WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO THE MARCH OF DIMES POSTER CHILD WINIFRED GARDELLA?

In the early 1950’s, Winifred Gardella was a poster child for the March of Dimes in San Francisco. Nationally, her image raised millions of dollars to help fight the dreaded crippler, Polio. Her sad, innocent face and her tiny body supported on crutches and leg braces made many Americans reach into their pockets to donate. But the March of Dimes could not help Winifred. After two and a half years under their Doctor’s expert care, her parents were told “There is no hope”. Despite this dire prediction, her grandparents were determined to find a cure. They were not about to accept the opinion of so called “Medical Experts.” They decided to choose their own health care and they took Winifred to Dr. Lewis Robertson, a Chiropractor in Glendale, California. She was adjusted daily, and in less than six months of having her nerve interference corrected Winifred Gardella threw away her crutches and braces, and went for a walk with her chiropractor. She has been walking ever since! This was not a “medical miracle”, Winifred’s body simply responded normally to Chiropractic adjustments by re-establishing its ideal balance and optimal function. It’s a natural response to Chiropractic.This is just one of many stories about the benefits of chiropractic. While there is extensive research about the benefits of regular chiropractic treatments, much of it is ignored by the media and the medical community. Good spinal health is essential to the function of the entire body!

Athletic Performance and Physiological Measures in Baseball Players Following Upper Cervical Chiropractic Care

This study from the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research in 2007 is an amazing example of how specific upper cervical chiropractic can have an integral part in your progression as an athlete. The study focused on athletic performance and physiological measures before, during and after 14 weeks of specific upper cervical chiropractic care. I agree with the study when they stated the importance of utilizing chiropractic for the improvement of human performance as an alternative to the current use of illegal drugs to boost performance, which often has long term physical consequences. Thank you Sherman College of Straight Chiropractic Research and the University of South Carolina (Spartanburg) baseball team for getting the truth published.

28 male baseball players were recruited to be a part of the study and 21 players completed the study. 9 players were in the chiropractic group and 12 players were part of the control group. Only players who were free of physical injury were selected for the study and in order to complete the study, the players needed to remain injury free from physical injury throughout the entire study. Both the control group and the chiropractic group received radiographic analysis and thermographic profiling before the study began as well as at the end of the study. They all also received baseline profiles of athletic ability and physiological function pre and post study. In order for the chiropractic group to receive a specific Palmer toggle-recoil adjustment during the study, the patient needed to have at least 2 established pattern scans prior to the adjustment and were rested for at least 10 min post adjustment.

The athletic performance tests were the vertical jump test, Broad jump specified, standing broad jump, and muscle strength (free weight abduction). The physiological tests performed were resting blood pressure and resting pulse rate, treadmill stress test, and Natilfold microcirculation (capillary count before and after 8 minute treadmill run).

The results should inspire ANYONE, whether you are an athlete or not to add specific upper cervical care to your health and performance routine. There was very evident improvement within the adjusted group in regard to muscle strength, long jump distance, and vertical jump distance and there was a decrease in distance of specific broad jump. The trend was similar with the controlled group other than an additional decrease in long jump. Although the trends were similar, the percentage of improvement was substantially greater with the adjusted group. With the adjusted group, there was a significant increase in capillary counts. The control group on the other hand did not show a significant improvement. There was a downward trend with the adjustment group and an upward trend with the control group in terms of resting heart rate and systolic/diastolic blood pressure. This is probably one of the most important aspects to me in this study because resting heart rate is s very good indicator of overall fitness.

As you can see making sure the upper cervical area is clear of subluxations and your brainstem is free to function optimally is absolutely critical to reaching your God given maximum potential.

Schwartzbauer J, Kolber J, Schwartzbauer, DC, Hart, JDC, Zhang J. Paper Presented at the National Subluxation Conference, October 12-13, 1996 Phoenix, Arizona, Sponsored by Sherman College of Straight Chiropractic. Published in the J of Vertebral Subluxation Research 1997; 1 (4): 7

http://cafeoflife.de/download/research%201497-0043_athletic.pdf

Upper Cervical Chiropractic and Cognitive Function

I just saw some pretty cool published research about neurocognitive function and the upper cervical spine. 40 subjects were part of the study where 30 of them received a knee chest upper cervical specific adjustment and the other 10 were part of the control group. All participants were examined using a computer-administered neurocognitive assessment at the start of the study and after 4 weeks of care. The results showed significant improvement with neurocognitive function for those receiving upper cervical specific adjustments where the control group did not demonstrate the same trend.

This is a pretty cool study especially since cortical function is becoming such a hot topic due to the fact that over 4 million Americans each year are diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's attacks the neurons of the brain and progressively interferes with the ability of someone to feel, move, and think. Chiropractic may not be able to cure Alzheimer's but it can maintain and even improve neurological integrity which is important in preventing Alzheimer's and any other neurological disease or disability. And to go even further with that, by maintaining optimal neurological integrity and cognitive function you will drastically improve your quality of life and live the life you always dreamed of.

Kessinger RC, Boneva DV. Neurocognitive Function and the Upper Cervical Spine. Chiropr Res J, 1999; 6(2):88.

New post coming soon!

Passion City Kids and Chiropractic

Last night was a life changing experience for me! There is nothing more amazing to see child's like faith actually played out. Yesterday was day one of Passion kids, and I was blessed to be a part of it. During the 2 hours we had to learn about God's love for us and how he made every single one of us perfect and perfectly planned to live for him, I noticed the love and desire to give back to this world in every single child and volunteer. This experience deepened my understanding of what God is putting in my heart and the blessings and talents he has given me to better serve his will. What am I talking about? CHIROPRACTIC!!

More than ever, kid's need to make sure their growing bodies are functioning at their optimal level. This is because they are having to deal with never ending obstacles of life that are putting stress upon their bodies and spines. These are the child birthing process itself, learning to crawl and walk and ultimately falling, unhealthy foods, increasing vaccinations and medications at a very young age, sitting inside watching tv and playing video games instead of being outside, and the emotional stress with being accepted. These incidents and many others put stress on our nervous systems and can lead to chronic sickness, ear infections, decreased focus and mental capacity just to name a few.

God has prepared me to serve him by serving others via chiropractic. Chiropractic deals with the God given potential inside every single one of us. When your nervous system is functioning at its optimal level, we can better meet the needs of our daily lives and therefore better serve God's will.

Don't hesitate to ask me how chiropractic can help you and your child. And please read this other post.

http://moechiropractic.blogspot.com/2011/05/children-and-chiropractic.html

"The Lord will guide you continually, watering your life when you are dry and keeping you healthy, too. You will be like a well watered garden like an ever-flowing spring." (Isaiah 58:11)

Why Upper Cervical Chiropractic is Perfect for Runners

I have spent over half my life in the running community and know that every competitive or even non-competitive runner will do whatever they can just to run a little faster. Whether that be train multiple times a day, sleep in a tent at night that limits the amount of oxygen available to breath, or even give up the opportunity to get a "real job" and make more money. Due to the fact we distance runners make so many sacrifices to do what we love, we should get the most out of our training and time. The key to this is to stay clear of preventable injuries. If we are injured, we cannot reach our goals. My college coach used to always say "do the little things." There is a lot more to "the little things" than just stretching, hydrating, and getting sleep, etc. The little things are the simple things that can make a big difference in your fitness. Over the past 4 years I have realized one of the most important little thing we can do is make UPPER CERVICAL CHIROPRACTIC part of our regimen. Here is my reasoning....

1) First off, in order to reach our maximum potential we need to be running on all cylinders. We need our immune system to be working 100% so that we don't get sick and miss training days. We need our digestive system to be in 100% communication with our brain in order to properly utilize our food for energy and recovery. We need every gland and organ in our body to be working correctly so that we are producing the right hormones at the right time. If any one of these aspects or any other autonomic function in our body is less than 100%, it is impossible to perform at 100%.

How does this work? Well the top two bones in our neck surround one of the most important organs in our body, the brainstem. We have over 450 million nerve fibers crossing over through the brainstem in order for our brain and the rest of the body to communicate and work in unison. Due to physical, emotional, and chemical stressors we put on our body daily, these bones can move out of alignment and actually put pressure on our brainstem. We call this a SUBLUXATION. When this happens it is impossible for all 450 million nerve fibers to work properly. When communication from our brain to the rest of our body is interfered with, our body deviates from homeostasis and we are not able to reach our maximal, God given potential. This is also a time when dis-ease can set in.

As upper cervical chiropractors we specialize in locating these subluxations using instrumentation and xray analysis. Then very specifically removing this subluxation in order for your body to start functioning back at 100%. We then continue to utilize instrumentation to make sure that adjustment holds and allows those 450 million nerve fibers to function properly. This is when your body works at its best!

2) Secondly, our body has a natural tendency to make sure our pelvis is properly underneath us in order to maintain balance. When either of the top two bones in our neck move out of alignment, our head moves out of positional balance and therefore the body begins to react. This is when one shoulder rises to counter the tilted head, and the pelvis rotates and tilts creating a short leg. With all this the muscles and ligaments in our entire body begin to tighten or lengthen in order to support the new position of our body. Long term this is not a good thing for the body, and as an endurance athlete it is usually the reason for many injuries. If you think about running, you will take around 2,000 steps when running a mile. That is 1,000 steps on each leg. If your body is not in balance, one leg will take more of a pounding than the other. So if you weigh 150 pounds you may put 195,000 pounds of stress on one side of the body and 105,000 pounds of stress on the other side. As you could probably figure, this would make a big difference on how your body can function and recover. And this is only 1 mile! Over time most will start to develop overuse injuries. When your top two bones in your body are aligned, your body is aligned, and when your body is aligned your body can properly distribute your weight and be less susceptible to overuse injuries.

As upper cervical chiropractors we specialize in locating these subluxations using instrumentation and xray analysis. Then very specifically removing this subluxation in order for your body to start functioning back at 100%.

The reason Upper Cervical Chiropractic is so important for runners is that no matter how much we train or prepare, it is IMPOSSIBLE to reach our GOD GIVEN POTENTIAL when our nervous system is unable to work at 100% and our body is out of balance .

So go out and train hard, train smart, and get your nervous system checked!