So I went to Las Vegas this past week to a Parker seminar and I came away with many new ideas and even more reminders of things that I once knew, used to do, or always wanted to do but then forgot. That's the beautiful part of a good seminar! You learn how much you know, but realize you are not properly applying it. In my case, I realized patient education about why we do what we do as chiropractors was an area of weakness for me, I mean the real philosophy behind it. I do a wonderful job of educating the patient what I am doing, why I am testing them this way, how their body works, what shows up, what's improved, etc. but I forget to talk about the subluxation. Why? I already know the answer. Chiropractors are kinda weird and I don't want people to think I am weird too. But that doesn't mean avoid topics all together so I am trying to turn over a new leaf of sorts and incoroporate some new vocabulary and focus on some new areas. I guess my worst fear is to be put in the same category as the guy who is wearing magnets all over his body, feathers of some special bird around his neck, various types of religious beaded bracelets around his arms just to cover all the bases and because he respects the 'philosophy and culture' of all the religions of the world, walking around talking about the "universe this and the universe that", acting like chiropractic is a religion, all while chewing on tree bark! (No offense to anyone out there, do your thing :))
I do want to make a point that one of the best things about chiropractic is the wide variety of techniques and philosophies. What chiropractic is to one person, it's totally something else to another. I have worked very hard to make sure I am an example of chiropractic being nutrition, adjustments, and science based. I do not get into the gray area of the almost religious aspect of it because I am a Christian and I already know who made the body, what innate intelligence really is, and who is doing the healing. It's easy to blur the lines and confuse things if your personal philosophy isn't straight. I spend a lot of time talking to my patients about the power of their body and tie in God whenever possible. The wonderful chiropractor I used to work for in Alabama had a wonderful outlook on this and taught me more in my first year about all aspects of chiropractic than most of my peers get in the first decade in practice. He's a wonderful man and chiropractor and I will never be able to repay him for his generosity and the vision that he has given me. Chiropractors are all so different. There are many different techniques. They all work. I always tell people that everyone needs a chiropractor and with the variety offered in the world, everyone should find a chiropractor that works for them and that they love. I know my approach isn't going to 100% satisfy everyone and that's because it's not a cookie cutter approach.
So my first 2 things that I want to work harder on are: #1 educating people, my patients or not, about a subluxation and #2 expanding the pediatric side of my practice which is probably the most challenging population group because #1 isn't done enough....
So a vertebral subluxation is a misalignment of a vertebra to a lesser degree than a dislocation putting pressure on the nerves that exit the spine that protects and covers the spinal cord of that region and thus having an effect on the organs or tissues that the nerve goes to (in layman's terms). There are 31 pairs of spinal nerves; 26 of
these pass through movable vertebral segments. Five pairs of spinal
nerves (accompanied by some parasympathetic fibers) pass through
solid bony openings in the sacrum. There are an additional 12
pairs of cranial nerves which pass through bony openings in the
base of the skull (including the 10th cranial parasympathetic
vagus nerve, which travels down to supply visceral structures
in the thorax and abdomen). You can see how an adjustment can be so globally powerful by affecting any number of these guys. Unless you have been adjusted, you probably have a subluxation because they are caused by 3 common causes: emotional, chemical, and physical. So you can see how artificial sweeteners, bad diet, negative thoughts, stressful jobs, falls, childbirth, and long car drives can all cause a subluxation. It's been shown in nerve conduction studies that it takes only the amount of pressure equal to the weight of a dime to decrease nerve flow by up to 60% according to research conducted at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Your body is so innervated by nerves that if you were to take off all of the flesh off of a person, you would still be able to identify them and see the details of their body just because of the massive innervation via nerves. I don't think anyone can dispute the importance and value of nerves.
Moving on to my #2, children need chiropractic care! Some need it more than adults! 35% of births are estimated to be via C-section. The travel though the birth canal is the very first alignment of the spine. It's equivalent to the butterfly squeezing through the cocoon. If anyone has ever tried to assist a little butterfly and done the work for them, you know that the butterfly wasn't the better for it. Every butterfly I ever tried to help never flew because I opened the hole up so large it didn't squeeze him at all and the fluid never dissipated and his wings never spread and he never flew. Sad, I know. So for those kids, like my own, who miss the first alignment of the spine, an adjustment is very important! Since different segments give way to nerves who innervate different organs, you can have an effect on constipation, ear infections, digestive issues, allergies, immune system, and many other common childhood issues all by the adjustment! If you're thinking that the adjustment sounds like a powerful thing, then I'm conveying the message somewhat well! The first adjustment a baby needs to receive is when he or she is still in the womb. Maternity care is imperative for a healthy delivery of a healthy baby. The baby spends most of it's development upside down, crunched up, then in many cases is pulled out and injected with various chemicals all in the first phase of life. Then the child has to cut teeth, learn how to control muscles, walk, and is carried on Mom's hip and car seats. Childhood is kinda rough. If we adults had to learn how to walk we would need physical therapy and if we had to cut that many teeth again, we would have a prescription of Lortab on hand. Kids are resilient, amazing little people! It's all about giving them the best start to life as possible! It's never too late to start getting adjusted and it's never too early.
I am so passionate about chiropractic for many different reasons. One is because you can see how wonderfully God made the body and it's designed to work well and well for a long time. Health comes from the inside out. It's been an amazing thing for me for various reasons throughout my life from being a child who suffered from migraines to being diagnosed with scoliosis to whip lash injuries from car wrecks to improving my immune system so I'm not the first person to always catch a cold to maternity care to dealing with baby blues after the pregnancy, etc. It's so wonderful to watch my child grow under this alternative way of thinking and see how he blossoms in every situation in every phase of life that he has been though yet and I just think, the proof is in the pudding! If anyone who reads this has any questions or wants to know more, please feel free to ask. :)
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Parenthood Woes
This morning after I adjusted Benton, yes he loves to get adjusted, Justin noticed white spots on his nails. The nails, eyes, and tongue tell a lot about what's going on inside the body. Different marks, lines, colorations, and dents tell about different organs and mineral imbalances. White marks happen to be a possible zinc or trace mineral deficiency or an imbalance in the ratio of the minerals. These minerals are vital for proper immune system function. I say this to put emphasis on the point that health is forever changing, especially in the time of childhood. Childhood is an extremely important time in immune system development. This is when the body comes into contact with the most germs and is building up a defense against them for future reference because many encounters are on a first time basis. In order to make a healthy adult, the child has to come into contact with these agents and learn to fight them off. You are not doing your child any favors by constantly keeping them on an antibiotics or keeping Tylenol doses constantly coming towards their face. Fevers aren't bad. I don't mean to let your child run a fever of above 103 degrees without a cool bath or considering another option, but the body is designed to kill off invaders by increasing the internal temperature of the body. Many parents freak out over a low grade fever and there is really no reason to fret.
Vaccinations are one of the biggest topics of the first year of childhood. Whether to vaccinate or not? Should I delay and play catch up? What are the benefits? What are the risks? Will not vaccinating keep my child from going to daycare, public school, playing sports, etc? There are a lot of questions and whenever someone asks me my opinion I am always careful in sharing my opinion....Yes, that is highly unusual and extremely difficult for me! I try to focus more on the parent's thoughts and worries and the research and education that the parent has done to form an informed decision. It's imperative to weigh out the pros and cons in any major decision, especially this one. If a parent has done the research and made an informed decision to vaccinate and is willing to take the risks, I'm not going to cold shoulder them. It's their child! I have had to make those decisions with my child and we have chosen not to vaccinate. The risks are minimal. We haven't taken him out of the county and he hasn't been around any illegal aliens. My reply when people ask me if I'm concerned he is at risk is always: Who is he going to catch all of these diseases from if everyone else is vaccinated? Another important point I want to make is just because you start to vacccinate doesn't mean you have to continue. You can change your mind at any point along the way and there is nothing harmful about this.
One of the most challenging things for us was finding a pediatrician to work with us on the non-vaccination choice we made for Benton's health. I have finally found one, but that doesn't mean that I didn't have to go though several before him. Let's face it, if you don't vaccinate, you don't see the pediatrician much and if everyone chose not to, where would their business go? Ultimately I am Benton's mother and luckily we still live in a country where I do get to control most things about his health (don't get me started on politics, that's a whole different blog). I'm not worried about any of the things that not vaccinating will keep Benton from doing because there really aren't any. My dad is a public school superintendent and even though we have different views on child rearing topics from time to time, I know the things that public schools have to allow to avoid a law suit. If a person says that something is related to their beliefs or religion, that's such a hot topic that no one is going to touch it with a ten foot pole. I mean what do you think happened to prayer in school, saying the pledge of allegiance, etc.???? I encourage you to do research on religious belief and philosophical exemptions. It's a matter of filling out a little paperwork. I had to fill out a sheet for Benton's day care and that was the end of it. No big deal!
If parent's do chose to vaccinate, I encourage them to prep the child's immune system to get them ready for the vaccination before hand. This will help with the child's fever, discomfort, and protect the DNA from mutations. At least 2 weeks prior to a vaccination, give the child daily doses of B12, B6, and Glutathionol for protection of the proteins in the DNA strand ( http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=50746, info about Glutathionol). I dose these out individually for each patient as the need is different person to person. We do a lot of nutrition in our office so this is not out of the norm. This will get the child ready for the vaccine and help them tolerate it better. It also helps ease the parent's worries of the many 'what ifs?' that every parent has, no matter what your decisions are. My purpose is to help people and provide support, not scare people or intimidate people into making any certain decision and this should be the purpose of your pediatrician as well. Remember they work for you and you as the parent have the ultimate say. Parenthood isn't easy, especially if you are a first time parent, but eventually we all realize that they are tough little people. We have made our decision and we have been pleased with it and the little person that we made the decision for. He is the healthiest child in his day care room and extremely smart. My biggest fear as a parent is interfering with something that he was designed to be. He is truly amazing and I know this world will be a better place for him being here. I just want to guide and direct and keep him on track. I know all of the greatness is inside him just waiting for the right time to be released. Far be it for me to interfere with a greater plan. This is the decision that we have made as parents. I'm not saying anyone's decision was wrong, but I feel confident in saying that this was the right decision for us.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2004/12/29/vaccination-schedule-part-one.aspx. This is a link for an alternative vaccination schedule that many parents choose to follow. It spaces out some does and delays some others to not overwhelm the child's system. It also has some very good information that goes along with what I have been talking about.
Vaccinations are one of the biggest topics of the first year of childhood. Whether to vaccinate or not? Should I delay and play catch up? What are the benefits? What are the risks? Will not vaccinating keep my child from going to daycare, public school, playing sports, etc? There are a lot of questions and whenever someone asks me my opinion I am always careful in sharing my opinion....Yes, that is highly unusual and extremely difficult for me! I try to focus more on the parent's thoughts and worries and the research and education that the parent has done to form an informed decision. It's imperative to weigh out the pros and cons in any major decision, especially this one. If a parent has done the research and made an informed decision to vaccinate and is willing to take the risks, I'm not going to cold shoulder them. It's their child! I have had to make those decisions with my child and we have chosen not to vaccinate. The risks are minimal. We haven't taken him out of the county and he hasn't been around any illegal aliens. My reply when people ask me if I'm concerned he is at risk is always: Who is he going to catch all of these diseases from if everyone else is vaccinated? Another important point I want to make is just because you start to vacccinate doesn't mean you have to continue. You can change your mind at any point along the way and there is nothing harmful about this.
One of the most challenging things for us was finding a pediatrician to work with us on the non-vaccination choice we made for Benton's health. I have finally found one, but that doesn't mean that I didn't have to go though several before him. Let's face it, if you don't vaccinate, you don't see the pediatrician much and if everyone chose not to, where would their business go? Ultimately I am Benton's mother and luckily we still live in a country where I do get to control most things about his health (don't get me started on politics, that's a whole different blog). I'm not worried about any of the things that not vaccinating will keep Benton from doing because there really aren't any. My dad is a public school superintendent and even though we have different views on child rearing topics from time to time, I know the things that public schools have to allow to avoid a law suit. If a person says that something is related to their beliefs or religion, that's such a hot topic that no one is going to touch it with a ten foot pole. I mean what do you think happened to prayer in school, saying the pledge of allegiance, etc.???? I encourage you to do research on religious belief and philosophical exemptions. It's a matter of filling out a little paperwork. I had to fill out a sheet for Benton's day care and that was the end of it. No big deal!
If parent's do chose to vaccinate, I encourage them to prep the child's immune system to get them ready for the vaccination before hand. This will help with the child's fever, discomfort, and protect the DNA from mutations. At least 2 weeks prior to a vaccination, give the child daily doses of B12, B6, and Glutathionol for protection of the proteins in the DNA strand ( http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=50746, info about Glutathionol). I dose these out individually for each patient as the need is different person to person. We do a lot of nutrition in our office so this is not out of the norm. This will get the child ready for the vaccine and help them tolerate it better. It also helps ease the parent's worries of the many 'what ifs?' that every parent has, no matter what your decisions are. My purpose is to help people and provide support, not scare people or intimidate people into making any certain decision and this should be the purpose of your pediatrician as well. Remember they work for you and you as the parent have the ultimate say. Parenthood isn't easy, especially if you are a first time parent, but eventually we all realize that they are tough little people. We have made our decision and we have been pleased with it and the little person that we made the decision for. He is the healthiest child in his day care room and extremely smart. My biggest fear as a parent is interfering with something that he was designed to be. He is truly amazing and I know this world will be a better place for him being here. I just want to guide and direct and keep him on track. I know all of the greatness is inside him just waiting for the right time to be released. Far be it for me to interfere with a greater plan. This is the decision that we have made as parents. I'm not saying anyone's decision was wrong, but I feel confident in saying that this was the right decision for us.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2004/12/29/vaccination-schedule-part-one.aspx. This is a link for an alternative vaccination schedule that many parents choose to follow. It spaces out some does and delays some others to not overwhelm the child's system. It also has some very good information that goes along with what I have been talking about.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Mommy Beginnings
Well I decided that since I have so many opinions, and quite good ones I might add, that it's a shame for me to keep them all to myself. My experiences with being a chiropractor and trying to do things naturally to allow the body the chance to heal and work itself have been useful and sometimes challenging during my time as a mother. There are always hard decisons and some hard lessons to learn within the first year of motherhood: when medical intervention is needed, when vitamins are needed, what to do for that snuffy nose, how to prepare your child for daycare, what decision to make when it comes to vaccinations, teething issues, ear ache issues, etc. There are too many to list out. I hope to use my own research and experiences to provide comfort to other's in the same cross roads in life. We all want the best for our children and for our own health and for our loved ones. I have hopes that this blog will serve as that comfort for some and challenge some others to think outside the box and educate yourselves. We have options as parents and we have to make some hard decisions concerning our children's health sometimes too.
Things don't always go as planned, I learned this during the labor and delivery of Benton. After 24 hours of labor, 4 doses of pitocin, my water being manually broken, Benton being manually turned from face up to face down, and an hour of pushing, a C-section was well welcomed. I did do it naturally for the first 12 hours and when I hadn't reached a centimeter, I yelled "Uncle"! Natural labor is where I gladly exit the "chiropractic- all natural" band wagon. I know not all will like this point of view, but did I mention Benton was all of a 9lb. baby? So those 9 pounds bother me a lot more than other people possibly criticizing my labor strategy.
We have chosen to take the natural route in everything concerning Benton's health from that day on. In the hospital, the only thing he received was Vitamin K and that was only to avoid readmitting him to the hospital for his circumcision. We denied the eye drops and the Hepatitis B shot. The eye drops are to protect the baby from sexually transmitted diseases in the mother. Since I knew I had none, and it was pointless anyway because he wasn't a vaginal delivery (it's just standard hospital protocol), we did not want those. Hepatitis B is not transmitted casually. It is transmitted via blood to blood contact, unprotected sex, unsterile needles, and/or an infected mother during labor (once again hospital protocol). This is where a birthing plan comes in handy so you can make sure things that are standard protocol don't happen to your child while you are unconcious or caught up in the moment. Education to know what you want and why you don't and communicating those things with your doctor are very important and should be discussed before you get to the labor part.
Benton was first adjusted at day 4, has never received any vaccinations, and is a perfectly healthy and happy little boy and does attend daycare on a regular basis. He has never had an ear infection, colic, digestive issues, or any other common baby complaint that you hear so much about. I would like to think it's because I am such a super mommy, but realistically it is because of regular adjustments and the nutrition that I have incorporated in since I knew I was pregnant (natural prenatal vitamins) and then continued since his birth with supplementation in his diet.
More about Benton's first adjustment and my maternity chiropractic care soon to come! :)
Things don't always go as planned, I learned this during the labor and delivery of Benton. After 24 hours of labor, 4 doses of pitocin, my water being manually broken, Benton being manually turned from face up to face down, and an hour of pushing, a C-section was well welcomed. I did do it naturally for the first 12 hours and when I hadn't reached a centimeter, I yelled "Uncle"! Natural labor is where I gladly exit the "chiropractic- all natural" band wagon. I know not all will like this point of view, but did I mention Benton was all of a 9lb. baby? So those 9 pounds bother me a lot more than other people possibly criticizing my labor strategy.
We have chosen to take the natural route in everything concerning Benton's health from that day on. In the hospital, the only thing he received was Vitamin K and that was only to avoid readmitting him to the hospital for his circumcision. We denied the eye drops and the Hepatitis B shot. The eye drops are to protect the baby from sexually transmitted diseases in the mother. Since I knew I had none, and it was pointless anyway because he wasn't a vaginal delivery (it's just standard hospital protocol), we did not want those. Hepatitis B is not transmitted casually. It is transmitted via blood to blood contact, unprotected sex, unsterile needles, and/or an infected mother during labor (once again hospital protocol). This is where a birthing plan comes in handy so you can make sure things that are standard protocol don't happen to your child while you are unconcious or caught up in the moment. Education to know what you want and why you don't and communicating those things with your doctor are very important and should be discussed before you get to the labor part.
Benton was first adjusted at day 4, has never received any vaccinations, and is a perfectly healthy and happy little boy and does attend daycare on a regular basis. He has never had an ear infection, colic, digestive issues, or any other common baby complaint that you hear so much about. I would like to think it's because I am such a super mommy, but realistically it is because of regular adjustments and the nutrition that I have incorporated in since I knew I was pregnant (natural prenatal vitamins) and then continued since his birth with supplementation in his diet.
More about Benton's first adjustment and my maternity chiropractic care soon to come! :)
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