"Because, after all, A person's a person, no matter how small." -- Dr. Seuss, Horton Hears A Who! Little people need healthy bodies just as much as big people do! Parents instinctively know this, which is why I am often asked if chiropractic can be used for children, if chiropractic is safe for children, and if I am a child chiropractor. To take those questions in order: Can Chiropractic Be Used For Children? Yes. Chiropractic can be useful for any creature with a nervous system (there are even pet chiropractors, since all animals have a nervous system). Chiropractic is used to help the brain and spinal cord relay their messages properly to all the organs of the body. Since children are growing so rapidly, the coordination between their brains and bodies has to be precise. If there is any interference in the nervous system, their natural growth may be altered. This can occur as a result of toxins, autoimmune disorders, or even minor trauma, such as falling off a bike. Since children are usually highly active, they accumulate a host of minor bumps and bruises that, over time, can cause their nervous systems to perform at a suboptimal level, whether or not the child complains of symptoms. A simple, painless chiropractic adjustment can be just what children need to get their growth and bodies back on track. Child health issues often resolve quickly. Less often, children may complain of headaches or chronic neck or back pain. When this occurs, a doctor of chiropractic should be consulted to rule out more serious conditions, but these ongoing symptoms may simply be the result of poor posture, video gaming, texting, sitting at desks, heavy backpacks, or other easily correctable issues. If these issues sound familiar to you, consider consulting with a child chiropractor in Peoria. Is Chiropractic Safe For Children? Yes! An expertly-delivered chiropractic adjustment is safe for infants, babies, toddlers, children... and all ages. Please check out our Children's Health webpage for statistics and research on the safety of chiropractic for children. Where Can I Find a Child Chiropractor in Peoria? You've already found one! Dr. Kyle Johnson of Johnson Family Chiropractic is experienced in treating children. After all, Dr. Johnson has five children of his own! Dr. Johnson uses only the gentle, safe Activator Methods analysis and adjustment technique, modified specifically for your children. You don't have to worry about your child's safety, because your child will be able to lay comfortably on a table while the analysis and adjusting is performed. In fact, the Activator Methods technique is so quick and painless that children who come to Johnson Family Chiropractic enjoy their experience, and look forward to coming back again and again. When looking into your children's health and wondering if a child chiropractor is right for you, rest assured that Johnson Family Chiropractic will do everything possible to ensure that your child receives excellent chiropractic care.
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Daylight Savings Time will end in 2012 this coming weekend on Sunday, November 4, 2012. As you prepare to set your clocks back one hour this weekend, this is also a great time to think about all your other preparedness needs. 1) Most fire departments recommend changing the batteries in your fire alarms, especially if the alarms aren't already hardwired into your electrical system. 2) Each year the Peoria City/County Health Department recommends checking your emergency stockpiles of food, batteries, flashlights, etc. The Peoria Health Department has stated that you should have at least three days' worth of survival gear in case of a natural disaster. 3) It is certainly worth checking if any of your medicine cabinet medications have expired. The FDA warns that expired medications can be less effective or even downright "risky due to a change in chemical composition or decrease in potency. Improper storage – such as a humid bathroom cabinet – can also contribute to decreased effectiveness in medicines that have not reached their posted expiration date." 4) Take advantage of the opportunity this weekend to get one more hour's worth of sleep. As we enter the darker winter months, you may be tempted to enjoy an extra hour's worth of revelry instead. But adequate sleep, especially in the northern climate of Peoria and Illinois, may be necessary in order to keep your body's immune system primed and ready to fight off viral infections. Lack of sleep can prevent your immune system from properly fighting off colds or the flu. 5) Practicing good sleep habits now can also help prevent Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), a form of depression that occurs during the long winter months. 6) To put your body into top function as we gear up for winter, come in to your chiropractor for a checkup. Just as we tune up our cars and snowblowers for the Peoria winter months, the stresses that our bodies face in wintertime are different than the milder months. If you need your immune system and nervous system to operate at maximum capacity, consider chiropractic! From the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress: When The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) delivered the grim news in October 2012 that the fungal meningitis outbreak attributed to a Massachusetts compounding pharmacy amounted to 233 cases in 15 states with 15 deaths, Americans were shocked. It hardly seemed possible that individuals seeking relief from debilitating back pain had literally lost their lives in the quest for a solution. With about 80 percent of adults in the U.S. bothered by back pain at some time in their lives, it is feasible that virtually everyone will have a relative, loved one, friend -- or know of somebody -- who could be impacted by this devastating situation.
But the news was actually worse: the CDC allowed for the possibility that 13,000 patients might have received products from the company. In NJ alone, a total of 634 people are at risk because of epidurals they received at six hospitals, surgery centers and doctors’ offices for back pain from May 21 to September 26, 2012. The fungal meningitis concern is the latest in a series of major issues associated with different forms of pain medication -- but it is far from the first. Just last summer, the CDC advised that one-third of prescription painkiller overdose deaths were caused by Methadone, and pointed out that some doctors are now prescribing methadone to treat chronic problems such as back pain – making the drug more widely available. At Johnson Family Chiropractic, we take the word "family" seriously. And the word means so many things to us! We consider all our patients to be part of our family. We treat all members of your family, from the newborn baby to the toddler to the teenager to the young adult to the new mom to the working mom to the soccer mom to the dads to the grandparents to the senior citizens. "Family" also refers to the history of chiropractic within Dr. Kyle Johnson's family, since his father, uncle, grandfather, and great-uncle are all chiropractors. And today the family of Johnson Family Chiropractic has grown yet again, as Dr. Johnson and his wife welcome a new daughter to the world. World, meet Sarah Frances Johnson. Sarah Frances, welcome to the Family! A study called "The treatment experience of patients with low back pain during pregnancy and their chiropractors: a qualitative study" was published earlier this month in the journal Chiropractic & Manual Therapies. This study was a survey-based investigation into whether chiropractic is safe and effective for pregnant women. Although the numbers of women and chiropractors contacted for this pilot study were relatively low, I was struck by how similar their experiences are to my own. Women who seek chiropractic care in my office when experiencing back pain during pregnancy often find relief. And even more importantly, each woman feels more prepared for the birth process after her chiropractic experience. The gentle chiropractic techniques that I use in the office, including the popular Webster Technique and Activator Methods, assure each woman that she and her baby will be safe during each treatment. The authors of the study concluded that chiropractic appears to be safe and effective for women during uncomplicated pregnancies, and I wholeheartedly agree. Excerpts from the open access article are included below, with reference footnotes omitted: Low back pain (LBP) during pregnancy is reported by approximately 50% to 80% of pregnant women. The structural, postural, or hormonal changes that occur during pregnancy, or any combination thereof, may lead to LBP during pregnancy. Treatment options include a range of therapies, such as exercise programs, massage therapy, acupuncture, and chiropractic. Chiropractic care may include spinal manipulative therapy (SMT), mobilizations and soft tissue therapy, as well as exercise prescription. Previous studies and systematic reviews of the literature have indicated the relative safety and effectiveness of chiropractic treatment for LBP during pregnancy.
To date, no study has explored the treatment experience of the pregnant population seeking care for their back pain, whether that treatment is from a chiropractor or any other health care provider, nor has any study assessed the experience of chiropractors providing treatment for their pregnant patients with LBP. [snip] All of the interviewed patients reported that they found chiropractic treatment to be effective and that it helped relieve them of their LBP 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: PT01: “I can walk longer periods of time. So that's excellent. I can go standing for four to five hours. Because prior to that I'd be standing 40 minutes to do the dishes and I'd be in agony. Even the basic things, like picking things up off the floor, you'd get stuck in that position, I haven't experienced that yet [in this pregnancy]. Or just sitting for long periods of time, because I do work an office job from home, so I do sit long periods of time. I know for most people [they] have to get up and stretch for a couple minutes, even in doing that I‟ve been doing okay.” PT02: “The pain is gone. but I do feel like I have more energy and I can do more activities. The pain doesn't prevent me anymore.” PT05: “It really allowed me to function. I could barely walk before or stand, the pain was intense, but after I went to the chiropractor. I found I could function day to day, I could walk from the bus stop to work, I could do these things, so that was pretty significant. It's just helping me function. It's just teaching me how to pick up my daughter so I don't hurt myself. To still function, to still play with my daughter and be able to go to the grocery store and do all these things without really hurting myself. As well as it allows me to sleep at night.” [snip] Pregnant patients present differently in terms of their LBP symptoms, its onset, location and duration. The chiropractor’s approach depended on the patient’s presentation, and most of them had a patient-centered approach: (DC03) “Some will respond differently than others and obviously not every pregnant patient with back pain has exactly the same issues as well. So, we obviously tailor those situations to patients.” [snip] All of the patients directly stated in their interviews that they believed chiropractic treatment was safe and they had not experienced any adverse events after any treatment, which has been reported in previous studies: (PT07) “I wouldn't say I've ever had any side effects.” Patients also described their comfort levels changing with particular treatments throughout the pregnancy, while their chiropractors generally modified the treatments to make their patients feel safe and comfortable: PT11: “I‟m always very aware of what he's doing to me and where the position of the baby is. I can't say I'm 100% comfortable, I know it works, and I've read quite a number of articles about it. I haven't experienced any problems, but it's always in the back of my mind [safety of my baby], especially in the very beginning, not so much right now, because I'm really big now and it has to be done differently. Now the reservations are there but they're very small, and I think that's the case with anything in pregnancy. You just want to make sure you're doing the right thing for your body and the baby.” |
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DisclaimerUnless otherwise attributed, all content is written by Kyle Johnson, DC, of Johnson Family Chiropractic of Peoria.
All images used are under Creative Commons license. Although every effort has been made to provide an accurate description of our chiropractic care and its benefits, the information given on this website and blog is not intended to be, nor should it be interpreted as, medical advice for any condition. If you have any questions regarding your condition, you should seek the help of Dr. Johnson in person, so that he may properly assess your condition. This blog is provided by Johnson Family Chiropractic of Peoria, S.C., proudly located in Peoria, IL. |