“My, what a beautiful young lady… it’s too bad about her posture.”

A tragic comment to hear if it is one that could have been avoided through more careful attention when she was a youngster growing up.

“What is scoliosis anyways?” is a question we frequently have patients ask. Specifically, it is a lateral (side to side) curving of the spine. At the risk of being a little technical, let me mentonthe two kinds — congenital (inherited) and idiopathic (unknown origin). Congenital scoliosis is frequently caused by a malformation of one or more spinal vertabrae. While it cannot be corrected, painful symptoms may be relieved with Chiropractic care. It is the rarer of the two types.

Idiopathic scoliosis is the kind that “just happens, and while no one knows why, tere is evidence that posture plays a significat role. Most of us think of posture as being how we stand or sit, but it can start as early as how we lie in our crib, how we crawl and toddle. Monitoring our youngsters at this stage can alert us t developing problems and allow us to correct them before they become deeply ingrained.

Scoliosis is more prevalent in females than in males and seems to be found in the tall, athletically inclined, who hae recieved good nutrition. (Be sure to check the oung males and the non-athletic as well, however.)

While we should always be concerne with our youngsters health, we should intensify our scoliosis checks from age 8-16 (especially ages 10-13). At home you should check uneven shoe wear, uneven hems or pants lenghts, high shoulder or hip, and of course, the straightness of the spine. Observing the bare back as your youngster bends from the waist to touch her toes may reveal the bunching of muscles on one side and indicate a problem. This review should be done monthly during the 10-13 age period.

Posture review (seated and standing) may bring to your attention the aweareness that the body is “getting used to” a twisted, bent, or curving spine and permit you to begin preventive measures. The old adage, you can’t unscramblean egg’ is very true when it comes to undoing an established scoliosis. It can be done, but it is so much easier if it is caught in the developing stages.

Chiropractic care? An absolute must. Scoliosis is difficult to correct at best and you should get everything going for you that you possibly can.

Check for Scolosis:
1. Uneven shoe wear
2. Uneven hems or pants lengths
3. High shoulder or hip
4. Straightness of the spine

Those at the country club may call it “tennis elbow”, the “old timers” might say they have a “touch of rheumatism”, but most of us just recognize it as pain in the shoulder or arm.

It may start as stiffness when we wake up in the morning and progress to the use of liniment in the morning and evening with aspirin throughout the day.

The “shawl” muscle across the top of the shoulder becomes achy and we let our head loll all the way back to relieve the tension . You twist and turn to find the spot where you can recieve relief. You join the health club and try the sauna and whirlpool. The pain may radiate into the arm with numbness and tingling developing in the fingers . Some try fad cures of wearing copper bracelets or a bag of garlic around the neck - but nothing seems to produce the relief so earnestly sought. You can;t touch spots on your back that you used to and it’s a real chore to wash your hair. You can’t sleep and you try sedatives, shots, infrared hear, and whatever an acquaintance , or distant aunt found to be effective.

And all this time there is a cause for the problem that you are facing. The cause has to do with the musclo-skeletal system of the body and it’s alignment.

When you have a misaligned vertebra in the mid back through the neck area you often begin having the symptoms just described.

Surprisingly, many of the people that accept the Chiropractic solution for low back pain dont seem to draw the same conclusion when they have other disorders of the musclo-skeletal system. That numbness in the hands, that tingling of the fingers, that pain in the elbow is very possibly caused by the problem with the nerve. The nerve that is serving the finger, hands, and elbow can be traced right back to the spinal column and in order for that nerve to get to the spinal column it must pass between the vertebrae - through a little opening that is just the right size. Unless, of course, an accident or an accumulation of minor injuries has caused that vertabraeto misalign. When that happenes, the opening can be reduced so it is no longer large enough for the nerve. When the openingis not large enough and there is pressure on the nerve it cuts down the effectiveness of that nerve just as you wuld see a kink in a water hose cause a diminuitionin the flow of water.

So many of our patients that have searched for relief in liniments, polls, and shots, before coming to Chiropractic say it is like a “miracle”. Well indeed there is a miracle to life and to the healing powers within each body as long as that body is permitted to function as nature originally intended.

The “miracle” that I’m searching for is the one that will encourage those persons that start to suffer from shoulder and arm pain to try Chiropractic first. Health problems are so much easier to deal with when we don;t let them get a big “head start on us”.

Remember the five most dangerous words are, “MAYBE IT WILL GO AWAY!”

Chiropractic and homeopathy are methods of natural health care that helps the nervous system keep the rest of the body in health. The nervous system is the electrical system of the body. Your heart runs on electricity (EKG). Your brain runs on electricity (ECG). All organs are influenced by electrical impulses from the nerves. Drugs treat the body chemically. But chemicals are the cause of many diseases. For good health we need to get rid of the chemicals-not add to them! More is not better.

Homeopathy is a proven system of improving body function by using minute amounts of various natural substances in water. It is totally safe and without side effects. There are no warnings on the bottles. Dr. Warner will not make you sign something to save his neck, like other doctors do before giving an immunization. No body has ever died from a homeopathic remedy, unlike drugs like Celebrex, Vioxx, Aleve, Neurontin, etc. No child has become autistic from homeopathy, like from immunizations.

Dr. Warner will carefully test you using proven muscle testing procedures to see if homeopathy can work for you. If one of more than 100 remedies tests positive, you can look forward to a good healthy outcome. Your immune system will grow stronger to fight off disease. Your body will detoxify if needed and your emotions may heal. Homeopathy may well be the missing puzzle piece to your health situation.

Our bodies were meant to be healthy without taking drugs. While an occasional drug may at times be called for, this should be the exception and not the rule. Follow a good diet with lots of fresh fruit and vegetables. Drink several glasses of good quality water. Exercise at least 3-4 times per week. Get enough sleep and rest. Get regular chiropractic to maintain a healthy nervous system. And take homeopathic remedies if a sickness comes up. You will live longer and much better if you do.