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Pediatric Chiropractic Trusted Choice for Families

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Chiropractic is a safe, holistic, drugless practice that is helping millions improve their health, including kids. Pediatric chiropractic care focuses primarily on restoring health to a child’s spine, brain, and nervous system, and keeping it healthy through every stage of growth and development. This principle is important for adults and children alike.

Pediatric chiropractic is a safe and life-changing practice that helps children heal naturally from all types of conditions and supports good posture to counterbalance technology, spectrum challenges, sitting too much and childhood falls. It helps kids develop with a healthier nervous system which is can improve every aspect of their lives.

How Is It Done?

Performing chiropractic techniques on children is much gentler than it is for adults. Children’s bodies are still in the development process, so chiropractors are trained to take extra care with newborns using extremely light touch or instrument techniques that are specific and effective. Chiropractors will answer every question, engage the child and say what they are about to do next to keep both children and parents at ease. Most children and parents love receiving chiropractic care as they love and enjoy the experience and more importantly the results.

Can Chiropractic Really Help Children?

Chiropractic care has been shown to help kids with conditions such as ear infections, ADHD, autism, cerebral palsy, and more. Parents report that their children become calmer, more focused, sleep better, heal quicker when their child is well adjusted. Pediatric chiropractic care is taught in many of the chiropractic colleges as well as through post-graduate seminars and certification programs. The goal is that kids live and grow healthy, and up to their full potential, 100% for 100 years.

Why Parents Keep Bringing Their Kids in to Get Chiropractic Adjustments

The birth process can be very traumatic to a child’s spine and nervous system. Learning to walk, childhood falls, sports injuries can all cause problems in the spine and nervous system that lead to developmental challenges as children grow, even affecting their immune system. Parents appreciate chiropractic care because of the drug-free approach to health care as more kids than ever are developing dependencies on drugs. As kids continue to age, this dependency has the potential to grow stronger, leading to a drug-addicted life.

Chiropractic’s drug-free protocols can prevent this from happening as seen in the recent reports related to a 50% reduction in Opioids used with chiropractic care.

Pediatric chiropractic helps kids live healthy, drug-free lives. Discover how pediatric chiropractic can be the holistic, whole life answer for you and your family.

Prenatal Chiropractic Care

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Pregnancy is a time of constant and exciting change in a woman’s physiology and overall life as her body prepares for the athletic event of birth. It is important for expecting moms to assemble a birth team to help guide them through these changes and optimize their experience.

In addition to choosing their birth provider, doula, lactation consultant and birth preparation classes, many women are realizing the importance of prenatal chiropractic care. Prenatal chiropractic care addresses the neuro-biomechanics of your pregnancy, which is essential for your body to be able to organically adapt to the physical and functional changes during every stage of this beautiful and natural process.

What does this mean for you?

Chiropractic checkups and adjustments, when necessary, can…

  • Balance the body and soft tissues of the pelvis, preparing your pelvis for an easier birth.
  • Align your pelvis to ensure that it is moving properly.
  • Reduce torsion and tension on the uterus and its supporting ligaments.
  • Allow for the pelvis to open wider during birth.
  • Ensure optimum nerve function.

Your nervous system controls the function of every cell in your body, including your uterus and pelvic muscles – the main muscles of labor.

Chiropractic care during pregnancy can also benefit your baby. The nervous system is the first system that forms in your baby during the 3rd week after conception. Since your nervous system communicates with your baby’s nervous system, proper function can contribute to better development. Balancing your pelvis also allows your baby the chance to have the most room to develop without physical restrictions to the growth of their cranium, spine and other skeletal structures. Also, this can help the baby move into the best possible birth position when it is their time to arrive.

All of these factors can contribute to a more natural birth as well as a significant decrease in dystocia and birth trauma caused by interventions.

Chiropractic care can help make your pregnancy and birth experience healthier and more enjoyable while helping to minimize the risk. No wonder millions of women include chiropractors as a vital member of their birth team.

Schedule an appointment for your family today.

Contributed by Dr. Emily Plasker, 100 Year Lifestyle Affiliate Chiropractor in Bend, Oregon

Preparing for a Healthy Pregnancy

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Give Your Baby a Healthy Start

Planning a family is an exciting time for any couple. There are books to read, videos to watch and doting relatives all too willing to share their stories. With the possibility that your baby could live to be 80, 90, 100 years and beyond, soon-to-be parents need to understand their choices and how those choices will affect your baby for a lifetime.

The best thing you can do for your baby is to give him or her a good head start in life by having a healthy pregnancy. But did you know that having a healthy pregnancy can actually begin before conception? Healthy lifestyle habits prior to conception will better your chances of providing the best developmental environment for your child while they are in the womb.

Risky behaviors should be avoided, such as using drugs, over-indulging in alcohol, and exposure to tobacco products. Just as important as the list of “what not to do when planning a baby” is the list of “things to start doing.” This includes proper nutrition, prenatal vitamins, exercise and stress reduction.

Proper Nutrition is Vital

Proper nutrition is vitally important to the health of your baby. The food you eat becomes the building blocks your baby’s Innate Intelligence will use to develop their eyes, ears, lungs, heart, muscles, skin and brain. There are many ways to determine which foods are most beneficial and why, but to keep things simple, follow this guideline: If it grows, eat it. If it comes in a package with an ingredient list of more than 5-6 items, choose something else. Foods that have been processed the least usually offer more nutrients, are more readily digested and are healthier than those foods that are highly processed and contain chemicals.
In addition to eating healthy, prenatal vitamins can ensure that Moms receive adequate amounts of Vitamins A, B-1, B-2, Niacin, B-6, B-12, C, D and E, as well as Folic Acid, Calcium, Iron and usually Zinc. Prenatal vitamins should be considered 6 weeks before conception. Choose vitamins from a trusted source that don’t include fillers and chemicals. Check the ingredient list to see if your vitamins were derived from a whole food source, or if they were engineered in a chemical factory. Remember, what you put in your body directly affects your unborn child.

Get Your ESS in Shape

Exercise is beneficial to both Mom and baby. Studies show that a Mom who exercises through the duration of her pregnancy may experience little to no morning sickness, nausea, back pain, swelling and other irritations sometimes seen in pregnancy. All 3 components of The 100 Year Lifestyle Workout should be a part of your fitness plan. So wherever you are on your journey toward motherhood, the time has come to Get Your ESS in Shape – Endurance, Strength and Structure (your spine and nervous system).

Moms should take all steps necessary to lessen stress before and during pregnancy. Stress takes a toll on the mother’s body and can adversely affect her ability to adapt. Chiropractic adjustments relieve the effects of stress on the nervous system, allowing the body to function and adapt at higher levels.

The lifestyle choices you make now will have an effect on your baby from the moment of conception until their very last breath 80, 90 and maybe even 100 years down the road. Take the steps necessary to start enjoying a healthy active life while providing your baby the foundations for theirs.

Learn more at www.educatedpregnancy.com

© 2012. TFP, Inc. and www.100yearlifestyle.com. All Rights Reserved.

Tylenol in Pregnancy: ADHD in Kids

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The list of dangers for acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, just grew substantially. JAMA Pediatrics recently reported that acetaminophen use by women who are pregnant can double the risk of behavior disorders in their children. This new report adds to the growing list of acetaminophen dangers.

If you visit www.drugs.com and search “Side Effects of Tylenol” you will see 12 pages of side effects ranging from unpleasant digestive issues, mood swings, seizures and dizziness to list a few. The FDA warns that too much acetaminophen can cause liver damage.

Acetaminophen (paracetamol) is the most commonly used medication for pain and fever during pregnancy in many countries. Research data suggest that acetaminophen is a hormone disruptor, and abnormal hormonal exposures in pregnancy may influence fetal brain development. A study of over 64 thousand families in the Danish National Birth Cohort revealed that acetaminophen use during pregnancy is strongly linked to an increase as much as 30 percent of ADHD cases in children during the first seven years of life. 37 percent of children are at greater risk of Hyperkinetic Disorder if exposed to acetaminophen before birth. According to the study, 20 or more weeks of acetaminophen use nearly doubled the risk of Hyperkinetic and Attention Deficit disorders. The study’s authors state “it is possible that acetaminophen may interrupt brain development”, and “should no longer be considered a safe drug for use in pregnancy”.

Tylenol is not candy and neither is any acetaminophen-filled medication, whether it available over-the-counter or in prescription strength. During pregnancy what a woman puts in her body directly affects her unborn child by becoming the building blocks used to develop the baby’s eyes, ears, lungs, heart, muscles, skin and brain.

Instead of taking drugs, many women are flocking to chiropractors for relief from discomfort and pain associated with pregnancy as well as to keep their pelvis aligned and balanced which supports a healthy delivery. A study published in 2012 by Chiropractic and Manual Studies stated, “All patients found chiropractic treatment to be effective and that it helped relieve them of their lower back pain and associated symptoms. Patients reported that chiropractic treatment had improved their daily living activities and their mobility, while it decreased their overall pain and discomfort.”

There are many chiropractic techniques that are gentle on pregnant women and their babies and provide great results. There is even one specialized technique that can assist in turning a breech positioned baby into its normal position. Dr. Larry Webster developed a gentle chiropractic adjusting technique (called the Webster Technique) to restore movement and alignment in the lower spine throughout pregnancy. During his career of working with over 1,000 pregnant moms, Dr. Webster reported that over 90 percent of the babies optimized their positioning in utero when the mother received this adjustment.

Rather than risk the immediate and long term effects of acetaminophen, contact us and experience how Chiropractic Care can help you enjoy a healthy drug free pregnancy and live the healthy drug free lifestyle you and your family deserve.

References:
JAMA Pediatr. Published online February 24, 2014. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2013.4914

Chiropractic & Manual Therapies 2012, 20:32 doi:10.1186/2045-709X-20-32 http://www.chiromt.com/content/20/1/32

http://icpa4kids.org/Wellness-Articles/for-many-pregnant-moms-webster-technique-is-the-key-to-a-safer-birth/All-Pages.html

Healthier Pregnancy, Healthier Life

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New longevity research declares that babies born today could routinely live to 100-120 years and beyond. Parents need to know how their lifestyle will affect their baby today, tomorrow and for a lifetime.

It’s wise for pregnant moms to reduce and avoid stress.
Stress affects longevity by shortening telomeres, the caps on chromosomes. They are considered the timekeepers of the cell and telomere shortening can happen at any age. When umbilical cord blood is drawn from newborns, the babies whose mothers experienced more stress during pregnancy showed shorter telomeres than those moms who experienced easier or less stressful pregnancies.(1)

If conditions during pregnancy were not ideal, then embracing a healthy lifestyle now with good nutrition, exercise and a balanced spine and nervous system are vital for mom and child, to preserve and optimize their longevity potential while also reducing the risk of degenerative diseases.

The science of epigenetics empowers us with the knowledge that we have greater control over our own and our baby’s destiny than we may have thought. Depending on the research you read, between five to 30 percent of disease development is determined by your genetics while 70 percent or more being related to your lifestyle choices, how we take care of ourselves today. This is a game changer for making the extra effort to create the healthiest pregnancy, delivery and environment for mom and baby. A vitalistic, less stressful pre and post-natal phase can set the stage for health.

The old saying “you are what you eat” is especially true during pregnancy and quality prenatal supplementation plus eating nutritious whole food is important. Include protein sources rich in omega 3 fatty acids and free from hormones and antibiotics. Eliminate exposure to toxins, pesticides and estrogen mimickers commonly found in plastics, sunscreens, cleaning agents and insecticides. Pesticide exposure can be reduced swiftly by switching to organic foods.

Regular exercise like walking, swimming and stretching prepares the body well for labor. Building strength will prepare mom for the endurance needed during delivery and the weeks following birth.

The structure of the mom’s pelvis can determine her ability to carry and deliver her baby in a healthier way. Lifestyle chiropractic care can align her pelvis and contribute to a delivery with less stress on her and her baby. If mom’s pelvis and/or sacrum are misaligned, abnormal tension can occur in her nerve system leading to unnecessary complications such as breach or transverse presentation, back pain, sciatica or severe ‘back labor’.

Women receiving chiropractic adjustments report shorter labor times and better delivery experiences. Offering the gift of a chiropractic checkup to an expectant mother can be the highlight gift at every baby shower. Proper spinal alignment before, during and after pregnancy sets the stage for mom and baby to live their ideal 100 Year Lifestyle.

1. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2013 Feb;208(2):134.e1-7. doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2012.11.033. Epub 2012 Nov 27.

Contributed by Drs. David and Lorraine Melendez, A 100 Year Lifestyle Affiliate in Cardiff by the Sea, CA

Pregnancy, Posture & Fitness

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Every pregnant woman wants to bring a healthy and vibrant child into this world. Making healthy choices during pregnancy is a critical component to handling the physical, mental and emotional demands of pregnancy while ensuring a safe birth and long, vitalistic life for both you and your baby.

Women’s bodies were innately designed to give birth. When pregnant the hormone Relaxin is produced to relax the muscles, ligaments and tendons to accommodate for the growing baby. As a woman approaches the end of the first trimester, increased weight in the belly creates a pelvic tilt forward creating a more exaggerated curve in the lumbar spine. Oxytocin, another hormone, helps create effective contractions while simultaneously acting as the body’s natural pain reliever and preventing bleeding after labor. These changes create more space, protection and stability for the growing baby.

A fitness regimen throughout the pregnancy and post-partum period supports the desire for an uncomplicated pregnancy and birth. Unfortunately, recent research shows that only 1 out of every 6 pregnant women exercise a light to moderate intensity most days of the week (Fieril).

As a mother’s weight increases, her center of gravity shifts outward and postural changes such as instability in the spine and pelvis occur (Ohm). Some of the instability in the spine and pelvis comes from a weakened pelvic floor and core thus creating less intra-abdominal pressure.

Fortunately, poor posture has been perceived as being improved through fitness and chiropractic care during pregnancy (Fieril). One study revealed that urinary incontinence as a result of weakened pelvic floor is a common condition in pregnancy and in the post-partum period. Chiropractic care has been shown to effectively improve the muscular tone and restoration of the articular function twice as much as no care at all (Roy).

Staying active while pregnant has been reported and described by women as “enjoying using their muscles during exercise” which leads to a “psychological boost”. Chiropractic care at the core of a healthy lifestyle, in conjunction with physical fitness during pregnancy, helps mom achieve optimal health and peak performance so that her body can better adapt to the demands of the birth process. A healthy nervous system ensures a healthier growing baby during pregnancy, a safer pregnancy for mom and full life expression for both today and throughout a lifetime.

Pregnancy is an empowering and natural experience that should be looked upon as something other than a disorder to be monitored. Do you have questions on where to start for your fitness routine during pregnancy? Ask your 100 Year Lifestyle chiropractor today to learn how to keep your spine and nervous system healthy throughout pregnancy. Lifestyle chiropractic care along with physical activity during pregnancy prepares mom for the endurance, strength and structure needed during labor and birth.

Take charge of your body and the decisions made prenatal, perinatal and post-partum to support you and your newborn’s 100 Year Lifestyle.

Contributed by Heather Kimbley, BA, AAS, PTA

Fieril KP., Olsen MF., Glantz A., Larsson M. Experiences of Exercise During Pregnancy Among Women Who Perform Regular Resistance Training: A Qualitative Study. Phys Ther 2014; 94 (8): 1135-1143. doi: 10.2522/ptj.20120432

Roy, AM. Pelvic muscle floor training in a case of postpartum urinary incontinence. JCCP. 13; 2, 1017-124. December 2012. http://jccponline.com/jccp_v13_n2.pdf

Ohm, J. Chiropractic care for an easier pregnancy and safer birth. PathWays to Family Wellness magazine, Dec. 1st, #24 http://pathwaystofamilywellness.org/Pregnancy-Birth/chiropractic-care-for-an-easier-pregnancy-and-safer-birth.html