Remember When…

Something I often hear when I ask patients if they have any previous accidents or injuries, are stories about their childhood. Stories of going flying off bicycles, of falling out of trees or of careening down the ski hill out of control. Despite the fact these events have occurred 20, 30, 40+ years ago, most people have very specific memories of the incident and the residual effects. Often they tell me about how they suffered for a few days or weeks untreated, and eventually the pain dissipated. However, the next part of the story always starts with; “but I was never the same again”.

How incredible is it that decades can go by and we are still able to pinpoint the exact event the damage started. We know what the cause was and all too often I will hear that people just learned how to deal with the discomfort. As children, we have self-taught that some form of discomfort is not only normal, but commonplace. But it’s not. Pain should not be dismissed, particularly after a trauma.

Kids are incredibly resilient. They rebound from incidents quicker and more efficiently than adults; that’s just a fact. However, how they heal isn’t magic. They don’t simply transition back into their original state like a stretched elastic band. Kids heal incredibly quickly, but not always in the right way.

After a car accident, a sports injury, or even a bad spill down the stairs, there are residual issues that can persist both short term and long term. To make sure that these issues don’t become lasting problems, it’s a very good idea to get checked by a health professional. A chiropractor can help assess and diagnose any spinal or biomechanical dysfunctions that could have occurred due to the trauma. Getting your kids or yourself checked is very important to prevent a simple injury from turning into a chronic condition.

I Didn’t Know…

I Didn’t Know…

One of the classic lines that I hear from mothers and first time chiropractic patients is, “I didn’t know”. They often come in after suffering for weeks, months or even years, at their wits end and feeling hopeless. Whether it’s from the struggle of a child that won’t stop crying or from persistent pain that has turned into a chronic state, many people lose perspective of normal. They don’t see the magnitude of their condition or problem within objective reality, but instead it is shrouded in the unknown.

Herein lies the problem; the unknown. There are many people who choose ignorance over knowledge because they feel scared. A common phrase of “ignorance is bliss” is unfortunately widely acted upon and rarely true. The stress of not knowing can often create an amplification of symptoms and potentially accelerate the process. There is a solution though; find out what and why.

There is an answer. It’s important to diagnose the cause and determine where you need to be to fix it. If the cause is biomechanical in nature, an assessment and treatment from a chiropractor can help. If a medical doctor, naturopath, massage therapist or acupuncturist is necessary, then that is the direction to go in. They key is to find the direction you need to go and then to get there.

The first step is often the hardest to initiate, mostly because of the unknown. Once the system is set in motion, it’s easier to progress to the next step and take the advice of the professional opinion. The thing with not knowing, is that someone does know, you just have to ask them.

Chiropractors treat patients with problems with their muscles, joints, tendons and nerves. Chiropractors can treat patients of all ages, from newborns to the elderly. Chiropractors can provide relief from postural strain, repetitive strain injuries, motor vehicle accidents and sports injuries. Chiropractors can provide wellness care to help maintain the function of the musculoskeletal and nervous system.

Having the information and knowing the truth is important. If you’ve ever thought or uttered the statement “I didn’t know”, then it is your responsibility to find out.  It is your duty to pursue the answer until someone either provides it to you or gives you the tools to do so yourself.  

Adjusting Kids; Not A Typical Adjustment

When people hear that I treat and adjust infants, I often get looks that range from confusion to horror. I can understand this reaction if people are assuming that the chiropractic adjustment that they experience as adults are similar to the ones that are performed on kids. However, the two aren’t comparable.

Adjusting adults involve taking a joint to an end range of motion and performing a small thrust to create movement. Often there is a popping noise associated with the adjustment as the joint moves. This requires a reasonable amount of force to perform but is well within tissue and patient tolerance.  

However, when I adjust infants or children, I don’t use a classic adjustment. Often the force created is little more than you’d use to test the ripeness of a tomato. The adjustments are tailored specifically to a child’s condition, their age and their weight. I’ve had wary parents come in to see exactly what treatment consists of, and their fears and concerns are immediately put to rest when they see what I do. There is no big adjustment or large force used with children. Since they are so tiny and their bodies so adaptable, just a simple sustained pressure with purpose is often enough to elicit the change we want.

Infants and children are wonderfully responsive to care. They heal quicker, respond more effectively and don’t have years of chronic conditions to prevent healing. I find that kids require shorter treatment plans to return to proper functioning. If placed on a good maintenance program, I find that children in particular respond incredibly well.