When Should You Take Your Child To a Chiropractor?

Did you know that some hospitals in Australia have newborn babies checked by a chiropractor right after delivery? I feel this procedure should be routine throughout the world.

You might be surprised to learn that most adult problems chiropractors deal with actually have a start in childhood. Think about this for a moment, your child’s spine is his/her lifeline. Running through it is the spinal cord containing billions of nerves that send messages and information from the brain to every part of the body and back again.

Yes, we all have our very own internal Internet! As long as none of these messages are interrupted, your child should have the very best health possible. If, however, there is any interference with this information “highway,” these messages will not reach their designation. As a result the body starts to work improperly. Chiropractors call this malfunction a subluxation. It can be a serious threat to health. It may affect the immune system, lower body resistance, and leave your child prey to various “bugs” and infection.

Some of the examples of malfunction that I see are: asthma, bed-wetting, ADD, chronic ear infections, colic, scoliosis, “growing pains,” etc.

When should you take your child to a chiropractor?

When you want your child to have all the benefits of a conservative, natural, drugless, approach to health. A visit to a Doctor of Chiropractic should be a pleasant experience, one without painful injections and procedures but with plenty of nurturing. It is critical to have your child examined as soon as possible after birth, as the process of delivery can be very traumatic for a newborn and can create subluxations, or misalignments of the delicate spinal bones. This can interfere with your child’s “information highway” and cause a myriad of malfunctions.

When your child takes a fall, tumbles, or is involved in some trauma. Such an incident can easily create a subluxation, which can lie undetected for years, surfacing in the adult years as a major health problem.

Your baby should have six check ups at six crucial events in the first year of life.

Chiropractic is one of the safest forms of health care in the world, and the largest drugless health care profession on the globe.

When choosing a chiropractor for your child, ask if he or she has special pediatric training or certification; as in all health professions, Doctors of Chiropractic have a number of specialties within the profession. So ask!

For additional information on how Chiropractic can benefit a love one, please call Northgate Chiropractic at(209) 367-2224 or visit us on the web!

www.NorthgateChiropractic.net

ADD / ADHD – What Every Parent Should Know

Did you know that one of the greatest minds of our time could not talk before the age of four and could not read before the age of seven? I am referring to Albert Einstein. It is also known that his teacher said he was mentally slow, unsociable, adrift in his foolish dreams and had severe temper tantrums. He was expelled and refused admittance to the Polytech Institute. In today’s world, he would be on Ritalin.

Ritalin is a very dangerous and highly addictive drug. Under Federal Law, Ritalin is classified as a schedule II controlled substance, the same rating given to cocaine, opium and morphine. Withdrawal symptoms can be severe and include depression, fatigue, paranoia, increased dreaming, irritability, bedwetting, and even suicide.

The United States has the highest use of Ritalin consuming 95% of the total amount of Ritalin used in the world. This is in a country where only five percent of the total population is living Ritalin free. If ADD is so prevalent, then how and why are we taking all of it? In some elementary and middle schools, as many as six percent of all students take Ritalin or other psychiatric drugs, according to the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration.

The side effects of Ritalin are numerous and severe. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the side effects include stunting of growth, depression, insomnia, nervousness, skin rash, anorexia, nausea, psychosis, dizziness, headaches, abdominal pain, blood pressure and pulse changes, and Tourette’s Syndrome (a permanent and irreversible condition characterized by body tics, spasms, screaming obscenities, and barking sounds).

The researchers also reviewed 8 years of injury data on more than 61,000 children ages 3 to 17 and found that those with ADD/ADHD were nearly 80% more likely to be involved in a serious accident resulting in hospitalization for trauma.
According to a Canadian report, Ritalin is responsible for more street crime than any other drug. Kids are selling their Ritalin to other kids. A USA Today report indicated that some kids crush Ritalin into a powder and snort it like cocaine, while others cook it and inject it into their bloodstream.

A well-known criminal attorney, Melvin Nash, from Marietta Georgia, indicated that approximately 60% of the people he defends from everything from DUI to armed robbery have been on Ritalin at some point in their life.

So what are the ADD criteria? Here are a few: often does not seem to listen when spoken to directly, often talks excessively, is often "on the go" or often acts as if "driven by a motor", often has difficulty awaiting turn, often fidgets with hands or feet or squirms in seat. In order to be classified as ADD, you must have the majority of these characteristics. To tell you the truth, I still possess the majority of these traits. I asked a teenage ADD patient in my office what he thought about school. He said he was bored and didn’t feel challenged. What an answer. How far will we go to control, mold, and conform our children to make them “normal?” Are we turning our geniuses of tomorrow into drug addicts today?

For additional information, please call Northgate Chiropractic at
(206)367-2224.