“Just because everybody’s doing it doesn’t make it right,” was the wise proverb I heard while growing up. To be fair, just because everybody’s doing it doesn’t make it wrong either. However, when it comes to important decisions, our choice should not be concluded on by what is the easiest or most popular, but what is deemed right and beneficial based on the evidence at hand.
When it comes to vaccinations, most people do not even know that there is a decision to be made. It is their understanding that vaccinations are mandatory, so there is nothing to decide on the matter. However, according to the Minnesota Statutes on Immunizations, there is not a single vaccine that a child must have to attend any level of education in our state, from the day care level all the way up to college.
What is mandatory is that it is reported whether or not a child receives vaccines, or whether the parents or guardians conscientiously object to their child receiving certain vaccinations or any at all.
Once we understand that we as parents have a decision to make, it is our responsibility to become informed on the subject so that we can make the best choice regarding the health of our children.
There are several factors to consider when looking into vaccinations. The first is to take a look at the particular disease that each vaccine is designed to protect against. What is the occurrence of the disease in our population today, if any? How is the disease contracted, and is your child truly at risk to succumbing to the disease? If the disease is a common childhood illness, such as chicken pox, would it be healthier for your child to go through the illness and acquire lifelong immunity, or to be vaccinated against it, possibly making him or her more susceptible as an adult where more severe complications can occur?
Once you have evaluated each disease, if there are any that you feel your child is at risk for, take a look at that particular vaccine and the risk factors involved in the vaccination. You should not only consider what the chances of an immediate reaction occurring are, but also what long-term effects the vaccine has on the development of your child’s immune system.
Whether we as parents choose to take on the responsibility of becoming informed and make an active decision or not, a decision will be made. The information is available, and the more you know on the subject, the more confident you will be that you are making the best decision regarding your child’s health and future.
By Dr. Brian Boyd, November 2006 Healthy Beginnings Newsletter- Vol. 1, Issue IV
2860 Middle Street, Little Canada, MN 55117 truechiromn@gmail.com 651.484.8783
Correction Chiropractic vs. Traditional Chiropractic
Traditional Chiropractic
Traditional Chiropractic focuses on goals such as decreasing muscle spasms, increasing range of motion, and the temporary reduction of pain. This is how most chiropractors practice and most of them do a great job. However, it falls under the category of symptom relief/ symptom management aka “band aid” care.
Correction Chiropractic
At True Chiropractic, our focus is on NeuroStructural Correction. Think of your spine as the foundation for a building. If the foundation was off, would you expect the floors to creak, the walls to creak, and for the windows to not close properly?
Now you can spend time patching all the damage, but you would be doing so with the expectation that in a short time the problems will have to be… repaired again and again.
NeuroStructural Correction looks for the underlying NeuroStructural Shifts in the spine that might be causing your foundation to be off. In the vast majority of cases that make their way to our practice, often as referrals from other chiropractors or medical doctors in the area, is a significant NeuroStructural Shift. These NeuroStructural Shifts are the underlying causes that often reveal themselves as “symptoms”- or what we refer to as Secondary conditions.
Get Back to Normal
Rather than constantly repairing the damage, at True Chiropractic, we focus on correcting the underlying NeuroStructural Shifts and help you reach Normal Structure.
Our services are not for everyone. However, if you are tired of constantly patching the problem and you are looking for a long term solution that you can both feel and see for yourself, then True Chiropractic may be the right place for you.
What is a NeuroStructural Shift?
While no one is structurally perfect, there is a normal healthy range. In the same manner, we can understand what a fever is because we know what the normal temperature is, or what constitutes high blood pressure because we are aware of the normal range. There are established normals everywhere we look, including gauges and warning indicators on the dashboard of your car… letting you know when things are abnormal.
At True Chiropractic, we are looking for a significant three-dimensional shift of the spine away from normal. If the lower back or hips shift, it will cause the shoulders to twist, and the head and neck to shift forcing the entire spine out of alignment. These shifts cause the muscles to spasm, the ligaments to deform, and it disrupts the NERVES traveling down the spinal cord. In other words, the main communication system that connects your brain to your body can be disrupted causing the body to fail to adapt properly.
Acid Reflux
Acid Reflux, Not ENOUGH Acid?
By Dr. Brian Helland
It occurred to me while working on a patient that too often we don’t connect the dots enough for our patients. I was adjusting a T6 subluxation on a patient (a subluxation is a misalignment of a vertebra with a resulting nerve irritation creating pain or some other dysfunction of the body) and asked her if she had been experiencing any kind of stomach issues. The T6 nerve is one of the main nerves that controls stomach function and the T6 vertebra is a common vertebra that we see in our office associated with acid reflux. She paused for a moment, and then she informed me that more times than not, she has to take Tums in the morning because her stomach is bothering her. Immediately two things came to my mind. Osteoporosis and not ENOUGH acid. Let me explain. First, calcium needs a strong acid environment in order to be absorbed into the gut, and protein absorption is also greatly diminished if the stomach does not have enough acid. Tums and other ant-acids neutralize acid thus preventing any beneficial amount of calcium from being absorbed and preventing certain enzymes from being activated that break down proteins. Knowing this, it seems kind of ironic that they package calcium with Tums, doesn’t it? Calcium and proteins are very important in bone health, so being on an ant-acid for a long time, might not be the best choice for someone concerned with osteoporosis. One of the classes we had to take during chiropractic college was called Gastro Intestinal class. This class was all about how the digestive system worked, and one piece of information from this class still sticks with me in the clinic to this day.
This information is that 80-90% of acid reflux cases are a result of TOO LITTLE acid, not too much acid. I know this sounds a little counter intuitive, but it makes sense when you break down the physiology of it. When the stomach doesn’t produce enough acid, the food you eat in essence “rots” in your gut. This results in an unnatural acid being produced in the stomach. The stomach is designed to handle a very strong natural acid, but it can’t handle putrid acids. The stomach can’t wait to get rid of this unnatural acid, and the quickest way out, is UP!
Our clinic has 2 ways of treating patients with acid reflux. First, we check their spines for subluxations in the areas associated with the stomach, and if we find nerve irritation, we give them a specific adjustment. You see, the body is designed to function correctly; it’s not intended to have acid reflux. Removing nerve irritation with a specific chiropractic adjustment, allows the brain to communicate better with the tissues of the body, and allow the body to better maintain a state of HEALTH. Chiropractors don’t diagnose or treat disease, we remove interference from the communication lines of the body. Bottom line, the body heals itself.
The 2nd approach that we use in our office to help people with acid reflux is to put them on an acid and enzyme supplement. This restores the proper acid balance in their stomach and aids the stomach in protein, fat, and carbohydrate absorption. The statistics from my college course are pretty accurate in our clinical findings. 80-90% of our patients with acid reflux notice a marked improvement in their symptoms. Some even get off their medication. (Always consult with your physician before changing your medications).
By Dr. Brian Helland
It occurred to me while working on a patient that too often we don’t connect the dots enough for our patients. I was adjusting a T6 subluxation on a patient (a subluxation is a misalignment of a vertebra with a resulting nerve irritation creating pain or some other dysfunction of the body) and asked her if she had been experiencing any kind of stomach issues. The T6 nerve is one of the main nerves that controls stomach function and the T6 vertebra is a common vertebra that we see in our office associated with acid reflux. She paused for a moment, and then she informed me that more times than not, she has to take Tums in the morning because her stomach is bothering her. Immediately two things came to my mind. Osteoporosis and not ENOUGH acid. Let me explain. First, calcium needs a strong acid environment in order to be absorbed into the gut, and protein absorption is also greatly diminished if the stomach does not have enough acid. Tums and other ant-acids neutralize acid thus preventing any beneficial amount of calcium from being absorbed and preventing certain enzymes from being activated that break down proteins. Knowing this, it seems kind of ironic that they package calcium with Tums, doesn’t it? Calcium and proteins are very important in bone health, so being on an ant-acid for a long time, might not be the best choice for someone concerned with osteoporosis. One of the classes we had to take during chiropractic college was called Gastro Intestinal class. This class was all about how the digestive system worked, and one piece of information from this class still sticks with me in the clinic to this day.
This information is that 80-90% of acid reflux cases are a result of TOO LITTLE acid, not too much acid. I know this sounds a little counter intuitive, but it makes sense when you break down the physiology of it. When the stomach doesn’t produce enough acid, the food you eat in essence “rots” in your gut. This results in an unnatural acid being produced in the stomach. The stomach is designed to handle a very strong natural acid, but it can’t handle putrid acids. The stomach can’t wait to get rid of this unnatural acid, and the quickest way out, is UP!
Our clinic has 2 ways of treating patients with acid reflux. First, we check their spines for subluxations in the areas associated with the stomach, and if we find nerve irritation, we give them a specific adjustment. You see, the body is designed to function correctly; it’s not intended to have acid reflux. Removing nerve irritation with a specific chiropractic adjustment, allows the brain to communicate better with the tissues of the body, and allow the body to better maintain a state of HEALTH. Chiropractors don’t diagnose or treat disease, we remove interference from the communication lines of the body. Bottom line, the body heals itself.
The 2nd approach that we use in our office to help people with acid reflux is to put them on an acid and enzyme supplement. This restores the proper acid balance in their stomach and aids the stomach in protein, fat, and carbohydrate absorption. The statistics from my college course are pretty accurate in our clinical findings. 80-90% of our patients with acid reflux notice a marked improvement in their symptoms. Some even get off their medication. (Always consult with your physician before changing your medications).
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