Exercise of the Week!

Abdominal Bridge on Exercise

Ball with Single Leg Curl

Difficulty: Easy to Moderate (Consult your chiropractor before
starting this or any other exercise.)

Start: Assume abdominal bridge position on exercise ball. Focus on bringing belly button inward and holding entire body in a straight line – ankles to ears.

Exercise: Lift one foot a few inches off floor. Stabilize yourself, keeping body still. Curl leg to 90 degrees and hold for 5-10 counts. Return to start position, and repeat with other leg.
Maintain a tight abdomen throughout.
Repeat 5-10 times per leg.

Is Your Child Anxious at School?

Anxiety disorders affect one in eight children. It has become an increasing problem for kids, parents and teachers.
While many children look forward to school, some children dread it. Anxious kids endure painful, uncomfortable episodes of nervousness, irritability and frightening thoughts. They often
find it difficult to focus on their school work and may frequently complain of illness, such as headaches or stomachaches.
Untreated anxious kids are at higher risk of engaging in substance
abuse.

Normal Anxiety vs. Anxiety Disorder

It is typical for even non-anxious children to experience anxious feelings, such as being afraid of the dark or getting separated from their parents.
Children attach anxiety to specific situations, but the bad feelings
disappear when the situation is over, or the child simply outgrows the fear. However, children with anxiety disorders
endure extreme anxiety over long periods of time.

What causes a child to develop an anxiety disorder? The answer is still not clear, but numerous experts agree that genetics, family environment and life experiences all play key roles.
Studies indicate girls are more likely to develop anxiety disorders than boys, and younger children are more prone to anxiety problems than older children.

Separation Anxiety

This is a common issue for young kids, especially if they are just starting school or changing to a different school. A child may cry for a few minutes after being dropped off at school. This is a normal response, but for a child with separation anxiety disorder, he or she can feel fearful for hours and cry continually. The child
may have concentration difficulties and fail to engage with his or her classmates.
The problem can continue at home, with the anxious child having sleep problems, frequent nightmares or refusing to go to school.

Social Anxiety

This anxiety disorder can interfere with a child’s social development. To parents, social anxiety can appear as extreme shyness in their child. Kids with this disorder feel anxious around
new people and new situations, may have trouble forming friends and are often reluctant to participate in group activities. At school, a socially anxious child is afraid to make mistakes for fear of embarrassment or attracting unwanted attention.

School Refusal Anxiety

Severe anxiety can lead to a child refusing to go to school or stay in school. With school refusal anxiety disorder, a child often complains of feeling ill – either at school or shortly before going to school. He or she may develop this problem if changing to a new school, fears failing academically, or gets bullied.
School refusal can be linked to
separation anxiety and social anxiety.

Treatment of Anxiety

The primary treatment method used for dealing with childhood anxiety is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).
This type of psychotherapy is based on the idea that our thoughts cause our feelings and behaviors, not external things – such as events, situations and people.
The CBT therapist teaches the child to recognize their unsettling thoughts and behaviors and provides strategies to deal and cope with his or her anxious feelings. CBT therapy also includes relaxation training, role-playing and positive reinforcement.

More Tips for Parents of Anxious Kids

If you think your child is struggling with serious anxiety, talk to a
pediatrician. You should also bring it to the attention of your child’s teacher and school counselor.
In the meantime, here are five tips for
helping your anxious child:
1. Be Supportive – Make your child feel comfortable talking about her anxiety and offer reassurance. When a child is able to express fears to her parents, she actually experiences a decrease in anxiety.

2. Be School Positive – Point to the fun aspects of school to your child. This can include playing with classmates and engaging in new activities.

3. Allow for Downtime – Just like adults, children need time to decompress. Do not over schedule your child with too many activities. Make sure they have unstructured playtime, which helps reduce the impact of anxiety.

4. Encourage Exercise – Children should get 60 minutes of physical activity daily. Exercise helps slash levels of the stress hormone cortisol and boost levels of the mood enhancing neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin. Studies show children involved in team sports report less anxiety, and it is especially helpful for kids with social anxiety disorder.

5. Visit Your Chiropractor – Getting regular chiropractic adjustments help kids just as much as adults. Chiropractic reduces stress-related subluxations that impact nerves and restores a more balanced, natural tone to the nervous system.

 

Disclaimer: Information contained in this Wellness Express™ newsletter is for educational and general purposes only and is designed to assist you in making informed decisions about your health. Any information contained herein is not intended to substitute advice from your physician or other healthcare professional.
Copyright © Wellness Express™

Why Do Children Need Chiropractic?

Have we forgotten how difficult it is being a child? Just like adults, children have bones, joints, nerves and muscles
that need attention from time to time. Kids also experience several major physical milestones during their first year of life that place an increased demand on the neuromusculoskeletal
system – increasing the likelihood for injury and the need for chiropractic adjustments.

A child’s introduction to this life begins with perhaps the most physically demanding experience he or she will ever have to endure in this lifetime – childbirth! The journey down the
birth canal is demanding on an infant’s body, but the combined stress of pulling, twisting and extending the neck of the child during the birthing process puts the infant’s spine at risk.
Add any extra physical stress caused by difficult or assisted births (forceps or vacuum extractions), and it is not surprising one of the most common injuries resulting from childbirth is the cervical subluxation – where one of the vertebrae in the neck becomes misaligned, irritated or painfully restricted.

 

What Are Common Signs of Cervical Subluxation in Infants?

The first clue that your child has cervical subluxations is if the head is always turned to one side, as with torticollis. More subtle symptoms of cervical subluxations may include a child’s obvious preference for breastfeeding on one side only, or reluctance to turn the head to one side when prompted to do so.

We all know how painful it can be to have a “kink in the neck”. However, in addition to being painful, it is important to consider that every single nerve must pass through the first cervical vertebra on its way to the rest of the body. Therefore, many other
systems may be affected by upper cervical subluxations – asthma, sleeping disorders and colic are only a few of the conditions believed to be associated with childbirth-related neck trauma. Have your newborn child checked for subluxations. It is one of the most important things you can do for him or her as a parent. With a spine free of subluxations, your young child has the best chance to develop into a normally functioning adult.

Another stage of an infant’s development that is particularly
challenging on the body is when a child is beginning to crawl
(usually between 6-9 months of age). Moving into a four-point stance is an important milestone, as it helps initiate the development of a proper lumbar curvature. The lumbar curve is
particularly important for load-bearing activities, and it establishes the foundation for proper posture when
sitting and standing.

Crawling also helps with the coordination of opposite arm-leg
movements required for upright posture and gait. If there are restrictions in the pelvis or the lower back that go unchecked, then these critical movement patterns may be delayed. Any restrictions or imbalances of the spine and pelvis during this stage could lead to the development of faulty curvatures
later in life – such as scoliosis. Chiropractic adjustments are crucial at this stage to ensure the spinal curves are starting off in the right direction.

Learning to walk is another important developmental milestone in a child’s musculoskeletal growth (between 8-12 months of age). Standing upright is a key component in the development of
bone strength. Weight-bearing stimulates the production of a complicated internal latticework of bone, which provides strength. Proper bone and joint alignment ensures this is established properly right from the beginning.
Fortunately, your chiropractor is an alignment specialist!

What about Accidents?

When learning to walk, most children fall down hundreds of times. Although they are more physically flexible than adults, children are still susceptible to strains from particularly awkward
tumbling incidents. In addition, becoming more mobile requires getting used to the dangers of corners and edges.
Children can sometimes hit their heads quite hard on these objects, and the trauma can lead to muscle-spasms and/or subluxations in their necks and upper spines. It makes sense if
we want our children to grow up with strong, balanced spinal curves, a trip to the chiropractor is what they need – especially at the important developmental milestones mentioned here.

Disclaimer: Information contained in this Wellness Express™ newsletter is for educational and general purposes only and is designed to assist you in making informed decisions about your health. Any information contained herein is not intended to substitute advice from your physician or other healthcare professional.

Exercise of the Week ~ Abdominal Bridge

Abdominal Bridge on Exercise Ball with Forward Reach

We can never have too many core exercises! 

Difficulty: Moderate to Advanced (Consult your chiropractor before starting this or any other exercise.)

Start: Assume abdominal bridge position on exercise ball. Focus
on bringing belly button inward, and holding entire body in straight line – ankles to ears.

Exercise: Roll ball forward with arms, keeping body still. As you
reach forward, lower back will arch. Contract inner abdominal
muscles to prevent this from happening. Return to start position, maintaining tight abdomen throughout.

Repeat 5-10 times.