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Explore our blog that focuses on holistic care for any and all ages - pediatric well-being, pre/post-natal health, and adult vitality.
THE BLOG
Alright, Moms, here we go. Most of the content we put out on this platform is for you and your kiddos because we know in your heart and in your head they are always your number one priority. Your days are filled with ensuring your children have everything they need, from meals to appointments to extracurricular activities, to their health. You devote so much time and energy to your family that you often neglect your own well-being. Being a mom is one of the most incredible jobs, but also the hardest to keep up with. It can be so overwhelming and exhausting.
But we are here to tell you that there is a way through it. As pediatric and family chiropractors, we have had the opportunity to help countless families. Our favorite moments are when moms ask for help with their own health. So, let’s talk about three quick and practical health hacks that can help you improve your well-being, even with a busy schedule.
Firstly, let us emphasize that these hacks are real-life applicable, considering how packed your schedule is. We understand that you don’t have the luxury to take a month off and go to a wellness retreat. Instead, our focus is on maximizing your time with quick and easy solutions that can fit into your daily routine.
With the insider tips and tricks that we’ve been able to share with hundreds of patients, you can tackle motherhood feeling like a whole new person. You’ll be the kind of mom who can handle anything that comes your way, all while exuding a sense of mystical energy. You will be able to sleep without constant anxiety and stress. You’ll be without the tension that so many moms feel in the “mom zone” – the area between your shoulders and at the base of your neck. Let’s dig into the causes of this stress and tension and how to alleviate it so that you can be the best mom possible.
Many moms that we see in our practice are accustomed to putting their own health on the back burner. They instead prioritize their children’s wellbeing. However, we often ask these moms to consider what it would look like if they made their own health a priority. In response, many moms express that they feel like it is impossible to live a life free from stress and anxiety. They may feel like they are beyond repair due to chronic health issues and a feeling of being constantly tired or anxious.
But the truth is, you can take control of your health and kick the crap out of your stress. It is not necessary to rely on medication and caffeine to get through the day.
By prioritizing your nervous system and well-being through chiropractic care, you can become more resilient, energetic, and less anxious. As the boss of the family, you have the power to model healthy behaviors and create an environment of wellness in your home.
If you want your children to be healthy, resilient, and full of energy, it starts with prioritizing your own health.
Mom Stress Is Real
The first thing to address is mom stress. It’s a real issue, and it often manifests in the neck, shoulders, and between the shoulder blades. This area is commonly referred to as the “mom zone,” and it can feel like a constant burden. As moms, we all know how life can get overwhelming, from managing group chats to waiting in the pickup line. The longer we’re stuck in this kind of routine, the more our stress builds up in our bodies. Thankfully, our first hack, neurologically focused chiropractic adjustments, can release that tension and bring relief.
1. Chiropractic Adjustments
The best part? It only takes five to ten minutes. This is what we refer to as a “health hack.” Sure, a 90-minute yoga session, meditation, growing your own vegetables, and making organic smoothies are all great, but let’s face it, most don’t have time for that in day-to-day real life. The chiropractic adjustment is the most efficient way to reset and recalibrate the nervous system. It’s fast, effective, and feels incredible. An adjustment is like a massage or yoga on steroids.
We are able to run EMG scans to assess the stress levels of moms, and we can release that tension. But the benefits don’t stop there. Did you know that adjustments to the lower neck can also stabilize the thyroid? And by making adjustments to the middle and lower mid back, we can help to calm the stomach and adrenals. Leading to improvements in gut health and anxiety. These adjustments are fast! Meaning you can get in and out of the office quickly while still reaping the benefits of this powerful health hack.
2. Exercise
So what are the other two health hacks? First, let’s talk about exercise. It’s no secret that exercise is essential for our physical and mental health. However, finding the time to fit it in can be a challenge for busy moms. My advice is to aim for at least 10 to 20 minutes of movement every day. Whether it’s a quick run, a hit workout, a yoga session, or a combination of these. Even on the busiest days, those 10 to 20 minutes can make a difference in how you feel and function.
Of course, if you can carve out an hour for exercise each day, that’s even better. But don’t discount the value of those shorter workouts. Put it in your schedule, block it out, and protect it. Prioritizing movement, even in small doses, can help you be more productive and efficient throughout the rest of your day.
3. Supplements
Finally, let’s talk about supplements. As busy moms, we’re often running on fumes and can benefit from some extra support for our adrenal and nervous systems. Supplements like magnesium and zinc can help support healthy neurological function and provide an energy boost when we need it most. Take a few minutes each day to incorporate these supplements into your routine, and you may notice a big difference in how you feel.
The Importance of Prioritizing a Mom’s Health
Moms, we could go on and on. We love to talk about the importance of chiropractic care not just for your children but for yourself as well. We have seen firsthand how prioritizing your health can positively impact your life and your family’s life.
When you’re able to do all the things you need to do as a mom without the exhaustion, anxiousness, irritability, and fatigue that come with receiving chiropractic care, you become more resilient and adaptable. This leads to a more enjoyable experience for both you and your family.
Let us share a story about one of the families we are currently taking care of. They drive an hour to see us at our clinic. The mom brought her son, who is on the spectrum, and her middle school daughter, who was experiencing focus and anxiety challenges. But what’s amazing is that the mom realized the importance of stress on the nervous system and asked if she could receive chiropractic care too.
After six weeks of care, we saw a significant change in the mom’s posture, face, neck, and shoulders. We asked her how she was feeling, and she started to cry. She said that receiving chiropractic care had changed everything for her. She used to be consumed with stress and anxiety, which led to her yelling and screaming at her kids. But now, she is much more relaxed and happy, which has made their family experience more enjoyable.
Our belief is that moms shouldn’t have to feel tired and anxious all the time. Instead, we focus on restoring and rebuilding your nervous system through chiropractic adjustments. We will be the first to cheer you on to get your workouts done and supplements taken. When your nervous system is functioning at its best, everything in your life will follow suit.
That’s why we offer care for the whole family, including moms, dads, and kids. We believe that when the whole family is under care, they can become healthy for a lifetime. And when kids see their parents prioritizing their health, they’ll be more likely to do the same.
Don’t put off prioritizing your health any longer. You deserve it.
Take care, and God bless.
Constipation is a common issue affecting about 30% of children, and tends to be worse in the preschool & toddler years. However, constipation is not something kids neccessarily grow out of. Instead, they grow into other digestive issues later in life.
If you’ve already tried prebiotics, probiotics, prune juice, pureed prunes, and other natural remedies to no avail, this is for you. Even if you’ve resorted to over-the-counter or prescription medication like Miralax (which often comes with side effects like behavior issues and meltdowns), and you’re still searching for a natural drug-free option- this is for you.
As a neurologically focused pediatric chiropractors, we want to share with you the number one missing link found in more than 80% of kids with constipation who come to our clinic. Please share this with other parents who may be struggling with constipation in their kids, as the information we’ll discuss could help their little ones as well.
The Root Causes of Constipation
In our clinic, we don’t just treat the symptoms and throw medications at a condition like a traditional pediatrician would. Instead, we get to the root cause and work closely with the nervous system. Constipation may seem like a gut issue related to diet and nutrition. If you’ve tried all the nutritional changes, supplements, and probiotics- you’re amazing! You’re moving in the right direction to make digestion easier for your kiddo!! But if your child is still struggling with constipation, that’s where neurology and science come into play.
Through a real-life case study, I’ll explain how neurologically focused chiropractic adjustments can help alleviate constipation in children. The natural and drug-free approach we use focuses on the nervous system to get to the root of the problem. Rather than just treating the symptoms.
Constipation, like most challenges in children, is rarely caused by one thing. There’s usually a multitude of stressors that go into the child’s nervous system and body early on in life. This can include stress during pregnancy, interventions during delivery such as C-section, forceps, or vacuum, and exposure to toxins in the environment. This assortment of stress can cause the nervous system, or the neuro-digestive system, to slow down and become constipated. If you’ve struggled to find the exact cause of your child’s constipation, the answer is usually a combination of factors.
Stress on the Nervous System Affects Digestive Motility
Even though patients try to address constipation through nutrition & supplements, the root cause often comes from stress. Specifically, stress on the nervous system. In chiropractic care, this stress is called subluxation, which means stress stuck on. The sympathetic fight or flight side of the nervous system is what we call the gas pedal. When it gets stuck on, it can cause a variety of issues, including constipation, ADHD, anxiety, and sensory issues. In fact, many patients who struggle with these issues later in life also had constipation when they were children.
When the nervous system is stressed out, it steals energy from the gut. This can cause digestive motility to slow down, leading to what we call neurogenic constipation. Four out of five cases of constipation that we see in our clinic are neurogenic. This means they are caused by stress on the nervous system. We can usually determine this by looking back at the child’s case history, seeing if the family has tried everything else, and measuring the stress, or subluxation, on the nervous system using our INSiGHT scans.
Juniper’s Story of Hope
One example of how chiropractic care can help with constipation is the case of a little baby named Juniper. At just five months old, Juniper was going days without pooping. Her rock star mom had tried everything, from probiotics to changes in diet. But after seeking chiropractic care, Juniper’s constipation improved significantly.
We’re going to dive into Juniper’s first neurothermal scan. This is a piece of technology we use in our offices to measure stress on the nervous system. The neurothermal scan allows us to do two things: quantify stress and locate stress. It helps us identify subluxations, or misalignments, in the spine. We conducted Juniper’s first neurothermal scan, and found two significant subluxations in her neuro spinal system. One was at the very top of her spine – the brain stem or upper cervical area (C1-C2). The other was in the middle, at T5-T6.
When the upper cervical area is subluxated and stressed out, the nerve that is most affected is the vagus nerve. This nerve is known as the “rest and digest” nerve, which is crucial for proper digestion. It starts in the cervical spine, goes all the way down to the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, and diaphragm. It slows our heart rate while also improving our breathing. In Juniper’s case, her constipation was from subluxations in the upper neck that were blocking the vagus nerve’s proper function.
The second subluxation was in the mid-neuro gastric, stomach area. This area was responsible for getting food digested and into the top one-third and two-thirds of her neuro gastric system. If the food cannot be broken down in steps one and two, it cannot be eliminated in step three. This is why Juniper was having difficulty with constipation.
Even though this did not show up in Juniper’s scan specifically, it is not uncommon for kids with constipation to have significant subluxations down around the sacrum. The sacrum houses another plexus of what’s called parasympathetic, or “rest and digest,” nerves. Many kids we see in our clinic not only have the same upper to middle subluxations that Juniper had, but they also have lower subluxations.
Chiropractic care does not aim to treat or cure constipation. Rather, our focus is on taking care of the nervous system by removing stress and subluxation through gentle and easy neuro-tonal adjustments. By doing so, we aim to relax the nervous system and improve the tone and coordination of the neuromuscular system as a whole, which is essential in cases of neurogenic constipation – the most common type of constipation.
While there are various factors that contribute to constipation, such as poor nutrition and excessive toxins, many families are making positive changes in these areas. They are incorporating good foods and supplements while limiting or eliminating toxins. However, as has been mentioned, even with a healthy diet and lifestyle, subluxation can still occur during pregnancy, delivery, and early stages of life, making it crucial to seek out neurologically-focused, pediatric chiropractic care. If you aren’t local to our office, we have a network of trained and ready chiropractors in our PX Docs Network that can address this missing link and ensure optimal nervous system function.
To learn more about how to take care of constipation naturally, please read this article. We encourage you to share this information with other moms and families to reach more people who may benefit from this knowledge. If you’re ready to explore pediatric chiropractic care and the role of subluxation in digestive motility, please reach out to us to schedule a consultation. Or, to find your local PX Doc, visit our directory. We can provide customized adjustments that are personalized to your child’s specific needs. This can lead to better gut health, improved immune system, sleep, and motor tone.
We want to help families find answers to their constipation concerns before turning to heavy medications that have potentially harmful side effects. As always, we are here for you to provide hope, answers, and help in any way we can.
The Vagus Nerve is all the craze right now! Any search on google will generate thousands of hits with life and “health hacks” galore. With all the research, biohacking, and natural science that has been reported lately, it’s cool to hear about a part of our nervous system that can have such an amazing impact on our health and adaptability.
But did you know the vagus nerve is also very important for our kid’s development, behavior, and sensory comfort? Let’s dig into the science of an active vagus nerve and a vagus nerve that is “turned down.”
If you are in the health world and follow natural, holistic living, there is no doubt that you’ve heard of the vagus nerve. Being a pediatric chiropractor, I would be very remiss if I didn’t talk about the vagus nerve and how it can help you and your kiddos because it is the answer to so many of our health challenges.
What Is the Vagus Nerve? Turn It Up or Turn It Down
The vagus nerve is a nerve that comes out from underneath the skull on both sides and goes throughout the entire body – through the heart, lungs, and digestive organs. You may have heard about the vagus nerve in relation to the brain-gut or gut-brain balance, which has much to do with digestion. While that is one of the incredible things the vagus nerve can do, it has more all-encompassing action that’s so important for our kids.
There are two main things that the vagus nerve does. If you turn it up, it is a sensory relaxer, so it will help the body rest, relax, and digest. If you turn it down, it allows the other side of the nervous system to take effect – the go, go go, fight or flight, busy brain side.
What you really want is a balance of up and down regulation and what we usually end up needing for our kids is to turn the vagus nerve up because, in the world we live in, it’s so often turned down. That’s why our kiddos seem to have that busy brain, fight or flight more often.
The Vagus Nerve and Rest/Sleep, Emotional Regulation, and Digestive Function
When we turn it up, that results in three effects on our kids. Number one is rest and sleep. The vagus nerve allows the body to sensory deregulate to help the body block out all external noise. This allows the brain and body to calm down, which helps kids get to sleep and stay asleep.
The second thing is emotional regulation – the relaxed side. When our body is turned down on the vagus, it feels like you’re running from a bear in fight or flight. So if you have a three-year-old like me, you know they can go haywire sometimes because emotions are controlled by that up or down regulation. We want to get that vagus nerve turned up for our kiddos.
The third has to do with our digestive side. There’s so much more that goes into that brain-gut connection. Not only is digestion so key for moving fluids throughout the body, but it’s huge in feeling comfortable and developmentally ready for kids.
If you have a kiddo who is six months to a year old and they’re working on walking, talking, adding in foods, and are starting to get away from bottle or breastfeeding, if they’re not digesting, it’s going to slow everything else down. So the vagus nerve is vital for babies as a developmental milestone to help them jump ahead with the sensory system, motor system, movement, social system, and walking.
The Vagus Nerve and Birth Trauma, Stress, and Physical Trauma
This is where chiropractic comes in because pediatric chiropractors can have a major impact on turning that vagus nerve up when needed. Because of where it is located, it can be impacted in a negative way by three main things we see.
It can be affected by birth trauma. If you had a stressful pregnancy or delivery, had to use forceps or a vacuum, or had a C-section, that can impact and turn down the vagus nerve immediately during the birth process.
Secondly, the vagus nerve can be impacted by the toxic stress levels we are surrounded by today. When our environment comes at us with toxic items, that can affect our gut which communicates back and forth with our brain. If the gut and brain are imbalanced, it will cause the body to do all different things, like turning the vagus nerve down, resulting in that flight or flight mode.
The third thing is when kids are playing sports, having accidents like falling off their bikes, and experiencing these big physical stressors in their life that are causing them to
get tight, tense, and hold that extra energy. Physical stress affects the vagus nerve, not only impacting this upper cervical region but in turning it down.
So if you are struggling with sleep, emotional regulation, digestion, etc, and are trusting your gut that they’re all related… you’re right! That is because it is all controlled by the vagus nerve.
We use technology in our office called INSiGHT scans to measure this nerve and see whether it is turned up or down. If it is more turned up, chances are, you are going to have a much easier, well-regulated rest, digest, chill kiddo that can adapt and overcome a lot of things.
If it’s turned down, they most likely want to do those things but might struggle to get them done. That’s where we come in, and we really want to help you. We know that every kiddo is unique, so we will put together a custom care plan to help your child reach their full potential.
As a parent, I understand it can be overwhelming to know where to start when your child faces challenges, whether it’s eating, sleeping, pooping, development, or immune challenges. It can be difficult to figure out where to turn for help.
I want to help unpack some of these challenges. From my experience as both a parent and a healthcare provider, I’ve learned that the little things, such as eating, sleeping, and pooping struggles, can be tied to more significant challenges like sensory challenges and behavior troubles.
At Rochester Chiropractic & Wellness, it’s not uncommon to see behavior and sleep issues linked or sensory and digestion challenges correlated. Therefore, before we move forward, we need to take a step back and look at neurodevelopment. By doing so, we can help our kids engage in their healing journey and facilitate their progress.
Every child’s healing journey involves going back through their developmental milestones, which is critical to see and help them get better. It may sound simple, but it’s essential. Therefore, I want to focus on three crucial aspects of your child’s health: eating, sleeping, and pooping.
I will explain why they’re so important and the correlation between them and the birth and development process. Additionally, I will highlight how all these factors tie together to help children be their best selves.
Eating
Let’s start by addressing eating. Proper nourishment is critical for a child’s health and development. If they struggle with eating and nursing, it can lead to issues later on. It is so important to ensure that the neck and head control, rooting reflex, and muscles needed for eating and digesting are working correctly from the start.
Sleeping
If they don’t have a full belly, they may not sleep. Similarly, sleep is a crucial aspect of a baby’s development, and it’s common for parents to struggle immensely when their baby can’t sleep well. It’s so common for me to talk to a parent in our office who says they can’t remember the last time their baby slept well. Poor sleep patterns can start early on, even from birth. The birth process may cause tension, arching, and discomfort right from the start, leading to sleep struggles. Eating and sleeping go hand in hand, and a baby who isn’t eating well is likely to struggle with sleep as well.
Digestion
Finally, digestion is what ties everything together. The autonomic nervous system helps the body process food and move it through easily. If a baby can’t digest food properly, it can cause issues with everything else. The first four months of development are crucial for eating, sleeping, and pooping on autopilot, and if a baby isn’t doing these things properly, it’s likely due to issues with the nervous system.
The nervous system and brain controls all three of these functions, and if something is off, every other system will struggle. So often, standard pediatricians chase the symptoms – the sensory challenges, behaviors, etc. But we need to go back and look at the simple yet crucial aspects of your baby’s development – how are they sleeping, eating, and pooping? By looking at the nervous system, we can help babies with any issues they may have with eating, sleeping, and digestion. This is where neurologically focused pediatric chiropractic care comes in.
If you aren’t local to us in Rochester, MN – take a look at our directory to find a trained PX Doc near you and connect with a pediatric chiropractor who can help unpack your baby’s development, identify any issues, and get their nervous system back on track.
Remember that your baby’s body is fully capable of working through issues and healing itself. Other positive results will follow by addressing the root of the problem and getting their nervous system working at its full potential.
