First off, let me remind you or maybe teach you for the first time the importance of infant, toddler, and childhood adjustments.  The first system that forms in the womb during pregnancy is the nervous system, and from that time on it regulates and controls body function.  Since most births these days are no longer natural, the first trauma is during the birth process.  Not being checked for subluxations or spinal misalignments until later in life, is a major detriment to the child’s  nervous system, leading to weak immunity and poor mechanical structure.   Even though its now 2011, we still see skyrocketing numbers of asthma, ear infections, allergies, and sensory integration issues.  This is all the result of a nervous system that is not adapting to changes in environment, and has very, very little to do with genetics.

Also, when kids grow up getting regular wellness adjustments, they realize their body is important  and when taken care of properly works fine without medications or vaccines to battle the flu, common cold, headaches, fevers, ear infections, etc.  This is empowering and lessens the likelyhood that your child will be another sad victim of the side effects of medications, which is a leading cause of death in this country.    Did you know that greater than 80 percent of medications given to children under 18 are OFF LABEL, which means they are prescribed for reasons other than what they were researched for!  This is insane,  yet most of the parents in the country are either unaware, or are aware, but just don’t know what to do as an alternative.  Actually, drugs should be the alternative.  Every drug has a side effect, even Tylenol, so why we constantly rely on drugs and teach our kids to reach for drugs first when we have body symptoms is beyond me.  Safe, gentle, natural, regular chiropractic adjustment help restore nervous system function without side effects.

This doesn’t mean you will go through life without drugs, but you will be far less likely if its working at its best.  I have no problem what so ever bragging that my children have never had a drop of poisonous vaccines put into their bloodstream, and have also never taken a drug for any symptom ever.  It just really makes me sick to see all this sickness when being proactive IS the answer.   Many of you reading this get it, and I applaud you.   But others still come in to improve their own nervous sysem, while leaving their kids at home unchecked, waiting for symptoms to show up and when they do, just teaching the kids that drugs fix everything.  Look around…its not working…we are NOT the healthiest country on the planet by FAR.  Some of you, simply haven’t gotten your kids checked because you just haven’t explained it to your husband or wife, so they don’t get it, and that’s the end of it.  Bring them in or let me or Dr. A talk to them.  It would be easier for me to say nothing, but it flies in the face of my purpose.

JULY is free exam month for kids, and many of you are getting your kids checked for the first time.  For those of you who have been putting this off for too long, the second best time is NOW.  I can’t tell you how many kids we saw in my four days in Peru, but I can tell you there was nothing but pure gratitude from the parents that saw the results in the short time we were there.  For those of you who helped with my trip by purchasing the finger puppets hand made in Peru, thanks again for your support!  I also want to help Chicago kids, not just children from Peru!  It takes courage to be different.

Thank you for trusting us with your wellness….Dr. M

Enjoy!

Kids, Chiropractic, and Immunity – What Role Does the Immune System Play?

Find out the “why” behind chiropractic for children in this short, three minute video, discuss the nervous systems development and role in a child’s health.

Last month a mother brought her 4 month old child, Nick, into our office. She had been referred to us after visits to numerous pediatricians, gastroenterologists, and other specialists. You see, Nick wasn’t able to keep formula down after feedings. He would violently heave immediately following his bottle. As a result of this he was in the second percentile for weight at his age, and was experiencing severe mouth and gum inflammation due to the stomach acid. The specialists that his mom had taken him to were unable to find any cause for his problem. They examined his stomach and esophagus and couldn’t find anything wrong. And they were right. There wasn’t anything wrong with Nick’s GI tract. What was happening is that the nerve that ran to Nick’s esophagus and stomach was being affected by what is called a subluxation: an area where the bones that protect his spinal cord are interfering with the ability of signals to travel between the brain and their destination, in this case the stomach and esophagus. There wasn’t any thing wrong is Nick’s organs themselves, they just weren’t getting the right signals to tell them how to work properly.

So what causes subluxations like the one that was affecting Nick? Again we come back to that one word answer: stress. When we think of stress we think of the things that we deal with on an everyday basis: job, money, family, etc. Many times what we don’t see is that kids, infants, even fetuses in the womb, all undergo stress too!

From the moment of conception the child in the womb is susceptible to stresses. Some of them are evident; we all know that the mother shouldn’t smoke or drink, that she should eat healthy, that she takes the appropriate prenatal vitamins. Some stresses are not so easily seen though. The baby grows seven times faster in the womb than outside the mother’s body. Uterine constraint, not giving the baby the space to grow, places severe demands on mother and baby alike. It can lead to developmental problems, malposition, and breech presentation. Even the act of giving birth is very stressful to the baby. 12% of all vaginal births result in an upper cervical subluxation, the rate is even higher for more traumatic births such as forceps, c-section, and vacuum. These all lead to increased rates of SIDS, colic, asthma and more due to subluxation.

Typical, everyday activities can also place the child in danger. A recent study found that 23% of children suffered head and neck injuries in so called “near miss” accidents. The simple act of swerving or decelerating quickly can affect the child greatly. What we put in their bodies plays a role as well. The rate of asthma doubles for every dose of antibiotics before the age of 1. Even simple activities as diapering can lead to increased rate of constipation due to the stress placed on the lumbar spine.

So what does this mean for you, the parent? Be proactive in your kids’ health. Take steps to both minimize the stress in their life and to allow their body to properly handle what stress they do have. Chiropractic care is one of the tools that Nick’s mom chose. We’re happy to say that he hasn’t vomited in over 3 weeks and has started to gain weight! We invite you join us on March 3^rd as we join with Active Moms Club to bring you an exciting presentation called “Raising Extraordinary Kids!”. We’ll walk you through our methods, from the womb to when they leave home, to make sure your kids are living stress free and not stressed out!