Thursday, August 26, 2010

September is "Chiropractic Awareness Month"

September is Chiropractic Awareness Month! September is an important date to all Chiropractors as this month in 1895 is when the "birth" of Chiropractic was.

The first "Chiropractic" adjustment was given to a man in Davenport, IA by the name of Harvey Lillard who was the janitor of a Doctor named DD Palmer. Mr Lillard was deaf, well mostly, and upon examinination, Dr Palmer found no physiological problem with his ears, however found his spine to have been "misaligned" just inbetween the shoulder area. Upon using his reasoning to "adjust" this misaligned area, Dr Palmer used his hands to help guide the vertebra back into place..........and move it did. After a couple times of doing this, Mr Lillard noted that he was able to hear again slowly. The ironic part was that people actually started coming from all over the world to Davenport, IA to see Dr Palmer hoping he had found a cure for hearing loss. This was in fact not the case. Dr Palmer did find however, that many ailments within the body can often be related to spinal issues if there is one. Does this mean that ALL problems come from the spine and need adjusting...........certainly not, however there are many that do and unfortunately do not get attended to....................hence, September is Chiropractic "Awareness" month.

Modern science has been able to reason why that particular adjustment helped Mr Lillard to regain hearing as that region of the spine where he was badly misaligned (Subluxated) has much control over nervous messaging and blood flow back up into the head and hearing apparatus.....................shut down the blood and nerve flow into your arm and watch it die, remove that obstruction to the normal flow of blood and nerve, and watch it regain life just as with his ears or any other body part affected this way. For interested persons there is much research on Chiropractic, by many MD's such as Drs Windsor, DeNagy, Pero, Suh, and more that relate the imortance of Chiropractic Adjustive treatments for many conditions.

It really is that simple and that is why Chiropractic cures nothing! We only restore the integrity of the spine and nervous system so that all those messages flow more like they are supposed to. Doing that is how it works, as the body is always completely capable of healing itself. You restore that ability and then health restores on its own. The body cures...................there is no cure in Medicine or Chiropractic alike. A pound of medicine or 100 adjustments will never cure any body that is not "able" to essentially do the work on its own..........................Medicine and Chiropractic alike can only help to find the best means by which to "aid" the body in self-correction. The "cure" is within, always has been and always will be!

So........this month we are honoring the body's natural ability to heal through Chiropractic Awareness. ALL CONSULTATIONS will be at no charge in September. We do this so that patients "know and understand" their options for health. Chiropractic and Medicine are both great tools (that in my personal opinion should do a much better job of working together for patients), but like any tool, is made for a specific job. There is no tool to handle all problems, so come by and get your FREE consultation to see if Chiropractic is the right "tool" for you.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Car Accidents - Some Things To Consider

Just had another Car Accident Patient come in the door. Unfortunate to see people just after an accident more worried about costs than anything else. Of course, your HEALTH is what comes FIRST! So yes, you should always get checked out! I don't mean by the Hospital necessarily, however auto accidents slower than 10 MPH..................yes 10MPH have been documented to elicite some damage to the body, which makes sense once you even consier how much a car weighs vs. your body and then also consider if that 2,000 + pound vehicle was moved even (1) foot of distance.

Here are some quick tips and things to consider for car accidents:
(not necessarily placed in any particular order of importance)
1. Always trade information with the other driver
2.I recommend always calling a local officer on scene
3. take pictures..........most phones have picture capability these days
4. Find a local witness if possible or realistic.
5. Make sure you are safe off the road and won't get hit by another vehicle first...........yes you may move your vehicle, simply notify the officer as to the need for safety.
6. If in doubt, call an ambulance to get medical evaluation, safe is always better than sorry when you're uncertain.
7. If your not broken, then get to your Chiropractor, and likely your massage therapist, to start working on any issues you may be having, whether your consciously aware of them yet or not!
Again, safe is better than sorry when it comes to your health and well-being.

* Gems:
a) Consider that accidents generally "elevate" our bodies with that kind of force, in this case, a low-placed head rest could almost be more dangerous than beneficial as when the body raises, the headrest now can act as a fulcrum to "whip" the head back over, creating more damage to the cervical spine. THEREFORE make certian that as you sit at rest in your vehicle, he head rest should be felt when leaning back to near the top of the head. Goofy looking or not, in an accident this can make the difference between "whip lash" and your head stopping and minimizing damage to that precious neck or yours!
b) DON'T NOT GET THE CARE! Most commonly I hear patients tell me that they didn't get checked because they didn't know if their auto insurance policy would cover the charges. As of january 1, 2009, ALL auto policies are mandated to have a minimum "Medical payments" provision of at least $5000, unless you choose to opt out of that particular coverage. This means that all though you are smart to check your policy coverage, on average, you will have $5000 of coverage for heatlh care ( whether it's the Hospital, or your Chiropractor). Personally, I choose to actually increase my "Med Pay" coverage on my car to at least $25, 000 as this is very beneficial if I get into an accident no matter who was at fault, and it generally only increased my premiums around $20 or less per six months................a no brainer!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Ear Infections

I had a 2 year old come in to me a week ago on his 6th course of antibiotics due to recurrent ear infections. The mother quizically asked me how Chiropractic could possible help with ear infections since she knows that I see a lot of children.

A question tendered this way tells me that unfortunatly like all too many parents out there, that they don't readily consider Chiropractic for their kids health because they see it as a painrelie tool. Of course, as usual I would say this is furthest from the truth.

Here's how it works, so consider this:
There generally is no rogue bacteria involved in an ear infection. There is generally subluxation in the childs upper neck, just at or below the skull. Children are more prone to ear infection as their little heads are more "round" than an adults "oblong" head; what this means is that an adults ear canal will more naturally drain with gravity than a childs. If there is any subluxation in the neck or in the cranial bones for that matter (yes........they can misalign slightly as well) then this tends to also limit the normal fluid flow in the ears. Without normal flow, what do you think happens............that's right.......where there in no flow there is an increased opportunity to allow bacteria to grow...........just like that fish tank with the broken pump that you never clean.......it ends up mucky and green and all you need to is restore flow and balance to make it healthy again............or wait, maybe some fish antibiotics would be easier? Afterall, that would require less effort.

In uncomplicated ear infections, Chiropractic is actually one of the most well-known treatment modalities with some of the highest success stories.

Things to look out for:
*Tugging at the ear
*General Malaise (tired and fatigued)
*Fever (Don't knee jerk the Ibuprophen here, fever can actually be beneficial, check with
your Chiropractor, GP or Pediatrician first)

Things to consider doing:
*Generally, take the kiddo off the cow's milk immediately. It isn't helping things
*Get the ear looked at. I look into ears and eyes all the time in my practice. Look, and find
out what's going on.
*If necessary, an Adjustment can do wonders. Along with an adjustment, manual
manipulation of the ear, lymphatic system can also stir things up to start healing........
..... I teach my parents how to do everything but the adjustment at home on their own
to help their uncomfortable child.
* There are many OTC oil blends such as Olive, grape seed, etc. that are fantastic, however
you must have the ear looked into first as putting oil into a perforated ear drum is never
recommended!
*Reconsider the antibiotics, yes, sometimes necessary in the worst cases occassionally,
however this in no longer considered the standard of care by the American Academy of
Pediatricians. For that matter, niether is the use of Tubes.
*There are many Homeopathic remedies that work wonders as well, check with your
Chiropractor, Hoeopath, or Naturopath on this one.
* Basically, take a conservative approach to allowing the body to heal itself or a treatment
that supports good self-healing.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Our Construction Dust

Please pardon our dust during construction! Temporarily we are using (2) seperate rooms for operations. Adjusting is at the N.W. corner of the building while administration and Massage remain at their usual location. We will finalize our buildout into the new space in early - mid September, so only 4 more weeks. At that time all entry and exit from our facility will be directly in the common area where the restrooms are located at the south of buliding.

Also, our hours are moving FROM 9-12 and 3-6, TO 9-1 and 4-6. This will allow for more of you to come get adjusted on your lunch hour.

We appreciate your patience with the changes at the moment and look forward to quickly resuming normal operations in our new space.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Pediatric Chiropractic

Chiropractic is for Kids Too!!!
There are those that have never heard of the idea of Pediatric Chiropractic, this is unfortunate as when all the contact numbers are listed up on the fridge for Emergency, Doctor, Pediatrician, Poison Control, and the like................there should absolutely be a space for Chiropractor as well! Could it really be that an infants delicate nervous system is any less important than Dad's, just becuause Dad has "low back pain?" Absolutely not! If we change our paradigm of health to include the importance of the nervous system and its maintenance for the total health of the person, rather than strictly valuing pain levels, then suddently we realize the importance of care we perhaps had not considered prior, such as Chiropractic for our Kids. Personally I see children daily in my office, because there are more and more parents that are better informed to understand why Chiropracti is an integral part of their childrens health an well-being. Children are commonly seen by Chiropractors for many conditions such as 1. Ear Infections
2. Cholic 3. Gastric Reflux 4. Headaches 5. Torticollis (Wry Neck) 6. Difficulty Nursing, and much more. There is plenly of research on this topic and I invite you to access it at http://www.icpa4kids.com/.