy! Ask a chiropractor how he or she can help you today!

Please Note: X-rays of your spine will NOT be suggested by the chiropractor (acknowledging that you are pregnant) and techniques will be modified to accomodate for your growing belly.

Understanding Allergies

Many people suffering from allergies have reported benefits they have experienced from regular chiropractic treatments even though chiropractic care is not a specific allergy treatment...Why you ask? Because chiropractic is an alternative method of health care with the purpose of restoring neural integrity and allowing your body to function at its best! 

Why do people suffer from allergies?  Let me remind you that your immune system is influenced by nervous system- by chemical (diet), physical (activity & mobility), and emotional (feelings) stressors. If unhealthy, your immune system may fail to recognize and remove abnormal cells (such as cancers), may not overcome infection, may overreact to foreign substances (bee stings, penicillin, foods or drugs), become depressed (as in AIDS), or even attack itself! 

What causes allergies?  There is no specific cause to allergies, but many years of research has suggested that specific ingredients of childhood vaccinations, mother's who didn't breast feed, exposure to various foods too early before the gut is lined with the proper bacteria to aid in digestion, etc.

How does Chiropractic Work?  By releasing stress on the nervous system, chiropractic permits the immune system to function more effectively-something all allergy sufferers need. A nervous system without stress functions more efficiently. Recent understandings in psychoneuroimmunology reveal that when the nervous system functions better the immune system benefits. Chiropractors correct a basic cause of body malfunction to improve the function of your immune system. Please note that the chiropractic approach is to remove vertebral subluxations, a common spinal distortion that puts stress on your nervous system. Freed of nervous system stress, your body will work more effectively to neutralize the allergy-causing chemicals in your environment. 

REFERENCES: 

http://www.9news.com/rss/story.aspx?storyid=139183

http://www.demosschiropractic.com/chiropractic-allergies.cfm