Chiropractic...About More Than Back Pain?

source:  http://www.metrotownchiropractic.com/en/faq_and_education.html

7 Reasons Why Chiropractic Is About More Than Back Pain
posted by PHS Chiropractic on Friday, October 09, 2015

Do your patients think their care is simply about resolving their back pain? It's time to educate them that while chiropractic is about that, it's also about so much more.
Research has demonstrated that chiropractic can actually help keep your body healthy and active and can be incorporated into anyone's lifestyle as a preventative regimen.

Chiropractic:

1. Boosts immune function, making it easier to ward off infection and illness.

2. Reduces inflammation. Higher levels of inflammatory compounds can lead to diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease and psoriasis.

3. Reduces blood pressure. In fact, patients who receive adjustments have seen blood pressure decreases that are equal to being given two different anti-hypertensive agents at the same time!

4. Reduces stress, including improving brain activity responsible for stress reactions and reducing cortisol levels.

5. Improves balance by restoring normal healthy spine function.

6. Relieves colic in babies.

7. Relieves asthma symptoms in both adults and children. As chiropractors, we know the benefits of being under chiropractic care extends well beyond just back pain relief. In an article published by ChiroHosting they give 7 reasons why chiropractic is about your overall wellness.

The core concept of chiropractic is to restore the function of your nervous system so that it can do what’s it’s designed to do: keeping your body healthy and active. Chiropractic is truly about prevention. If you keep your nervous system working smoothly and without interference, many health issues become non-issues!

Don’t take our word for it, though. Over the last few years, there’s been a lot of scientific research that shows that chiropractic is good for much more than just aches and pains. Here’s a review of some of this literature.

1 – Chiropractic Boosts Immune Function

A 2010 study found that chiropractic adjustments actually boosted blood serum levels of some important natural antibodies in patients. The authors suggested that chiropractic adjustments might "prime" the immune system, making it easier to ward off infection and illness.

2 – Chiropractic Reduces Inflammation

Researchers in a 2011 study compared back pain patients to people with no pain and gave both groups chiropractic adjustments. The authors found that the back pain patients who received chiropractic care had dramatically lower levels of a key inflammatory cytokine, known as TNF-α. High levels of TNF-α have been linked to inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and psoriasis.

3 – Chiropractic Reduces Blood Pressure

Hypertension is a huge public health issue in the US; it’s estimated that about 30% of adults suffer from this serious condition. A 2007 study in the Journal of Human Hypertension looked at a group of patients with high blood pressure. Half received an adjustment of their atlas, and the other half received a sham adjustment.

The decrease in blood pressure was so dramatic in the patients who received real adjustments that the researchers wrote that it "is similar to that seen by giving two different anti-hypertensive agents simultaneously." In fact, 85% of the study patients had improvement after just one adjustment!

4 – Chiropractic Reduces Stress

An interesting study by a team of Japanese researchers in 2011 gave chiropractic adjustments to 12 men and examined PET scan images and blood chemistry to examine the effect that chiropractic has on the autonomic nervous system.

After receiving a chiropractic neck adjustment, patients had altered brain activity in the parts of the brain responsible for pain processing and stress reactions. They also had significantly reduced cortisol levels, indicating decreased stress. Participants also reported lower pain scores and a better quality of life after treatment.

5 – Chiropractic Improves Balance

As we age, sometimes we start to lose some of our balance, strength, and flexibility that we had in our youth. Because of this, older folks are vulnerable to serious injuries from trips and falls. Chiropractic helps keep your body active by restoring the normal, healthy functioning of your spine. One of the important roles of your spine is balance, aided by nerves called proprioceptors. These proprioceptors relay information to your brain on the position of your body.

A small study from 2009 found that people who received chiropractic adjustments had reduced dizziness and improved balance. A 2015 review of the literature suggests that chiropractic care might be an effective, natural way to help prevent falls in elderly patients.

6 – Chiropractic Relieves Colic in Babies

In 2012, researchers studied 104 infants who were suffering from colic. One-third of the infants were treated with chiropractic adjustments and the parents were aware of the treatment; one-third were treated and the parents were unaware of the treatment; and one-third were untreated but the parents were unaware.

The authors found that the parents reported a significant decrease in infant crying in the treated babies, compared to the infants who didn’t receive treatment. The knowledge of the parent had no effect on the improvement.

7 – Chiropractic Relieves Asthma Symptoms

A 2013 study reported that chiropractic adjustments were effective at increasing lung functioning, and some recent research shows that chiropractic care can help reduce the symptoms of asthma in some children.


Reference Studies

1.  Teodorczyk-Injeyan JA, McGregor M, Ruegg R, Injeyan HS. Interleukin 2-regulated in vitro antibody production following a single spinal manipulative treatment in normal subjects. Chiropractic & Osteopathy 2010;(18)26.

2.  Teodorczyk-Injeyan JA, Triano JJ, McGregor M, Woodhouse L, Injeyan HS. Elevated production of inflammatory mediators including nociceptive chemokines in patients with neck pain: a cross-sectional evaluation. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics 2011;34(8):498-505.

3.  Bakris G, Dickholtz M Sr, Meyer PM, Kravitz G, Avery E, Miller M, Brown J, Woodfield C, Bell B. Atlas vertebra realignment and achievement of arterial pressure goal in hypertensive patients: a pilot study. Journal of Human Hypertension 2007;21(5):347-52.

4.  Ogura T, Tashiro M, Masud M, et al. Cerebral metabolic changes in men after chiropractic spinal manipulation for neck pain. Alternative Therapies. 2011;17(6):12-17.

5.  Strunk RG, Hawk C. Effects of chiropractic care on dizziness, neck pain, and balance: a single-group, pre-experimental, feasibility study. Journal of Chiropractic Medicine 2009;8(4):156–164.

6.  Kendall JC, Hartvigsen J, French SD, Azari MF. Is there a role for neck manipulation in elderly falls prevention? – An overview. Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association 2015;9(1):53-63.

7.  Miller JE, Newell D, Bolton JE. Efficacy of chiropractic manual therapy on infant colic: a pragmatic single-blind, randomized controlled trial. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics 2012;35(8):600-7.

8.  Engel RM, Vemulpad SR, Beath K. Short-term effects of a course of manual therapy and exercise in people with moderate chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a preliminary clinical trial. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics 2013;36(8):490-6.

9.  Pepino VC, Ribeiro JD, Ribeiro MA, de Noronha M, Mezzacappa MA, Schivinski CI. Manual therapy for childhood respiratory disease: A systematic review. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics 2013;36(1):57-65.
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Maybe #chiropractic is about more than we thought? https://t.co/XE2ZrOd0ry

— Travis Robertson (@theuppercblog) October 20, 2015

Avoid the Flu…Upper Cervical Care Can Help

The first line of defense against the flu or any contagious dis-ease is a healthy, fully functioning immune system. The immune system is affected by the nerve system through the connections with the endocrine and the autonomic nervous system. Stressful conditions lead to altered measures of immune function, and altered susceptibility to a variety of diseases. Many stimuli, which primarily act on the central nervous system, can profoundly alter immune responses. The two routes available to the central nervous system are neuro-endocrine channels and autonomic nerve channels. Upper cervical care improves this function by removing nerve interference and allowing brain to body communication to be resumed.

We encourage you to explore the wonders of upper cervical care if you currently know little about it. Who can benefit? – Everyone, from infants to seniors, mothers-to-be, athletes, and accident victims will benefit from a healthy spine and nervous system.

A Simple Concept

Upper Cervical Care is based on the universal law of cause and effect. For every effect or symptom (physical or mental), there must be a cause. Upper Cervical doctors focus their efforts on locating and correcting interference to the nervous system and this may be the cause of your health condition. Correcting this interference can allow the body to heal itself naturally. An Upper Cervical Correction is gentle and there is no forceful pulling, twisting or jerking motion of your neck. The correction is applied using a precise and controlled touch that allows the head, neck, and spine to return to their proper positions, restoring balance to the body and removing the interference.

What Is Upper Cervical Care?

Upper Cervical care is a rapidly growing form of chiropractic that focuses on the intimate relationship between the first two bones in the neck, called the Upper Cervical spine, and a vital portion of the nervous system, known as the brain stem. This relationship is essential to the body’s ability to preserve and restore health. Think of the brain stem as the control center that extends down an opening in the base of your skull, making it vulnerable to injuries or irritation around the upper neck. The brain stem works like a telephone cable with thousands of individual wires or nerve fibers sending signals back and forth between the brain and spinal cord to every cell, organ and system in the body. Every nerve impulse between the brain and the body must pass through the brain stem. The nervous system is responsible for all communication within the body. It coordinates and maintains your immune system, emotions, vision, hearing, balance, breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, digestion, muscle tension, posture, hormones, and every other function. Irritation or pressure within the central nervous system can interrupt communication between the brain and the body, thus contributing to a variety of health problems.

The top vertebrae, the Atlas, is especially vulnerable to injury or misalignment because it is the most mobile segment of the spine. If neglected, an Upper Cervical misalignment may lead to irreversible spinal degeneration and chronic ill health. Upper Cervical misalignments can be caused by falls, auto accidents, sports, job injuries, concussions, physical or emotional stress, poor posture, or even birth trauma.

To learn more about Upper Cervical Care, please visit www.uppercervicalcare.com or www.upcspine.com.

Chronic Headaches And Upper Cervical Care?

Adapted from Chronic Headache Sufferers Find Relief

Many people are not aware of the relationship between upper cervical (neck) trauma and headaches. With all that modern science has accomplished, there are still more unanswered questions than answered ones. This is also true in the case of headache research. It’s been difficult to pinpoint the exact reason(s) why certain people suffer chronic headache pain. However, research is beginning to point toward upper cervical trauma as an underlying cause for many types of head pain, especially migraine, cluster and tension headaches.

The upper cervical area of the spine refers to the two vertebrae located at the top of the spine, directly underneath the head. C1 (known as Atlas,) along with C2 (known as Axis,) are chiefly responsible for the rotation and flexibility of the head and neck. Like the rest of the neck, they are extremely vulnerable to injury and trauma, especially trauma to the head through auto or sporting accidents.

Because so many nerves transmit through the cervical region (to and from the brain,) trauma to this area results in problems to other parts of the body. This is where the relationship between the upper cervical area and headaches becomes evident. If these vertebrae become displaced, even slightly, chronic head pain can occur. Unless the neck injury is addressed, the symptoms persist.

upper cervical care involves correcting the position of these injured cervical vertebrae, particularly C1 and C2. Realigning these vertebrae may reduce or eliminate many types of headaches.

The most common types of headaches are migraine, cluster and tension headaches. Migraine headaches are characterized by intense pain on either one or both sides of the head. Pain is usually located around the temples or behind one ear or eye. The pain is so severe that it often causes extreme sensitivity to light, dizziness and may even lead to vomiting. Migraines may occur with or without ‘aura.’ Aura refers to visual symptoms which occur 10 to 30 minutes prior to the onset of the headache. They are usually in the form of flashing lights, lines, blind spots or even temporary blindness.

Cluster headaches almost always occur on only one side of the head. Their onset is so sudden and intense, cluster headaches have been described as “worse than childbirth.” In fact, the doctor who originally identified and researched cluster headaches characterized their pain as being able “to drive normal people to suicide.”

Tension headaches are sometimes called ‘stress headaches.’ They often start midday and usually consist of a dull, aching pain rather than a sharp, intense one. They start gradually and slowly build in intensity. Tension headaches may last anywhere from less than one to several hours.

Of course, not every headache falls into one of these categories. The type and degree of pain varies from person to person. However, if any headache occurs more often than on an occasional or sporadic basis, it’s safe to assume that there may be an underlying cause. Continually treating chronic and recurrent headaches with pain medication may temporarily ease the symptoms, but it won’t cure the problem.

Many of these headaches improve while under upper cervical care. A first visit to an Upper cervical doctor usually involves a spinal evaluation and tests such as x-rays. From there, the practitioner will determine the formula for the upper cervical correction. Patients often notice an improvement in symptoms, sometimes after only a few visits.

(Editor's note: Remember the objective of upper cervical care is to correct head neck misalignment that is interfering with proper brain to body communication. When this is corrected the body functions at a higher level and can often correct other problems more efficiently on its own. Please do not confuse upper cervical care as a treatment for headaches or any other condition, disease or symptom.)

Want More Hours In Your Day? Try Upper Cervical Care

13 Benefits Of Upper Cervical Care: Part 8

We are all given the same amount of time in a day, 24 hours or 1,440 minutes or 86,400 seconds. Why is it then that some people seem to be so productive in the course of a day, while the greatest accomplishments for the day for others may be just getting out of bed, getting dressed and eating three meals? Have you ever been asked what you did the day before or over the weekend and for the life of you, you could not recount any worthwhile accomplishment? If it’s the weekend you can usually get away with saying “I just relaxed” (although you may not feel that rested and you wish you could respond with an exciting, event-filled weekend.) Why is it that so many people just do not feel like they are getting anywhere in life, not accomplishing their goals, not getting ahead in work and/or accomplishing more of the lofty goals they had as a young person?

Time-management people say that the major problem is not that people do not have enough hours in the day but that they do not use the time that they have in a wise manner. To be successful people must prioritize their day. It is not enough to just have a list of things to do but to make sure that the list indicates the importance of the things to be done and that the most important things are done first. Sadly for many people the functional state of their nerve systems checked via upper cervical care is just not a priority in their day. They would like to but the “tyranny of the urgent” controls their lives. They do the things that they have to do rather than the things that they want to do. Often the “have to do” things are not even important when it comes down to it—but we have just not prioritized our day. Another reason why people do not accomplish what they should or what they want is that they just do not have the energy to do everything that needs to be done. How many people spend an hour or two or more in front of the television or Internet and their to-do-list goes unfinished. They just did not have enough energy. If this happens long enough, what usually occurs is that the person stops making lists (and probably ends up watching more and more television or more and more time unproductively online.)

Another problem with “too few hours” is poor planning and not scheduling your day most effectively. As a result, we are re-tracing our steps often going past the same place twice and generally wasting time. So what can we do about these problems? Well, follow the experts’ advice. Prioritize your day, make out a schedule of things you need to do and follow your plan. Make sure that you schedule periodic visits for an upper cervical checkup. It will give you more life, enable you to keep up an active schedule and get all those things done that you need to do with energy and time left over. Try it, you may be surprised at the results!

13 Benefits Of Upper Cervical Care: Part 3

#3 Less Stress

Research studies have shown that people perceive their stress levels to be quite varied. On a scale of one to ten, respondents run the full range for what they believe their stress levels to be. Sadly most people see themselves in the higher ranges rather than the lower ones. Why is there such a wide variation and more importantly, why is it that most people perceive their stress levels to be high? Is it the economy? The world situation? Life in general? We really have no way of comparing the stresses of life today with 100 or 200 years ago.

It has been suggested that stress is not caused by the events or circumstances of life but by how an individual responds to those circumstances. Unpleasant events and circumstances have been described as adversities which when not dealt with result in stress. Hans Seyle, PhD, a world famous neurologist who did work in this area over a generation ago, described adversity as stress and the inability to handle that adversity as distress. He theorized that stress was good. We all need some adversity in our life in order to grow, to adapt, to be able to handle greater adversities as they occur. In the area of health, developing permanent immunity is merely a matter of handling the adversity of a disease so the body can learn to fight off the microorganism every time it comes in contact with it in the future. Permanent immunity makes you a stronger person. (Perhaps artificial immune procedures, while often making one immune to that disease, weakens the overall function of the body’s immune system by not subjecting it to adversity.) Lifting weights is a stress but if done properly with the right amount, this adversity can make a person stronger. Even emotional stress, if overcome, often makes us stronger. People even say, “Well if it doesn’t kill me, I’ll be stronger for it.”

We realize that certain adversities just cannot be overcome. They are just too overwhelming. Whether it is emotional, physical or chemical, if any given adversity is too great it will result in stress and that stress will reduce the quality of your life. Yet between insurmountable adversity and that which no one would even give a second thought to are the vast array of circumstances, events, and situations in life that cause tremendous stress in some people and do not affect others. From that we must conclude that there is a factor or factors inside of people that makes one person better able to handle adversity and not allow it to become stress and others less able to handle it.

One of those factors is head/neck misalignment. How well you adapt to all types of stress is dependent upon the proper function of your nerve system and head/neck misalignment not only may reduce the ability of the nerve system to work as well as it should but it is another stress upon the body compounding the stresses that you already have. In this day and age when people are constantly faced with adversity and potential, stress-causing factors, why would you want anything else like that which can reduce you body’s ability to handle the adversities of life? Further, if you do have nerve interference would it not be wise to have it corrected as soon as possible? That is why periodic upper cervical care is so important.

Upper Cervical Care Stories Of Healing: Part 4

Editor's Note: Today our story comes from Upper Cervical Health Centers of America and their Cedar Falls, IA office. Again, please remember that upper cervical doctors do not treat any condition or disease. They are simply removing an obstruction to the body healing on its own. When this is accomplished and it stays that way the wisdom of the body can do amazing things.

Keith's Story

Have you ever considered walking across the yard? Ever actually think about it, or does it come automatically? How about walking across the room, or even getting out of your seat? Most people don’t give it a second thought. Ever drop something, even as small as a pen, and just bend down to pick it up without considering doing it? What if it hurt so bad to even bend down to pick up a pen that you considered leaving it alone? How long could you take that kind of pain? A day, a week, maybe a month? How about ten years?? Have you ever been afraid to pick up that dropped pen in fear that you might not be able to straighten up again, or that suddenly you would get a muscle spasm in your back so bad you would be laid up for a week or two?

That was my life for ten whole years! Most of the time I was in so much pain in my back and hips that to just get out of a chair or bed took some real consideration if it was worth it. The rest of the time was in fear that moving the wrong way would make it hurt so bad I would be incapacitated as a result. Sometimes it would hurt so bad I had trouble even breathing.

I went to see chiropractors – four or five different ones, with different approaches and techniques. None of them could keep me on my feet for more than a couple weeks. Then the pain would come back with a vengeance, sometimes gradually, sometimes suddenly, with a huge spasm. I also saw MD’s. Three of them assured me that it would take a “routine” operation, with a 50% chance of not getting any better. I decided I’d rather be in a wheelchair, which is what they “guaranteed” would eventually happen if I didn’t have the surgery.

I couldn’t hold a job because I couldn’t lift anything, walk across a room, or even sit for any length of time.

After about five years of back and hip pain, I woke up one night and noticed my heart had skipped a couple beats, then hammered quite hard for about three beats. It scared me so bad I went to the MD to have it checked out. He said a lot of people have it – could be stress, could be heart disease, so I went for an ultrasound and found my heart was very efficient – better than most. So why the funny heartbeat? I had also had chronic heartburn for many years along with everything else. Nothing could stop it, and I thought the symptoms were all connected somehow. I didn’t realize how right I was.

My wife had been working to support our family, as I couldn’t do much to make any money, being as crippled as I was. It was so hard for us to make it with 5 of us. I don’t know how we did it. I have to commend my Laurie for sticking it out with me. I was feeling pretty useless after ten years of this condition. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, when Laurie told me she was going to quit her good paying job, and go to work for a “new chiropractor” in town. I thought, “oh good, somebody else is going to tell me he can fix me up. How long this time? A week? A month? Seen it before!”

Doc Troyer did just that, so I let him have a chance at my back also. Except he didn’t want to touch my back, but wanted to “correct” my neck! I thought this guy is REALLY going in the wrong direction! Hope he at least pays my wife enough to support our family while I remain crippled! I let him do the x-rays, and show me where my neck was out, and do the correction. It was all too easy, but the 20 min. nap was nice! Ten years of pain can make you a pretty serious skeptic. You had to “show me”, and I’m not even from Missouri!

I went home that day, took it easy, like Doc told me. When I got up the next morning, I was already in the bathroom before I realized it didn’t take me 20 minutes to get out of bed, as usual, and it didn’t hurt nearly as much doing it! Again, we’ll see – a week? A month?

Doc Troyer had me coming in regularly, and after 3 weeks of checking and a few more corrections, I wasn’t feeling too bad. The real test came when my 160 lb Rott decided to chase a cat. I KNEW what was going to happen to that cat! No adjustment was going to help poor kitty if he got a hold of him, so I ran after the dog. My Rott and I both stopped and stared at each other in amazement. Neither of us could believe I ran! I hadn’t run in over ten years. Doc Troyer was making me a believer! Again, time would tell, but this was more than anyone else had done, so I decided to stick with the program.

After 6 months, my heartburn was gone, and another 6 months my heartbeat went back to normal. That sounds like a long time, but you have to understand, my neck was REALLY messed up, and I was also making up for lost time. During that year I was running a 6 acre organic garden and scrapping cars, not taking it easy, like I should have been doing. I figured I might as well challenge those corrections to see how good Doc Troyer really was. He didn’t let me down. Since he started work on me, I’ve fallen backwards off of a car trailer on cement, been pinned down by a heavy piece of steel, lifted heavy objects as often as I could, and done some pretty amazing feats for as crippled as I was. I was steadily getting better through all the punishment I could subject myself through.

Today, I am 54 years old and can out work most 25 year olds, feel better than I have since I was 30 years old, and remain pain free! I owe it all to Upper Cervical care and Doc Troyer. Oh yes, and my wife for going to work for Doc and convincing me to give it “one more try” and see her boss about my pain. If you’re hurting and/or don’t feel right, you gotta give Upper Cervical a try. It’s NOT about the symptoms, it’s about THE CAUSE! Being pain free and feeling better can be so easy, and being as crippled as I was, is NOT any fun!

Upper Cervical Care And The Cause Of Health

We like to think that each symptom that we have has a singular cause but when it comes to the human body and its proper and improper function, it is not far off track to say “Everything Can Cause Anything” or “Everything Contributes to Anything.” We do not have single causes to something like disease, we have many factors. The latest so-called cause among members of the health care community is heredity. Yet many times members of the same family, even identical twins, do not “get” the disease that is supposed to be hereditary. There is no doubt that heredity is a factor but it is not the cause.

Stress is another so-called cause. Yet two people can work at the same “stressful” job and one ends up with ulcers and the other doesn’t. Or one has a heart attack the other does not. Is stress bad? Sure. Is it the cause of heart attacks? No. At best it is a factor. No one would say that smoking is not harmful. Yet, there are heavy smokers who do not get lung cancer and there are those who never smoked a single cigarette that die from the disease.

Bacteria and viruses are probably most commonly thought to be the cause of disease. Yet even in epidemics, the vast majority of a population does not manifest the disease. We say they had a “higher resistance.” So, it is either a high or low resistance that is the cause and not the germ. Or is resistance just another factor? What about the causes of resistance: diet, exercise, and/or rest? It all tends to be very confusing, especially when you are trying to prevent the cause of disease. “Don’t do this.” “Don’t eat that!” Butter increases cholesterol and cholesterol is supposed to cause heart disease. Margarine causes cancer. Choose your disease on your morning toast!

Perhaps we need a major change in our attitude. Perhaps we need to focus on what causes health, what causes proper body function, what causes increased performance on a mental, physical, and emotional level. It’s really rather simple: eating right, getting regular exercise, maintaining a nerve system free of interference (periodic visits to your upper cervical doctor) and having a positive mental attitude. In fact, it is so simple that most people in the health care/scientific community would rather look elsewhere for something they can do. You see, the “causes” of health are the responsibility of each individual person. And frankly, a health care provider cannot appear important turning the responsibility of health back over to the person. So science muddles along trying to find a new cause, one that they can treat.

Do you want to be healthy? Do you want to be all you can be in life? Then you must take the responsibility. Someone can grow good wholesome food but you must eat it everyday. Someone can build a health club or gym but you must be disciplined to work out two or three times a week. Upper cervical care can provide you with the opportunity to have your spine checked periodically and corrected when necessary but you must bring your spine into the office for them to do so. Take control of your life instead of waiting for “Something to Cause Something.”

Your School-Aged Kid's Average Day

They wake from the soundest of sleep startled by the sound of their alarm clocks or your voice calling them for the fourth or fifth time. Groggy and still half asleep, they shuffle from their beds to the bathroom stubbing their toe on something they should have put away, forcing them to hop on one foot the remainder of the way. They shower in water containing who knows what all kind of chemicals and they shower and they shower.

Now, late for the bus they go running full speed down the stairs, grab two Pop-tarts and with a 40-pound bag of books strapped across their backs, they make a mad dash out of the house to their bus stop. At school all day, they sit in uncomfortable, hard-as-rock chairs with their heads bent over their books (whether they are reading or sleeping). When they take a break from the more than six hours of bending their necks in the opposite direction of their natural curve, they are in a constant state of stress. Are they going to pass all of their classes? Who are they going to the dance with? When will their face clear up? What if they don’t get into college? Why won’t their parents leave them alone? Why won’t their parents pay more attention to them? And this is a good- to best-case scenario. We all know children who have other serious personal struggles--with their identity, with handicaps, with peer pressure.

After school, they challenge themselves physically with sports of all sorts—football, soccer, tennis, golf, track, wrestling, basketball, baseball, volleyball. Unfortunately, often times this activity is fueled solely by the one lousy piece of pizza they had for lunch or maybe a cheeseburger and fries or sometimes nothing at all! It’s possible that their after school activity isn’t physical maybe it’s musical, artistic, or academic. Still, the stress of a long, challenging day on little fuel takes its toll.

By the time they arrive back at home in the evening they are often exhausted not to mention cranky. This may result in arguments with other family members, which is upsetting to everyone. Dinner often is fast-food or if it is homemade they fall asleep on the couch while it is being prepared with their bodies contorted in some unbelievable position that they’re too tired to even notice. After dinner, it’s homework time or probably more likely TV time or computer time where they sit lifeless for another several hours. Or maybe they sit and talk on their cell phone for hours on end with their girlfriends or boyfriends with their heads tilted over stressing the delicate neck musculature. Finally, you yell to them saying it’s getting late and they better get ready for bed (mostly because you’re exhausted at this point and you just don’t want to deal with it anymore). At this point they are pretty much ready to go again since they power napped if not on the couch in the car or the bus on the way home).

With all the physical, chemical, and emotional stress your child packs into the typical day—do you really think their spines are going unaffected? Is it even possible to undergo such numerous and various stresses and not have every part of their body be affected? No, it is not. The problem is the nerve system directs and organizes every other system and every function of the body. If you want your child to learn and grow and play and be all they can and should be, you simply should have their spines and nerve systems checked periodically via upper cervical care. Make the time to fit it in. It’s vitally important.