Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Rockford NUCCA Chiropractor Eye Exams

Part of the fun of studying recent research in neurology and upper cervical chiropractic is experiencing the joy of understanding why a person gets dizzy or has headaches. We tend to see that when a person is out of adjustment there is a loss of signal going to specific parts of the brain that run the eye muscles. We can actually test the eyes and determine which pathways are not working.
This year, we have started using eye tests to gain a clearer picture of how the atlas subluxation expresses itself. Many times it is possible to see exactly where the disturbance shows in the brain. After correcting the atlas subluxation complex, we test again and verify that there is a change.
So now we do Eye Tests! They show...
- Which eye muscles aren't working right
- Which parts of the balance mechanism aren't working right
- Which semicircular canals are not happy
- Where the connections are not happening in the brain
So does that mean we are eye doctors? No, just that for some people, the atlas subluxation complex will knock out the vision and the balance systems. It's important for us to see exactly where the breakdown is happening so we can verify that your body is responding well. We're still doing excellent NUCCA upper cervical chiropractic!

Friday, November 22, 2013

Rockford Chiropractor Welcomes Dr Hannah Orem

I was a struggling track athlete.  After multiple successes in high school, the first three seasons of my collegiate career were an overwhelming disappointment: I strained both hamstring and had numerous problems with my hips and knees.  After beginning NUCCA care, I felt like someone had given me a new pair of legs!  In my senior track season, I played a significant role in setting two relay school records, was an indoor and outdoor conference champion, and represented my school at the NCCAA National Track Meet.  It was during this time that I realized how much hope this type of care brings to people in many aspects of life, and I knew this is the type of holistic health care I wanted to provide to people in my future career!  Sincerely, Dr. Hannah Orem

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Beginning Health with NUCCA

There's a new word out that is challenging us to change how we think of health care. "Salutogenesis" is a word that denotes practices that build good things into your life. Currently, the so-called health care profession is actually dominated by disease care. This seems to be an outgrowth of the tendency for doctors to limit themselves to only handling symptoms. For example, you can see evidence on MRI of future Parkinson's disease symptoms, but your doctor will not likely do anything about it until the actual symptoms show up 20 years later. Is that health care or disease care?
If you were going to treat your car that way, you would be waiting for blue smoke to come out of the tailpipe before you change the oil, but by then, there is irreversible engine damage.
Instead, health care can be filled with good things. We are already familiar with the importance of brushing and flossing teeth, sufficient sleep and exercise, and good food. In addition, many people recognize that you can replace your teeth, but you can't replace your spine, and the best way to fill your spine with health is by regular chiropractic care.
With the NUCCA procedure (National Upper Cervical Chiropractic Association), we are able to take stress off the brain, spinal cord, and spinal segments. This restores good relations within yourself. Patients report improved mood, improved flexibility, improved ability to function at a higher level, all from restoring normal connections within the nerve system and its protective bony enclosure - the spine. It may not be the only "nice thing" you can do for yourself, but it is always the most important 1st Step you can take in a new beginning. Call us at 815-398-4500 and make an appointment as you build good things into your life!

Friday, September 27, 2013

Rockford Chiropractor - Psoriasis

Is Psoriasis just a skin problem?
According to the National Psoriasis Foundation, it is the nation’s most prevalent autoimmune disease, affecting as many as 7.5 million Americans. It occurs when the immune system sends out faulty signals that speed up the growth cycle of skin cells. Keep in mind that the immune system is actually an alliance between different systems of the body; digestion, nerves, endocrine and skeletal system. Do you think the immune system acts on its own or in coordination with the rest of the body?
The most common form, plaque psoriasis, appears as raised, red patches covered with a silvery white buildup of dead skin cells. It can occur on any part of the body and naturally is associated with other signs of health breakdown such as diabetes, heart disease and depression. It affects daily quality of life, often causing significant physical pain and disability.
At 1st Step Chiropractic, we see hope for people suffering from psoriasis. Sometimes we see a reduction in the condition, and sometimes we see a total remission. The essential evidence points to impaired brain control of body systems as the root of many cases of psoriasis and other autoimmune diseases. It is fair to note that some Naturopaths feel that parasites are at the root cause, and have developed herbal remedies to alleviate parasite influence, but keep in mind that even parasite influence is managed by the immune system. In my experience, herbal remedies can indeed help to tip the balance in favor of your immune system, but the best results are always seen within the context of a balanced spine and healthy nerve system. Who do you know that wants help with psoriasis?

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Rockford IL Chiropractor - Adventures in Learning


Many people might equate that title with something as bad as a root canal.
I suppose it took a while for me to learn that education can be as much fun as a soccer game (move fast and read the field) or as thrilling as a wild kayak ride down a fast river (wear your helmet and have some good self-rescue techniques available).
This year in the Upper Cervical Chiropractic Diplomate program, our group of over 30 doctors from all over the USA and Canada have been at the cutting edge of research and physiology.
There is ample evidence (MRI) that when the atlas is misaligned and the spine is out of balance, we’re not just experiencing “stenosis” or narrowing of the spinal segments, but also stenosis of the spinal cord just under the skull. That’s one big pinched nerve! We call that a “subluxation,” which is the technical term for a bone out of place causing interference to nerve tissue. Here at 1st Step Chiropractic, S.C., we focus on restoring function by removing the subluxation using the NUCCA procedure. Spread the word! There IS hope!


Saturday, July 27, 2013

Rockford Chiropractor - Safely Restoring Health

Why I Don't Sell Gadgets
I am constantly bombarded with emails from people I know who have found the “best” product for eliminating pain. Salves, oils, electric or magnetic gadgets have been created out of many inventive minds. Judging by the accompanying testimonials, I am sure they work. So why don’t I offer them to my patients for fast and effective pain relief?
Picture this; a grade 2 ligament tear between two spinal segments (looks like a piece of paper that you tore only halfway through) and it is singing a very loud and painful song to tell you to stop moving. If you tear it all the way through, you’re done. It will hurt forever.
Now if you snuff out the pain signal so you can finish all the house and garden work, do you think you might cause further damage to those tissues? Instead, the 1st Step is to set up healing on the inside - the brain and spinal cord When there is no tissue damage on the outside of the spinal column, a stressed spinal cord can be the only thing propagating the pain signal. That’s where we must begin. As the body straightens and the muscles and ligaments heal on their own time naturally, pain will reduce accordingly. 
We want our patients to get out of pain safely!

Friday, June 28, 2013

Rockford Chiropractor Maximizing Music

Here I am, at the summer strings festival at Eureka College. There are musicians from several states gathering to rehearse and perform chamber music for - well - themselves...eavesdroppers welcome!
My role is to work with individuals in reducing tension (primarily using Alexander technique concepts of constructive self-use), but also to let people know that if there is something that goes wrong, it's not always your own fault! Sometimes it can be the disconnect between the brain and body which prevents brain signals from doing their job of keeping you balanced. That's where the NUCCA (National Upper Cervical Chiropractic Association) work comes in handy to restore normal physiology.
I wish you could have been here to witness the changes in the sound as players learned individual skills that free up their own playing. "I feel like I have more power and control." reported one young violist.
And it's all about restoring normal function and ability...the Alexander Technique, NUCCA, 1st Step Chiropractic...

Thursday, June 27, 2013

RockfordChiropractor - Getting out of Pain


I recently discovered that I have patients who think that our goal is simply to get people out of pain, and when out of pain – then they are “done.”
Not So!
With recent advances in spinal cord imaging and detailed research, we are seeing that the nerve system is able to display distress without causing pain. Because there are connections between the spinal cord itself and the bones of the upper cervical spine, bones stuck in the wrong place (subluxated) will cause trouble to the spinal cord. The observable effect is postural muscle distortion (crooked spine), decreased blood flow in very important places (like the brain…), and eventually things that you can feel, such as dizziness, tension, pain…
The healing process is something the entire body experiences. On the level of the spinal cord, the upper cervical correction restores blood flow to the tiny vessels of the spinal cord. This restores nerve flow on the spinal cord, so the lower body can balance out. Then the ligaments and tissues on the outside of the spinal column can settle down and start feeling better. From the inside to the outside the body is growing new and healthy connections, like a fresh spring flower. Once the damaged tissues feel better, it’s easy to think that’s all there is, except for the fact that if you lose the correction, your misalignment won’t feel anything like it felt when you received your first NUCCA correction. That’s why we check periodically to make sure there is no trouble on the spinal cord.

So when you are checked a minimum of twice a year, we are checking all the expressions of your nerve system that tell us whether you are holding the correction or are in serious trouble. Please, help us do our best by getting checked.

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Rockford Chiropractor - Help for Musicians

I had a car accident about 40 years ago that crushed my shoulder and some ribs, said David...
I was in pretty bad shape. It got to the point where I could not shave with my right hand, I had to use my left hand. I am an amateur cellist, and my shoulder and arm were sore quite a bit, to the extent that I couldnt play continuously through long rehearsals. But then I got under care at 1st Step Chiropractic in April, 2003. Over the first year of my recovery, I had a lot of quiet changes that I only noticed during a rehearsal. It boiled down to how long I could play without pain. This time gradually grew longer and longer, so that I regained my confidence that I could keep playing.
Dr. Schalow has impressed my with the thoroughness of his exams. He is the one who spotted the fact that I had a new shingles outbreak, and so I got it taken care of with the right drugs before it got too advanced.
Oh....... another thing. Actually the last right shoulder/arm pain I experienced to any extent was last August (2005) in Austria. This was not a surprise though, because, after not playing cello for a few weeks I participated with long hours of playing cello again, this time in the Classical Music Festival orchestra in Eisenstadt. After playing about 5+ hours in the first day the pains started to return to the extent I was not playing all of the time. The next day of rehearsals?...... almost no pain after 5+ hours of practicing. Then that was all.
I recommend upper cervical care in Dr. Schalows’ office for any serious musician.
Our very first patient, still getting checked, still having benefit as the correction holds and does its work. "Don't ever give up!" as my piano teacher always told me...The same thing holds true with your health and maintaining your correction. The NUCCA procedure helps your body heal from the inside,  and if there are other problems going on requiring separate modalities, that's okay. Just be sure they don't interfere with the correction!


Monday, May 27, 2013

Three weeks ago, when the weather warmed up and the pollen came out, a majority of my patients began showing signs of reaction to allergens. So, better late than never, we get to present information on food supplements helpful in allergy season.
1st Step is always to get the atlas corrected with the NUCCA procedure. Often, the atlas subluxation complex is the only thing standing in the way of your eliminating allergy symptoms, and that was the case for me back in 2001 (which took me 8 months to realize). On the other hand, lots of extra material in the air (pollen, dust…) creates a toxic load on the body that stresses the liver. Picture this, you breathe in lot of gunk, which goes into the sinuses and lungs, through the lymph tissues, then blood stream, then liver to be cleaned out. It’s like John Candy’s character in the movie “Planes, Trains and Automobiles,” who uses up all the towels, eats all the food, messes up the place, and you have to tidy things up.  How can you help your liver?
Many people respond to the food supplement called Antronex, which is from the beef liver. There is an enzyme discovered in the ‘20s by Japanese researchers which helps the portal vein relax and flush the liver. About three years ago, I had a very surprising week when 90% of my patients who were experiencing allergic symptoms (and holding the correction) responded favorably to Antronex. It’s not the only one that can help…

Body organs that help with allergies (think immune alliance) include the spleen, stomach, lungs and adrenal glands. Allerplex can also be useful, depending on the level of support you need. It has Antronex in it, so can be more useful for people who require support not only of the liver but other organs in dealing with allergens. Check with Dr. Schalow to see if one of these supplements might be helpful.

Instantaneous Relief? You Should Hope NOT, Here's Why...

One of the reasons why I encourage people to be patient with their healing process is that the body is very wise. Here is what researchers have found when they look at joint and ligament damage. When motion stops at a joint, one side effect of the out-of-balance spine, the ligaments lose their strength. The fibers that make up the ligament begin to shrink and vanish altogether. Not only that, but the connections between the ligaments and bones begin to dissolve, and the bone becomes weaker. Now what would happen if we did a fine NUCCA correction, restored mobility to that joint and took away all the pain at once? You would jump back into activity with weaker structures and become high-risk for serious damage. I often remind patients who have had pain for several years along with joint fixation, swelling and ligament damage, to pretend you are horribly crippled for the next several weeks, even if the pain is gone! It is because we have to wait for those bones and ligaments to rebuild strength and ability.
When we restore the communication between the brain and the body, your own body selects a time frame for healing of those deteriorated joints. Motion is restored gradually as normal kinematics of the spine returns. Bone and ligaments develop their strength as good forces come back into play. As the old saying goes, “slow and steady wins the race!”

One of the ways you can help that process is to learn some safe movements, such as taught in one of our workshops. “Swimming without Water,” and “Introduction to the Alexander Technique,” are offered just about once a month. If you have not yet attended one of them, or even if you have, give yourself a treat and sign up for one or both. These are fun activities that help people constructively relax and restore healing motion. And of course, it goes without saying, the other way is to be sure you are holding your adjustment. 

Friday, April 19, 2013

Rockford Chiropractor - Helping Parkinson's Disease

Many patients expect that the NUCCA correction can help with their conditions. And they are right, partially...
With Parkinson's disease, we are going to see destruction of the Substantia Nigra (a part of the midbrain that relates to the ability to pause) and accumulation of aggregated alpha-synuclein in specific brain stem, spinal cord, and cortical regions. In other words, there's a mess in parts of the brain that are supposed to be communicating smoothly with each other in modifying the interaction between what you're feeling, what you're thinking and what you're actually doing.
It's like a real greasy, dirty garage floor in there.
So what can NUCCA work do about it?
1st step is to get the pressure off the spinal cord and brainstem region with the NUCCA protocol. This restores blood flow to the brain and improves circulation and drainage so the gunk can flush out.
Then the  brain has a chance to be restored.
Are there other things that help?
Absolutely!
My mother says (and the research also supports this) that you need to just keep active and keep learning things. You can actually build the brain up by learning a new instrument (lots of piano teachers out there looking for work!) learning a new craft, finding a physical exercise or bodywork system that you like. All these things build connections in the brain and can reverse the effects of Parkinson's and aging.
It's never too late to take the 1st Step in Wellness Care....815-398-4500.

Monday, April 15, 2013

Rockford Chiropractor - Musician's Injuries

Let's say you begin to dread performing on your instrument, whether it's your voice, your violin or your piano, because the very act of playing has become painfully draining. What happened to the joy? Is it time to quit?
Not necessarily.
There is an entire field of endeavor called "Medical problems of performing artists" that seeks to remedy the problem.
Don't ask me why it's called "Medical." It appears that any kind of performance problem is going to have a physical component and perhaps a mental component, but I don't remember seeing a "Medical" component anywhere in vertebrate physiology.
Ok, so skip the "Medical" terminology, it doesn't help. Let's just call it "Psychophysical problems of performing artists." Are we okay with that?
The "literature" is packed full of procedures to remedy the situation; Shots, physical therapy, mental training, surgery. I especially like one paper from Australia (they can be so practical down there) that uses psychophysical methods such as Alexander technique for retraining.
The huge absence is that there is no published literature about how chiropractic can help. We are going to remedy that.
After seeing a number of instrumentalists and one world-class vocalist regain control, comfort and ability with NUCCA work, it's time to get these cases into the literature. That's what we are working on two days a week. If you want to share the success of the others, find a NUCCA practitioner near you!

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Rockford Chiropractor - NUCCA Electronics

The expose button on my X-Ray machine was shorting out and giving me bad films. So I decided to fix it.
I got the buttons from the manufacturer (great guys at GTR Labs), and opened up the control panel. This is what it looks like inside.
There's just a little circuit board with nine screws holding it.

1st Step - remove the nine screws. Simple, you graduated from 8th grade, what could be so hard about it?
Then remove the two ribbons attached to the circuit board. They have plastic connectors that wiggle out easily.

You can see here the expose button, the blue button, reflected in the mirror, and on this side, the four prongs of that button poking through the circuit board. These are soldered on. It's not like your atlas, which can get bumped out of position.




















This is soldering braid for soaking up the old solder. This part takes patience, just like the healing process, in which we set things right and then wait for the healing process to ensue. You also need a steady hand, just like when we adjust the atlas, there is a very small tolerance for error.



You may need to set the soldering iron on all four prongs, getting them hot enough so the little bit of solder still in the hole melts enough to wiggle the entire button loose. Then it takes about 30 seconds to solder the new button on.

Then you set the board back into the plastic housing, replace the nine screws and the connectors to the two ribbons, replace the back of the control panel, and setting it up, you test it.
The new button works fine with a nice little spring in it. No shorting out!
You can be your own electronics repairman now. Go ahead, what could be so hard about it? You graduated from 8th grade! Just remember, you cannot be your own NUCCA doctor. You have to get checked to be sure the "Status of the Atlas" is good. If it's not, you're going to "short out."

So what's more fun, electronics or correcting the imbalanced spine? Well, with electronics, you replace the part and release your machine into "wellness."
 With correcting the imbalanced spine, you get to see a smile grow from inside a person as they heal. If there are lots of levels of health problems, it may take some time, and nobody likes a complainer. But releasing a person's life into wellness touches many, many lives. That's a satisfying thought.
1st Step Chiropractic, the 1st Step to take in Wellness Care.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Rockford Chiropractor - GERD and Asthma



I recently saw an article pointing out that there can be a relationship between the two conditions, asthma and gastro esophageal reflux disease. Let’s look at those conditions. GERD happens when the muscle (the cardiac sphincter) which closes off the esophagus from your stomach, fails to do its job. When this happens over a period of time, the backflow of stomach acid irritates the lining of the esophagus and creates conditions favorable for altered cell behavior. In order to protect you from the effects of this acid, the lining actually thickens as the cells change. It’s called “Barrett’s esophagus,” and can lead to cancer. Sometimes, the acid can enter your airways and lungs, contributing to asthma attacks.

Asthma is a condition that involves the failure of the body to process inflammatory events in the lining of the lungs. This lining is responsible for “passing gas;” receiving oxygen for the blood and getting rid of carbon dioxide residue left over from your energy production needs. If that lining swells up, the transfer cannot happen.

Some studies apparently support the idea that controlling the GERD symptoms alone can improve asthma symptoms. But let’s look at the biology of it.

Since all the information your body needs starts as a signal in the head, do you think making sure those signals can get through from your head could help both conditions?
If the nerve system controls and coordinates all the systems of the body, do you think a person having both conditions suggests that the nerve system is not doing its job?
Are there actual nerves that are supposed to be telling the cardiac sphincter how to work? Is the nerve system capable of managing inflammation in tissues when all the nerves are getting good signals from the brain?
I hope you answered yes to all those questions.

Besides NUCCA (and we have seen complete reversal of Barrett’s esophagus and asthma in this office), are there other things sufferers can do to help themselves?

Cut back on citrus foods, tomatoes, caffeine, alcohol and chocolate, eat smaller meals, lose weight, avoid smoking, and I hear the word on the street is to take over the counter drugs, but you didn’t hear that from me.

1st Step Chiropractic, S.C., The first step to take in Wellness care. 815-398-4500

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Rockford Chiropractor - Helping Earaches

One of the most frightening moments in my life occurred when my daughter wound up in the hospital after an earache became meningitis. One could say raising children is exercise for the soul - we get to learn to pray! Since that time, my vigilance regarding earaches and ear infections has increased exponentially.
But I want to share with you how we take care of earaches now.
In addition to daily prayer for guidance and protection, the role of the NUCCA doctor is to make sure the atlas subluxation complex is absent. How do we know it is present in the first place?
Since the nerves running the plumbing in the ear pass very closely to the edge of the atlas, and since those same nerves are dependent on adequate signals and nutrition coming from their origins, we want to have a way to monitor those nerves so they can do their job. Using our favorite tools, we "see" into the nerves to find out how well they are doing the job. There may be an infection in the sinus that is producing a normal response of swelling and mucous flow, but if the plumbing is not draining that excess, we're in trouble.
Finding abnormal nerve flow, we adjust on the appropriate vector (established with xray study). If there is not an immediate beneficial response, find the better vector through xray analysis.
The NUCCA procedure is very demanding simply because the brain and spinal cord are very demanding.
The fun part is when the ear ache vanishes!
There might be other things to manage - like diet and rest. But if we can ensure the nerve system is properly functioning, the hard part is done.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Rockford Chiropractor - Spinal Care Tutorial

The first NUCCA adjustment I ever did was on a 3 year old child who was not yet crawling. She was under care with an occupational therapist and a physical therapist. I adjusted her, and within a week, she was crawling and back on her normal developmental milestones. That was the first "WOW" experience for me.
The second was when I adjusted my wife (finally). She had been under different types of chiropractic care for years and still had the same low back pain that went out frequently.
In any chiropractic procedure, just like in weather forecasting, there are "indicators" that tell the observer what is going on. So with my wife, on a weekly basis, the indicators showed her spine was out of balance. She would be adjusted, but in a few days, all the indicators were back. After her first NUCCA adjustment, all the indicators, and I mean ALL, vanished forever. Now her back doesn't go out and she doesn't wind up on the floor. When she loses her adjustment (loses her spinal balance) I am able to catch it before everything collapses.
So when we use the NUCCA procedure to correct the imbalanced spine (from the top of the neck), we want to remember that the entire spine and pelvis are being positively affected. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I would not be doing this work if it did not have such a global effect on health and the spine.

(And yes, there are a handful of patients (out of the last 2000) who have had compound twists in the pelvis who I have had to refer to other chiropractors for specialized care of a different sort)

Whole spine work with the NUCCA procedure - 1st Step Chiropractic, S.C. 815-398-4500

Rockford Chiropractor - Rebuilding Broken Health

I've been seeing articles about how doctors can do a better job by getting training in "neuromusculoskeletal medicine" and how doctors can do better by training in "neurodevelopmental" procedures. After reading some, I realized that it's just a fancy way of describing what we already do at 1st Step Chiropractic, S.C.

The development of the nerve system, and all the tissues it controls, begins with conception. At the beginning of the third week of the developing embryo, the nerve system is identifiable. At the end of the third week the circulatory system is the next to be identified. All else follows.

When we correct the atlas subluxation complex with the NUCCA procedure, we are beginning again at the beginning of life, re-establishing the central nerve system and its communication with body tissues. We see cut and damaged nerves regenerate - a function of axoplasmic flow and transport, and perhaps some other things we could simply call "the healing process." We also see children who have fallen off the normal developmental milestones get back on them and begin crawling, talking, walking again. It's all about the central nerve system and its managing of nerve development, nerve control of muscle, nerve managing of skeletal bone function. That's why patients report less illness, better sleep, less pain, more mobility, spending less on prescription drugs, and higher quality of life.

1st Step Chiropractic, S.C., where we concentrate already on neurodevelopmental and neuromusculoskeletal procedures to restore normal function.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Sydenham's Chorea

Sydenham’s Chorea is considered an autoimmune disease initiated by an infection settling in the brain. Any time a “bug” gets lodged in body tissues, the immune system becomes very interested in those hiding places and begins attacking those tissues. This can be a big problem! When it happens to the heart, your own body protective cells begin destroying heart tissue and suddenly you have “heart disease.” With Sydenham’s Chorea, mostly seen in children, the damaged area of the brain controls muscle activity. As a result, a child will begin to show extra activity in the face, body and arms like a slow writhing or twitching movement. Most of the time, the symptoms clear on their own after a few months, but should we wonder if there is other damage to sensitive nerve tissue.

What we know about the immune system is that it is not so much an isolated system as it is an alliance among all the systems of the body. It involves nerve, skin, bone, digestion, endocrine, blood, elimination and even respiratory events to function at its best. We need our thymus gland (endocrine) to produce lymphocytes, our spleen and liver (lymphatic, elimination and blood) for antibodies. We need our long bones for producing blood that carries nourishing oxygen and nutrients to all body tissues. We need our nerves to control and coordinate all the functions of our bodies that keep us alive!

Where the NUCCA procedure helps is to restore blood flow to the brain, (there is ongoing research about that interesting fact), and to set up conditions favorable for long-term healing in all the systems of the body. Many patients report fewer sick days, no more asthma attacks, no more seasonal illnesses. One NUCCA patient with Multiple Sclerosis (a condition characterized by deterioration of brain cell tissue) has shown improvements in her neurologic tests after one year. It’s a slow process of restoring normal function as the nerve system rebuilds, but as the immune alliance rebuilds, we see autoimmune disorders recede. For complex conditions like Sydenham’s Chorea, upper cervical care is a fundamental contributor to care.



Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Why School Shootings - A Common Link

This article is actually written by Dr. Tim O'Shea, and has his characteristic precision-research stamp and his inherent sharp tone of judgement. It's not even an advertisement for his practice, which is based on chiropractic procedures. I would like to share this with my Rockford, IL readers (and every one of my well-read followers). it has nothing to do with the NUCCA procedure that we use, but everything to do with uncovering underlying problems that prevent full development of the individual. So, please resist the urge to turn off, and read on...

As media has been predictably instructing us how to respond, and exactly what we should feel regarding the inconceivable tragedy, de-sensitization is setting in. It’s inescapable. That coping mechanism is selected into human DNA, a gift of evolution.
De-sensitization is how we deal with bad news - take it in, process it, file it away. The worse the horror, the faster the processing. The unthinkable cannot be thought of for long. The big game’s coming on, and The Hobbit just came out, and it's Christmas …
Adaptation.
If you gauge your life by media, like most people, this story’s kick is already fading away - taking its place on the endless list of tragedies we shove to that dark corner in the back of our minds so we can get on with our daily existence.
Another month or so and it will be over. But what have we missed?
Organized media was on it from the start, did you see that – what’s our angle here? The google and FB ads on the right hand column sold out fast – nothing sells like blood in the streets. WR Hearst 101. And what’s the spin to be? Taking the cue from their loudest constituents, the interests that must be served first, the PR firms worked overtime to be proactive to shield the guilty. Immediately.
The Potomac think tanks had this one hammered out by the next day. What is to be our target for retribution, whom will we blame, we the Protectors of the people? How can our agenda best be furthered by this event? Keep it simple now – no abstractions. What did all the shooters have in common? Quick, now – don’t think about it. What was it? Right – guns! So that’s going to be the focus of our collective outrage and retaliation – gun laws. Perfect – people can understand something like that - the shooters all fired guns.
So then, let the debates begin – the party lines be drawn, the intellectuals, the NRA, the defenders of the Constitution, the automatic vs. conventional weapons smokescreen, who should be armed at school, who should be armed at home, and with what… Bring in Time and Newsweek and the New York Times, prep the TV newsreaders, and the unlettered lower element 'commentators' on the national programs, fire up the blogs … let’s hear from everybody.
Everybody, that is, except for one – one voice must be silent. To one voice we will give no air time, no column inches, - we don’t want to hear from this voice at all.
And who might that be?
It’s the voice saying these new events aren’t fundamentally about guns. Americans have had tons of guns, since the time of Columbus, the Pilgrims, the patriots, today’s brave hunters in their designer togs from Outdoor World – everyone’s always been armed to the teeth in this country. So that’s not new at all.
What else is there? What is it that has changed? Well, the One Voice is looking at another common thread in this cohort of sick monsters, besides guns. So let’s look at the shooter list and do our homework and make a chart and do some cross checking and really try to find the other common denominator in the majority of the incidents.
The first remarkable thing we see by comparing the historical lists of shooters is that they’re all different! Every list is different - check it out! Looks as though this recent phenomenon of the lone madman running amuck with automatic weapons in public is much more frequent than we are led to believe. It’s not like a dozen incidents in the last 20 years – looks like it’s closer to 100.
For example how many people even know about the Oregon mall shooting 3 days before Newtown? Just a footnote now – only 2 murdered. So the first fact that’s being largely overlooked is how common this type of maniacal behavior really is.
We haven’t seen one recent piece in any medium where they’re claiming to have a comprehensive list of recent shooting incidents. There have been so many in recent years that if there are just a few victims, it’s hardly even front page news any more. And the lists are all different - some don't count them unless there's at least 3 or 4 dead, or some other variable. So the lists are much shorter than how many wacko shooters actually are out there killing people they don't know.

THE OTHER COMMON DENOMINATOR
So step back, don’t try to prove anything, just look at the data, forget what your editor is expecting - what is the pattern here? Go wherever the data may lead, de-focus, find the hidden link … That old time investigative journalism spirit from days gone by…
Wait a minute – can it be? A history of prescription drug use? The psychoactive brand - what about that for a hypothesis? Let's tale a look.
Verboten in mainstream to mention drugs, but the independent media are lining up very solidly behind this idea - the sources whose editors don’t have the boot of the drug cartels at their throats - the writers who are not told what to conclude before they even begin their research. Still an upstream swim though, since orthodox news has already defused that suggestion, primarily by blacking it out.
THE PSYCH DRUG HYPOTHESIS
This new social phenomenon - mass shootings - is now well established in American culture. Hearing the beginning of the newest murder story, we now have learned to have certain expectations, right off the bat.
So, if the number of guns hasn't changed much, what other drastic new trend have we seen in this same time frame that might suddenly cause an entire demographic to start a wave of formulaic yet random killings, with suicide a frequent adjunct?
Only one event even comes close to checking all the boxes here: psychotropic drug use. All the SSRI inhibitors, all the methylphenidate derivatives, the whole pharmacopeia of children’s ‘behavior’ drugs have antisocial, violent and suicidal behaviors as clearly stated possible ‘side effects.’ This is not in dispute. Check your PDR.
DEFINITION
“A psychotropic drug is a chemical substance that crosses the blood-brain barrier and acts primarily on the central nervous system by affecting brain function.” [1]
Rather than reading today's regurgitated FB or Wiki swill to learn about the extent and dangers of psych drugs, an actual resource would be Robert Whitaker's comprehensive book: Anatomy of an Epidemic. [5] It is a masterful review of the literature.
So before we look at a few of the popular shooter lists, let's just view some real statistics on psych drugs in recent years, to consider a possible connection with this novel murderous artform.
FACTS YOU WON'T SEE IN STANDARD MEDIA:
By 2009, 300 million prescriptions per year for psych drugs in the US. [4]
In 1987, before Prozac, one American in 184 had some mental illness disability.
In 2010, 4 million Americans are on permanent disability for psych disorders [5]
Today one American in 5 has a prescription for a psych drug. (Whitaker) [5]
In 2005, it was 1 in 10. [6]
1987: 1 in 250 children taking an antidepressant.
Today: 1 in 23 children taking an antidepressant [5]
In 1987 ADHD was invented. BY 1991, already 1 million diagnosed.
By 2010, children diagnosed with "ADD/ADHD" on meds: 6 million [1, 2]
ADHD is now officially recognized as a lifelong disorder. [6]
After 20 years of prescribing antidepressants to children, today 1 in 15 Americans enters adulthood with a serious mental illness. [5] p221
By 2010, we spent over $25 billion a year on antipsychotics, antidepressants, and Ritalin clones.Today over a million kids are bipolar. Psych drugs are the biggest cause. [5]
84% of children diagnosed bipolar have a history of psych drug use.
No evidence whatsoever that psych drugs fix 'chemical imbalance' -- more evidence that the drugs cause them. That has always been a marketing term rather than a scientific one. Doctors who use this term are unfamiliar with their own history. - Whitaker p 76 [5]
A common side effect of all psych drugs: depersonalization [5] Perhaps the single most common factor with the shooters. They don't see the victims - or themselves -as people.]
For 82% of antidepressants, JAMA says placebos work just as well [8]
In children, antidepressants cause tendencies toward violence and suicide, as well as a host of other psych disorders.
Best studies: 11% - 62% of children prescribed antidepressants develop psychosis, like bipolar and ADHD. Whitaker [5] p 214 First the drugs, then the disorder.
In the military, the use of psychiatric medications had increased 76 percent from 2001 - 2009
At least one in six service members is on some form of psychiatric drug. [3]
Today psych drugs are a $40 billion per year business [5] p290

SHOOTER LISTS
With these statistics as background, let's take a look at a few of the many, many lists turning up everywhere. They're all different, with different criteria, different findings. All that's certain is that the total number of psychotic shooting rampages has been vastly under-reported.
Protection of the drug industry is evidenced by the refusal by any government agency to investigate a link between drug use and the shootings. They are ignoring the very clear warnings both from the manufacturers and from every international regulatory body that these behavior drugs can cause violent and suicidal personality changes.

1. Mother Jones list: A Guide to Mass Shootings in America [9] 62 murders since 1982. But if it's 3 or less murders per shooting, it doesn't count.
2. CCHR List: School Shooters Under the Influence of Psychiatric Drugs [10]
Documents evidence of 109 wounded, 58 killed from recent shootings involving psychotropic drugs. 11,000 reports to FDA of violence resulting from these drugs between 2004 -2011, representing less than 10% of actual incidents. 300 homicides.
3. The Real Lesson of Columbine: Psychiatric Drugs Induce Violence [11]
This article has a list of 13 shootings between 1998 and 2008, all at schools, all shooters on behavior drugs.
This article specifically shows the role of 2 SSRI drugs - Zoloft and Luvor - in the Columbine shootings of 2000.
Ann Tracy, author of Prozac: Panacea or Pandora? recounts the effects of these 2 drugs according to the manufacturer: violence, aggression, suicide, homicide, etc. [12]
The Real Lesson of Columbine presents a long list of 13 shooters and the drugs they were taking, despite the standard practice of sealing the medical records in these cases.
Why would medical records be sealed? The victims and the shooters don't need to be protected. Who is it that needs the protection?
Simple: the drug companies.
Even such a source as shallow as the pop movie Bowling for Columbine points out how the cover-story explanation ultimately given for that shooting never made sense, and that there was no real investigation why it happened at all. And why the media blackout in the direction of behavior drugs?

This is the same whitewash and misdirection seen across the board in all the shootings. Talk about horror, talk about blood, talk about guns, talk about God's will, just don't mention drugs.
Ever wonder why so many of the shootings took place at schools? In list 3 above all were at schools. And all were on psych drugs.
How about this hypothesis:
The manufacturers admit that these drugs steal the user’s humanity. Depersonalization. In the case of the child, it is his childhood that has been stolen. In the case of ADD, parents often talk about the child ‘disappearing’ after a few weeks of drugs. Part of the dehumanizing effect is the loss of the ability to empathize – the user can do longer imagine another’s pain or humanity. Witnesses often describe the shooters as cold, detached, emotionless – shooting people carries no more emotional burden than shooting squirrels in a field.
With this same loss of personal value towards themselves, suicide is not such a burden, not a big stretch at all.
That's just a few of the lists, but the pattern is very clear. Of course they all had guns - that's why they were shootings. But then what? What other factor, new on the scene in the last few years, can be found in almost every case?
Except of course, the ones where they SEALED THE MEDICAL RECORDS.

REFERENCES
1. DEFENSE HEALTH BOARD--PSYCHOTROPIC MEDICATION WORK GROUP
http://www.govexec.com/pdfs/092711bb1.pdf
2. Facts and Statistics -- Children and Adults Against Drugging America
http://www.chaada.org/Page3.html
3. Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) 2010 Military Times
http://www.govexec.com/pdfs/092711bb1.pdf
4. Herman, S Psychiatric drugs: a booming business
www.ngpharma.com/article/psychiatric-drugs-a-booming-business/
5. Whitaker R Anatomy of an Epidemic”: The hidden damage of psychiatric drugs Crown 2010.
6. Wang, S Psychiatric Drug Use Spreads
Wall St J 18 Nov 2011
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203503204577040431792673066.html
7. Lipinski, J Review and Interview with Robert Whitaker
Apr 2010 Salon
www.salon.com/2010/04/28/interview_whitaker_anatomy_of_an_epidemic
8. Jay, C Antidepressant Drug Effects and Depression Severity
JAMA 2010 January 6, 2010
9. Follman M A Guide to Mass Shootings in America
www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/mass-shootings-map
10. School Shooters Under the Influence of Psychiatric Drugs
http://www.cchrint.org/school-shooters/
11. The Real Lesson of Columbine
http://psychiatricfraud.org/2011/04/the-real-lesson-of-columbine-psychiatric-drugs-induce-violence/
12. Tracy, A Prozac: Panacea or Pandora? 2011.