Chiropractic And Kids

I can’t tell you how often we have encountered parents who appreciate the importance of regular checkups for their child's teeth, hearing, eyes and ears, but draw a blank when it comes to a spinal checkup. In fact, a spinal checkup could be one of the most important checkups your child will ever have. Your child's spine is his/her lifeline because running through it is the spinal cord, containing billions of nerve fibres that send vital messages and life from the brain to every part of their body. Spinal problems can start earlier than you might think -- much earlier. In fact, the birthing process itself has been shown to wreak havoc on a baby's spine when the baby is pulled out by their head, or forceps or vacuum are used.
And if you've ever watched a toddler struggling to master the art of walking.... lots of stumbles and falls. Older children are also at risk of spinal trauma. Sports activities, poor posture ("slouching"), bad video game or  computer posture, improper backpack use, and working at an improperly sized desk all take a toll.
It's no wonder that many youngsters develop a spinal condition called vertebral subluxation. This condition occurs when spinal movement is restricted or bones (vertebrae) are out of alignment.
Vertebral subluxation is linked with a myriad of childhood ailments, such as colic, asthma, ear infection, headaches, pain, and learning or behavioral difficulties such as attention deficit disorder. As children grow older, untreated vertebral subluxations may also spark headaches, back pain and begin to shift their posture, commonly shifting their head forward on their shoulders which studies show stretches the spinal cord and nerves.  Most subluxations don’t cause symptoms for years as most nerves go to body parts you don’t feel.
Dr. Wood works to correct these subluxations before the onset of symptoms -- and to prevent new ones from forming. This is accomplished with safe and effective maneuvers called chiropractic adjustments. These are extremely gentle, modified adjusting techniques to correct subluxations in pediatric patients.
Posture & Scoliosis: Posture is the window into the spine.  “As the twig is bent, so grows the tree”.  Finding any postural distortions early in life can help locate the underlying cause, often subluxations, so it can be corrected and its effect on health minimized.  Severe posture distortions such as scoliosis are present in 5% of youngsters. Early detection is key to keeping scoliosis under control and preventing the conditions associated with it, such as back pain, headache and in severe cases, heart and lung disorders. Posture screenings conducted by chiropractors are extensive and the result is a comprehensive evaluation that provides a thorough assessment of a youngster's current spinal health and risk of future postural disorders.
The Bottom Line: Subluxations limit your nervous system’s ability to function which limits your child’s potential.  The power that made their body works via their nervous system to constantly monitor and control their level of function, healing and recreation.  If you want that power working to its potential your children need to be checked regularly by a chiropractor.
If you would like to book a consultation for your child to assess their health, posture and presence of subluxations call our office at 250-712-0900.  We love helping children achieve their God-given potential

TRAINING KIDS TO EAT WELL

As parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. we don’t have to CREATE health in kids. They are genetically programmed for it, and created for outrageous health! They just need a lifestyle that provides everything their body needs to function at a healthy level (sufficiency) with few toxins (purity) to allow their inborn health potential to shine through. Here are 5 SIMPLE changes you can make to help with that!

1) TEACH THEM WHAT IS GOOD FOR THEIR BODY AND WHAT IS BAD FOR THEIR BODY

Suzie and I have accidentally taught our kids that some foods are good for their body, and some are bad for their body. They know their body is amazing, can heal and do incredible things and now they know giving it foods that it needs helps them be amazing. Now we just tell them if a food is bad for their body, and they usually choose to not have it. If they really want it, we will trade it for a similar but more natural treat from the health food store that they are equally excited about. Or if we are OK with them eating something we will tell them they can have a food that is bad for their body, like a piece of homemade baking, if they have 3 things that are good for their body, like fruits or veggies. Next week I will list the foods that are good, OK, and bad for their body.

2) FEED THEM FRESH FIBER FIRST

This is the best way to ensure your child fills up on nutrient dense food rather than filler food such as bread, rice or pasta. Start every meal with ONLY raw fruits or veggies. Fruit before breakfast. Cut up raw veggies before lunch and dinner. Most kids have a dinner plate full of food including a few veggies. They are full by the time they get to the veggies and you can barely get them to eat any. Try giving them only veggies while they are hungriest and give them the rest once you are happy with the amount of veggies they have eaten.

3) TEACH THEM THEIR BODY ONLY NEEDS 3 FOODS - fruit, vegetables and healthy meats

God put the food on the earth that we need to be healthy, simple as that. I trust Him more than any corporation making food. If you focus on eating nutrient dense food the only foods your body requires for health are fruits, vegetables, and healthy meats. They provide adequate amounts of every single required nutrient for health if they are the major part of each meal. Other foods (breads, pastas, crackers, cereal, junk food) are more filling so the more of them you eat, the less room in your stomach there is for nutrient dense food so you end up deficient. That is the main reason people need supplements, calcium, multivitamins, etc… Make sure all other food you give them is 100% natural! Food with a label should have no chemicals or unnatural ingredients. Real food has no label!!!!!!!! Like an apple

4) GET THEM ADJUSTED

Hopefully you know enough about this one. Their nervous system controls every function in their body and the nerves send the signals from the brain to every cell to allow it to be healthy. If the spine is misaligned it interferes with these signals and blocks life from getting to that part of their body resulting in declining health and ultimately sickness and disease. Get you kids under chiropractic care to ensure their nervous system is free of interference for life! Most kids love getting adjusted, and it is safe and gentle!

5) BE ACTIVE OUTSIDE AS A FAMILY EVERY DAY

This is a simple way to lead them to being active, staying in touch with each other, and getting vitamin D.

I know we are all just trying to do the best we can as parents. None of us are perfect and we need to recognize where we need to improve. Our pastor gave a great message a couple of weeks ago on repentance. I know that brings up lots of scary church memories for most people. I am not suggesting parents need to repent if they have fed their kids bad food, etc… His message was that once we acknowledge our own sin, asking for forgiveness (repentance) is needed, but the most important part of repentance is CHANGING DIRECTION IN THE FUTURE! Meaning that if you keep doing the same sin over and over and repent every time, you are missing the point. I suggest the same approach is what we need to do to improve how we feed our children. We need to sit down with them and explain what choices we have made in the past with their lifestyle that we are not happy with, and what the result has been or will be if we kept doing that. If they understand why you want to change their lifestyle and how important it is, and see you admitting that you have made mistakes, I think you will be surprised at how easily they embrace the change of direction that is needed. I hope we can help you change directions!

Would You Bet Your Life On It?

This week I want to discuss children’s health. Children these days have incredible opportunities in sports, education, new variety of careers, and pretty much every area of life. It is easy to assume that they will reach levels of success and happiness that their parents and grandparents could only have dreamed of. Yet it looks like health may be the major variable that stands in the way of all that opportunity. Do you know that right now, based on skyrocketing levels of chronic illness and disease in children, health scientists are predicting that the current generation of children WILL LIVE SHORTER LIVES THAN THEIR PARENTS! That is the first time in history this is being predicted for any generation, and in any species! That is how bad the state of health is for our kids! Diseases previously reserved for adults such as type 2 diabetes, asthma, allergies, depression, anxiety, cancer, high blood pressure, and many more are being diagnosed in younger and younger kids. Recently I have been speaking and presenting to a variety of school classes, teachers, parents group, and administrators about the urgency of focusing on the health of our children. Here are some facts from a government handout: “Junk food is worse for your kids than you think. It attacks healthy development and can trigger a lifetime of bad choices and chronic illness. Unhealthy weights among teens will soon replace smoking as Canada’s #1 health problem, partly because of empty calories and hidden fats (“nutrient lacking” foods and toxic fats!), but also because of the inactivity that plagues today’s youth (they are leaving out the damage from misalignment caused by poor posture at school, on computers, texting, gaming, birth trauma, etc.). Experts agree that you could be raising the first generation in history to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents.” Even though people are more aware that eating better and being active are essential to good health, the growing rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes have continued to show we are not doing enough overall to be healthy. It is not what you know, it is what you do that matters! Lead by example when it comes to your children’s lifestyle, period! Here are some facts for Canadian children:

1. Canadian children aged 10-16 are spending six hours per day in front of a screen

2. Kids who eat breakfast are far less likely to become overweight than breakfast skippers. Breakfast eaters also perform better in school. The bad news is that over half of teens eat breakfast every day

3. Kids take in between 10 – 15 teaspoons of sugar each day from soft drinks alone, mostly at home!

4. Kids are not as active as you might think. 60% of parents think their kids are adequately physically active, but 91 percent of children and youth are still not meeting the guidelines in Canada’s Physical Activity Guide. Kids need 90 minutes of accumulated physical activity per day for optimal growth and development.

5. 90 minutes a day sounds daunting but it should be easy. A 10 minute walk each way to school, 30 minutes of activity at school, 15 minutes of tag at recess, 25 minutes of organized hockey, dance, etc.

6. Less than half of all kids aged 9-14 eat dinner with their family on a daily basis and 17 percent say they never sit down for a family supper. Kids who eat with family take in more fruit and vegetables and fewer deep fried foods!

7. Here is a biggy! Kids with two physically active parents are almost 5 times more likely to participate in sports than children with an inactive parent.

8. Portion sizes of commercially made foods are much larger than in the past. Compared to the 70’s a burger is 30 grams larger now, a “regular” size pop is 200ml bigger, and a standard size cookie grew 7 times bigger!

9. Type 2 diabetes, once only found in adults, is being diagnosed in kids as young as 6 years old!

10. Kids who eat fast food regularly obviously take in more pop, fries, and total calories and fewer fruit and vegetables than those who don’t. The problem is that 25% of kids eat high fat and high calorie fast food items DAILY!

11. Kids who eat fast food 2-3 times a week consume 200 more calories a day on average, adding six pounds of extra weight gain per year! That is 60 pounds in ten years for a nine year old by their sixteenth birthday.

One factor that I know is missing from the government statistics is how much damage and illness in our children is from nerve pressure alone, regardless of lifestyle. We have seen incredible results with hundreds of kids with major health issues, illness, mental and physical developmental issues. I have also helped hundreds of other children achieve and maintain awesome levels of health while the average child’s health has declined over the past decade! Nerve pressure is as big a part in this battle as lifestyle. If your kids don’t get adjusted for financial reasons or any other reason, please talk to me about it so we can make it happen! I assume if you bring them here this means their lifestyle is totally different than the average child’s. But I shouldn’t assume anything. You and your kids can not be 100% healthy without chiropractic adjustments to keep your nervous system working optimally because optimal nerve supply is a requirement of every cell in your body. At the same time, you can be well adjusted and NOT be healthy! I want to make sure your kids don’t become a statistic of poor health from lifestyle choices or nerve pressure!