What is Awe?

The definition of awe is an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, and inspiration, produced by that which is grand, sublime, extremely powerful, or the like. In other words, it’s about being overwhelmed in a good way. Remember when, as children, this was the best time of the year? We didn’t dread its arrival, we longed for it. The time has come to remember what is good and exciting about this time of year and help others do the same. It’s time to put the awe back in the holidays.

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What is a fever?

Simply put, our body’s first line of defense when invaded by any microbe, virus or bacteria is going to be cells called microphages; a strong, healthy immune system may be able to eliminate the problem with this first step alone. If these fail to contain the “bug” then the body creates other pyrogens and proteins to try to assist. Once these have been created the hypothalamus in the brain recognizes that there is an invader and raises the body temperature to assist in killing it off.

This raised temperature will generally be just a couple of degrees, but the hypothalamus determines, based on the number of pyrogens and proteins, what will be necessary to eliminate the bug. If the hypothalamus creates additional biochemicals to try to protect the body then the temperature raises accordingly.

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Sleep Quality

A good night’s sleep is one that is going to be uninterrupted and allow the body to go through its natural sleep cycle. Sleep quality can be affected by many factors, which include but are not limited to:

• The length of time it takes to actually fall asleep
• The duration of sleep
• Food or alcohol consumption
• Nightmares, tossing and turning or any other disturbance that results in interrupted sleep

Interrupted sleep, sleep apnea and snoring has been connected to many sleep related issues, such as: waking headaches, hypertension, depression, irritability, fatigue and tension.

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What is Chiropractic?

The word chiropractic comes from two Greek words: Cheir, which translates to “hand,” and praktos, which translates to “done.” So, chiropractic basically means “done by hand”. This was the name chosen by Daniel David Palmer, better known as DD Palmer.

DD Palmer was always interested in science, being well read in the history of manipulation for health, as it had been around for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years. Yet, he realized that there had never been a philosophical or scientific foundation to explain the benefits that were found. It was through this research that he began to develop what would later become known as the chiropractic profession.

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Birth Trauma

Natural childbirth has come to mean many different things, but for the purpose of this article let’s keep it simple and say that it is a drug-free, vaginal delivery. Even with no pitocin, no epidural, the mother walking regularly to help the contractions, and no extraction methods being used, childbirth causes stress to a still developing spine.

Add to this the improper lifting of the child out of a car seat or during a diaper changing; and minor spinal traumas are occurring that affect the spine and nervous system causing common newborn health complaints:

• Colic
• Unexplained crying
• Poor appetite
• Earaches or ear infections
• Colds
• Allergic reactions

Even a minor spinal trauma will affect the nervous system and interfere with your child’s normal healthy function.

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Your Doctor of Chiropractic

A properly functioning spine and nervous system is an important part of a wellness pregnancy. In addition to the noticeable changes your pregnancy will cause your body, pregnancy can also cause subtle changes in the musculoskeletal system; changes your Chiropractor is able to detect and correct.

The position of your growing baby will cause your center of gravity to shift and your spine will naturally alter itself to accommodate this change. As a result, you may experience low back and pelvic pain. The increase in hormones during pregnancy can also cause muscles, ligaments, cartilage and even bones to “soften” and become more pliable. Pelvic bones may even become displaced or fixated. Since your hips will need to spread to accommodate the delivery of your baby, fixated pelvic bones can lead to complications during delivery.

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What is Posture?

Posture is defined as the position of the body or the position of several parts of the body with respect to each other for a particular purpose. Posture is not, regardless of what we have been led to believe, simply a matter of sitting or standing up straight. Instead, it is the actual and proper alignment of the parts of the body in relation to the spine, and the proper use of the body at all times.

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What is Subluxation?

Our spine protects our spinal cord, which is the message highway from our brain to all of our other muscles, tissues, organs and glands via the nerves that exit between each vertebrae. Commonly known as the “central nervous system”, it’s the master controller of all of your body’s systems. If just one vertebrae is even slightly out of alignment, it can cause nerve interference resulting in a lack of wellness.

This lack of wellness will manifest itself in silent signs of subluxation, usually not given a lot of attention from a general practitioner or medical doctor. However, your family wellness chiropractor will recognize these signs right away.

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Teething 101

When newborns are born they have “teeth buds” just under the gums, and while there is no set time that those teeth will begin to appear, typically their first tooth will begin to break through between five and seven months. Some infants can begin teething as early as 3 months and some as late as 9 months to even a year.

Typically the incisors (top and bottom middle teeth) appear between the ages of six to seven months. Between the ages of 7 to 9 months the incisors will come in on each side of those first teeth that appeared. Around the age of 8 months, a baby may have 8 teeth. The first molars begin to break through at 10 to 14 months and the canines at 15 to 18 months. Finally, the second molars will come in typically between the ages of 2 to 3 years.

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Proper Balance

The ability for the body to maintain a proper balance is dependent upon three primary factors. The first is the sensory system which must accurately receive information as to your body’s relative position to your environment. Are you standing, sitting or lying down? The sensory systems that affect balance include everything from vision and inner ear motion sensors to the sense of touch on your feet, ankles and other joints in your legs.

The second factor to affect balance is your brain’s ability to process this information once it’s received. The third and final factor, your muscles and joints must coordinate their movements in order to maintain balance.

Balance control is automatic, in that it doesn’t require our conscious attention to maintain; however, if something interferes with that state, we will have to exert quite a bit of effort to correct it.

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What is the Webster Technique?

A simple Google search provides the following definition which was provided to the website “Spinning Babies” by Dr. Jeanne Ohm: “A chiropractic adjustment called the Webster Technique is a specific sacral adjustment to help facilitate the mother’s pelvic alignment and nerve system function. This in turn balances pelvic muscles and ligaments, reduces torsion to the uterus and offers a greater potential for optimal fetal positioning.”

The Webster Technique is performed by a trained Doctor of Chiropractic. The doctor will determine which side of the pelvis has the sacral rotation by checking muscle tension through the leg muscles that attach to the pelvis. Then an adjustment to the sacrum will be performed to realign it in the pelvic ring. Afterward, the doctor will make a contact with a few ounces of pressure on the mother’s abdomen, over a pelvic ligament. Once the tension is released the uterine wall should relax allowing the fetus to more easily move into the optimum position for delivery.

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What is Chiropractic?

Based on the Greek word “Chiropraktikos”, the word chiropractic can be broken down to the root word chiro, which means “hand”, and the word praktikos, which translates to “practical science”. So, chiropractic, in its most basic form is “to practice scientific work by hand”.

As Edison once postulated, the Family Wellness Chiropractor doesn’t give medicine or shots, but, instead, they give advice on how to properly care for your body, treating it with respect, and recognizing that we have within us everything we need to live healthy and thrive.

Many are not aware that chiropractors are the originators of the wellness movement, being the only healthcare professionals who recognize the body’s natural ability to heal itself.

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