Thursday, December 17, 2009

Help For TMJ

POP! There it goes again, ouch! You were eating, or yawning or just talking with your boss and your jaw let you down. It's called TMJ syndrome, aka temporomandibular joint syndrome. It's a natural result of the conditions that are present, but what are those conditions?
From the Osteopathic world, we have research that shows how a tooth extraction can cause the bones in the head to go out of position, which affects how the jaw sits. From the Chiropractic world, we have research that shows a misalignment of the atlas, or first cervical vertebra, can set the stage for abnormal muscle tone that pulls the jaw out of alignment. From the Alexander Technique, we have compelling evidence that simply correcting the overuse of the suboccipital muscles will re-balance the structures involved.
Check into Rockford's Chiropractor who has training and experience in all three areas to determine the best way to resolve TMJ syndrome for you. 815-398-4500.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Hope for Parkinson's Disease

It can begin with simple stiffness in one arm. Then the shuffling starts, as though your legs are glued to the floor. Parkinson's Disease and Parkinsonia are problems that relate to brain function. Although it is not known how this disease gets started in the general population (you can get it overnight from tainted street drugs), one element is common in this type of patient - early in life there was head/neck trauma.
With upper cervical chiropractic, we are able to restore normal physiology to the tissues in the brain and spinal cord, according to the conditions present. Many people suffering with these symptoms report improvements. For some, the shaking grows less, for some the stiffness relaxes, for some the gait improves.
In Rockford, Illinois, the one chiropractor that offers strictly upper cervical care using the NUCCA procedure is 1st Step Chiropractic. Are you ready to begin the healing process?

Friday, December 11, 2009

Getting To Point "B"

There have been a few significant influences on my life. It is similiar to a great chicken soup - some garlic, carrots, parsnips...you get the picture?
I want to mention some of these influences to round out the picture of my practice.
Doris H. Johnson, my first violin teacher and coach through my professional violin career until her death from Lou Gherig's disease in 1986. I didn't learn enough about how to get health back in time to help her, but now things are different. She taught me how to listen.
Joseph Primavera, hot-headed conductor of the Youth Orchestra of Greater Philadelphia. He taught me how to stop.
Countess Catherine Wielopolska, aka "Kitty," taught me how to stop stiffening my neck through the Alexander Technique.
Richard Leaky (the younger) and Cab Calloway. A strange but useful lesson. If you don't take care of yourself, you can't stop getting rude and cranky.
George Burns and Lou Tepper. World-class means being encouraging, with high expectations of your fellow workers.
Rev. Elwood Bailey. The importance of rearranging your prejudices periodically.
Dr. Vern Hagen You don't know how much you know, and you don't know as much as you think you do.
My father, Rev. Frederick M. Schalow. The guidebook to all of life, love and liberty with God really is Holy Scripture.
My patients. They have all taught me how to be a good doctor, challenging me to deliver the best adjustment on the planet and expecting the best from me.
I am grateful to you all...

Thursday, December 10, 2009

From Twelve Feet Up

Have you ever wondered what it would look like to fall on your head from 12 feet above the ground? What would it feel like to have that moment of imbalance when you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you're not in charge and that you're about to have an unpleasant encounter with the planet? Do you just give in and relax? Do you have a flash of stoicism and accept without complaint the coming assault? Do you go into shock before you even hit the ground?

Despite the many responses to the event, there is one response that is essential - get evaluated by the appropriate professional for dangerous trauma. Chiropractors are trained to spot signs of trauma that are best handled in the hospital. That includes trauma such as broken bones and internal bleeding. If there are no such signs, it is appropriate to receive a spinal correction that sets the healing process into motion and speeds up recovery.

In fact, that happened today for a patient of mine. His colleague was not so lucky, so once his chiropractor determined that there were fractures and potential bleeding, off he went to the hospital.

We're all rooting for you, and your Rockford Chiropractor is ready to give you the best appropriate care.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Help For Headaches in Rockford




I really don't know if I can help people find relief from headaches. It depends on what the examination tells me is the problem causing the headaches. One of the causes of headaches looks like this; "I had a nearly fatal accident about 20 years ago where I smacked my head hard and blacked out. Then I started getting headaches about five years later."


Well, that one is a real no-brainer. Did you know that the cranial bones can move out of position? They can get stuck in the wrong place and press on the brain, restricting blood flow in and out and causing some interesting pressure problems.


(Unless you missed the last one hundred years of Osteopathy, Chiropractic and Orthodontics, you may not realize that the bones of the head move and that you can precisely identify the nature of that movement)


When the Atlas Subluxation Complex is present, it prevents the body from fixing these old injuries. Hence the headaches (in this particular case).


Our job at 1st Step Chiropractic (where you find upper cervical chiropractic in Rockford) is to correct this problem and then make sure the body heals up. What a great sight to see someone living without the pain of headaches any more!
Who do YOU know that wants to get better?

NUCCA Presence in Rockford!

What's all this about? Rockford's NUCCA chiropractic practice devoted to identifying and correcting the atlas subluxation complex. Are you ready for some good changes in your life?

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Help For the Heart in Rockford

The medical research is beginning to catch up with the rest of us when it comes to simple activities that support normal physiology. Among other research studies comes this one on Vitamin D3. Turns out that people with lower levels of Vitamin D in the blood are more likely to develop and die from cardiovascular problems. The normal range of this important steroid, however is listed at 30 ng/ml. Other sources point to 50 as a preferable level of D3. I know I function better with a higher level!
So whether you have Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and get the blues in the winter, or are interested in heading off cancer, diabetes and heart disease, find a good source of vitamin D3 - NOT D2 (made by plants and useless in the human body). 5,000 international units per day is what all the research is showing is useful.
If you need help with that, your Rockford chiropractor is ready to perform a thorough exam to find out what you really need and in what sequence.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Slipping Kneecaps!



Just had a chance to observe the muscle condition of a young lady whose kneecaps keep slipping out of position. Let me ask you what YOU would expect if the muscles of both thighs do not share an even tone? What do you think would happen if the muscles to the right of both kneecaps are way tighter than all the other muscles in the region? YOU'RE RIGHT! The kneecaps will move out of position.




Now let's just say you have a Rockford Chiropractor who uses the NUCCA procedure correct the atlas subluxation complex (which is causing this loss of normal tone). Would you expect the muscles to go to a normal and even tone? YES, YOU WOULD. And that's exactly what those muscles did last week for this young lady.




So if you are an athlete who is relentlessly pursuing the leading edge in your own performance, and if you are ready to achieve a higher level by ensuring correct muscle and spinal balance, call us to find out if we can help.



1st Step Chiropractic, S.C. 4519 Highcrest Rd. Rockford, IL 815-398-4500.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

In Pain? Steps for Quality of Life

It doesn't matter what the symptoms are when people come to 1st Step Chiropractic. The important thing is whether the brain is talking clearly to the body. When the Atlas Subluxation Complex is present, it is as though the signal is coming through, "Hey, would you please take the trash and dump it in the living room!?" That's what it looks like when a 13-year old girl comes in with slipping kneecaps and abnormal muscle tone in the legs...those muscles are just doing what the nerves that run them tell them to do! Problem is, the signals are wrong. The signals are wrong because of the pressure on the brainstem/spinal cord at the top of the neck! Correct the atlas subluxation complex and the right signals come through. "Please take the trash out, and feed the dog, too!"

Are YOU ready to take the first step back to Quality of Life? Come to Rockford's center for NUCCA chiropractic.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Popping Jaw!

Think about this; if the lower jaw hinges at the TMJ, where does the upper jaw hinge? (It hinges where the base of the skull meets the spine)
If the muscles of the jaw are receiving signals from the brain, what happens if those signals are garbled by some sort of interference?
Why does Dr. Norman Thomas, TMJ specialist, recommend that his patients get checked and adjusted by an upper cervical chiropractor?
Here's the short story... The jaw is designed to move in several directions so you can chew and grind food. Muscles that do the work attach at all kinds of angles from points in the skull to points in the jaw. If the TMJ doesn't work right it is important to discover the primary cause, which can be in the neck, skull, nerves, or the muscles they run, tissues in the jaw joint, or even the teeth. In order for the dentist to get a good picture of the influence of the teeth, the NUCCA procedure can bring balance back to the neck, skull, and nerves. If there is another factor still causing jaw popping or TMJ pain, the dentist will be better able to address it once the other factors are eliminated.
Are you ready to start clearing up the problems? Dr. Schalow is the only chiropractor in Rockford who uses the NUCCA procedure to bring about those conditions necessary for natural healing.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

My Family, Your Family


It was around 2:45 am, and I awoke to the sound of my son crying in pain. Not your normal night...we get real quiet around here about 8pm as the children start konking out. (How do you spell that anyway?) I went in to see what was happening and he said his neck popped and then started hurting. I said, "Go back to sleep, can't do anything about it now anyway!" I was tired and grumpy.

15 minutes later we were dressed and heading to the office where I established the fact that there was brainstem pressure from the atlas subluxation complex. (short leg phenomenon, muscle spasms, postural distortions, and temperature asymmetry). I took a set of NUCCA films to find out how to correct the problem, corrected the problem, and by 4:30 am we were back in bed. He slept. No more problem.

Easy? Well, if you figure that eight years of school studying anatomy, physiology, neurology, chemistries, and all the other 'ologies that you find in a med school plus some you don't find in med school is easy, then, okay, it's easy.

If you consider that studying a branch of chiropractic (NUCCA) under the guidance of several mentors around the country over an extended period of time easy, then, well, sure it's easy.

But where my wife and children are concerned, I would do it all over again, and do whatever it takes to make sure they get the best of care and the most appropriate care.

Even at 3 in the morning...

Join us to find out how easy it really is to get kids back on their feet and adults back on the path to healing.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

On Her Way!

Did a first adjustment last week on a person new to upper cervical health care. She has had a long history of doing healthy things - massage, body cleanse, chiropractic... so she had a big head start. Checked her today and she reported that she is sleeping better, beginning to feel better, and also had a strange emotional release that relates to a trauma that occurred decades ago. That's fast! She's still holding her adjustment (Yay!). The emotional release reminds me of the work of Candace Pert, who at Georgetown U. (back in the 90's) was able to determine the existence of actual biomolecules of emotion. These molecules become stuck in body tissues apparently as a defense mechanism. They don't always get released, but correction of the atlas subluxation complex is one thing that can initiate release when the body/mind is ready. It's not JUST Chiropractic!
Who do YOU know that wants to get better?

Monday, November 2, 2009

How Does It Do That?

My children and other patients come to me with things that trouble them. Maybe it's a sore muscle, maybe it's a sore throat. Sometimes it may even be a bit of trauma experienced at school today. "Check me please!" So what does that mean...?
Getting checked means having your upper cervical doctor look to see if your spinal cord is screaming "OUCH," and to see if any of your joints (such as elbows, wrists, ankles or foot bones)are stuck in the wrong place. If they are not happy, we correct the abnormal pressure and the spinal cord relaxes, limbs move smoothly and normal sensation and function returns. The most common question is, "How does it do that?"
If the head isn't on exactly straight (to the tune of, like, the thickness of a piece of hair) the nerves are pinched and the brain cannot run the show. (Remember High School Biology - the nerve system runs everything in the body). What does that look like? Hair falling out, legs don't work, can't feel the feet, stomach upset, can't go to the bathroom, can't stop going to the bathroom, hands numb, shoulder bursitis pain, all the other pain syndromes...
Well, your body isn't stupid, it just cannot get the signals through the pinching!
Give your body a chance to heal. Get checked!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

What a Day!

I love my job! I get to meet all kinds of people who have been spending lots of time and money doing the wrong things besides getting to the root of the problem. I find out 99% of the time that I can help them, and then I correct the underlying problem - the atlas subluxation complex (the head isn't on straight). Then I get to watch and study them as they go through the healing process. About 4% of the time, the healing process is not a happy time in the beginning, but for the rest of my patients it is a gradual improvement. I see changes that seem like the old injury from 20 or 40 years ago is present again. I see changes that seem like we lost the good adjustment - but on close inspection, is only an aggravation. Sometimes we see alarming symptoms that tell me the misalignment factors changed and we better get a new x-ray pronto cause the doc is adjusting on the wrong angle!
Sometimes my work is similar to the orchestra conductor who crafts harmony out of a stage full of individual (and sometimes cranky) musicians. But what a fine sound we develop! When you're ready for an improvement, we're here to help.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Article Published: A Fighting Chance

In this article, we see examples of three people who are wondering how to reclaim their health. Look carefully at each person's condition and think about how long you want to spend doing the wrong things.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Dan O'Brien And Chiropractic



If Dan O'Brien Needs Chiropractic maybe you could use it too? Give us a call today!

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Today's Shocker!

I had a patient today who reported that after her first adjustment of earlier this week, her tinnitis vanished with a disconcerting silence. It came back again after a couple of days, but less noisy than before. Can you trace the possible events that transpired within the organs of hearing? Do you know how the delicate tissues within the ear, and all through the head, are nourished by nerves that supply oxygen and other materials necessary for good function? Do you know where those nerves pass from their origins? The answer lies within the training of every chiropractor and everyone who studies the nerve system thoroughly. The chiropractic curriculum trains the doctor how to manage the nerve system for maximum function. Are you ready to take the steps necessary to regain maximum function?
1st Step Chiropractic, available to help when you are ready to take the first step!
815-398-4500

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Can You Help...?

I was going over a partial list of things that have improved with people who are under care here at 1st Step Chiropractic. Listen to these comments...my hair is growing out thicker, my fingernails are not splitting anymore, I thought I had a brain tumor but now it's better, I was a candidate for hip and knee surgery but now I'm not, my vision has improved, my hearing has improved, my varicose veins disappeared, my speech has cleared up, I can do the things I enjoy, my pain is going away.
It is common to think that this work of correcting the imbalanced spine is all about pain reduction. When you see the array of things that the body can heal or at least organize on a higher level, you wonder if there is a deeper principle involved. Well, YES, there is a deeper principle. It is the restoration principle and it is related to the task of getting the biology of the vertebrate mechanism functioning normally again.
Are you ready to get started on the program of restoring normal function for yourself and your family?

Thursday, June 25, 2009

How Far Would You Go For Your Health Care?

Pat has been coming to this office for two years and has seen results unobtainable with other forms of chiropractic. It is not that they are all clueless docs out there, it is just that HOW you apply the principle of chiropractic can make the difference between success and failure. We use an upper cervical procedure that makes a lot of people happy because the underlying problem is corrected and they begin to heal. Pat drives three hours to Rockford for this kind of care. Why doesn't the adjustment hold forever for her? well, she enjoys whitewater rafting and other wild outdoor activities that put stress on the spine. I always say, "If you're going to lose your adjustment, have fun doing it!"

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Dr. Christiane Gendron - Why I Became a NUCCA Doctor



Why I became a NUCCA doctor, story by Dr. Christiane Gendron. This describes how the NUCCA upper cervical chiropractic procedure helped her and helps her patients.

Friday, June 5, 2009

Improve Your Race With Less Effort!

I had a startling revelation today. I learned that having a balanced spine is not only important to serious bicyclists, who I have seen in my office, but also to swimmers. Both groups can shave off time from their races. Cyclists, of course, want to have an even stroke between the two pedals. If there is a short leg, it is going to be the fault of the spine being out of balance. A short leg makes the seat shift in the saddle and alters the motion of the stroke (big waste of energy). For swimmers, a straight spine means cutting through the water with less resistance. Two more reasons to jump at the chance to acquire a balanced spine.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

It's the Flu! What to Do?

In response to partial information disseminated in press releases by various levels of the Health Department, we want to give a stronger foundation of knowledge about how to minimize your chances of a fatal flu infection.

During the 1917 Flu epidemic, thorough research was conducted that showed the Davenport, Iowa area had fewer deaths among people under chiropractic care. One out of fifteen patients treated by medical doctors perished, but only one out of over sixteen hundred patients treated by chiropractors died. Is there any other research that supports the use of chiropractic for immune strengthening?

Patients receiving chiropractic care showed higher blood serum thiol levels, compared to patients with active disease, and also showed some values that were higher than what are considered normal values.

Serum thiols are primary antioxidants and serve as a measure of human health status. The test provides an estimate of DNA repair enzyme activity, which has been shown to correlate with life span and aging.

Oxidative stress is now a broadly accepted theory of how we age and develop disease. It results in DNA damage, and inhibits DNA repair. In short, the evidence demonstrates that chiropractic adjustments affect the chemistry of biological processes on a cellular level. Do you think the immune system involves activities on a cellular level? Yes, it does!

Research published in 1994 showed that HIV positive patients receiving specific upper cervical adjustment had dramatic improvement in immune function markers. These were compared with patients who had a placebo adjustment. Of the patients involved in the study, 80% were already on HIV medication. They measure a 48% increase in immune cell levels over a six month period.

These and other studies in the medical and chiropractic fields show that optimal nerve system function, as supported by the specific chiropractic adjustment, is critical to protection from disease and aging processes.

If you are not under chiropractic care, why wait any longer? If you haven’t been checked recently, how can you be sure your nerve system is at it’s best?
Call us at 815-398-4500

Monday, March 30, 2009

Happy Feet

I have an elderly patient who has benefited from the NUCCA correction that I do in this office. I don't see her much because she holds her adjustment well. One day, she came in and asked if I could help her with her sore feet. I was surprised, because she had never told me that her feet hurt. She believed that was the way it was and that was the way it would always be. Her mother suffered with sore feet and her grandmother suffered with sore feet. There was a component of inherited weakness.
I carefully examined her feet and determined that I could help her. There were bones in the wrong place.
I have seen the NUCCA procedure, which is done at the top of the neck, correct misaligned bones of the feet, but in this case, it wasn't happening. So I began the correction process of these small bones. I anticipated that it would take about four weeks, and it did. At the end of that time, a problem that extended over at least three generations stopped being a problem.
Do you have a problem that chiropractic might help resolve? Would you like to find out?

Friday, March 27, 2009

How Old Do You Have To Be To See A Chiropractor?

Many people wonder if there's an age requirement before they consider seeing a chiropractor. The answer is that there is an age limit. You must be at least 1 second old before you can see a chiropractor. We just can't do it any faster than that!

With a misalignment of the first vertebrae (also called the atlas) being linked to all manner of childhood related health issue, it makes sense to consider chiropractic when it comes to your child's health!

Problems such as ADHD, autism, even SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) have been linked to vertebra misalignment. Don't worry, we are gentle as can be on our newborn patients. They often sleep right through the whole thing.

The Danger of Symptoms

It is easy to think that everything is fine if there are no symptoms. We tend to think, “Now that I have symptoms (neck pain, hot flashes, heart arrhythmia, bedwetting, high blood pressure, headaches, or your favorite malady), it’s time to get my spine checked. The problem is that the underlying problem (the atlas subluxation complex) had happened in secret (or not, if you just fell over the dog). The problem could have been corrected before you began with the symptoms. All we need to do is check. There will be certain signs for most people; the short leg and postural distortions. For some people the signs will be more subtle, cranial bone distortions and restriction of the blood flow in the head. Clinical experience is now being supported by research that shows the atlas subluxation complex can cause serious problems before you feel symptoms. The right question is not, “Can the NUCCA procedure help me?”, but instead, the right question is, “What can I do to help myself heal?” The answer is, “Get your spine and nerve system checked!”

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Migraines and Chiropractic

Many people are surprised that when they are dealing with migraines, someone suggests they visit a chiropractor. What? How could that possibly help?

It helps all the time.

The spine moves out of alignment most often due to a trauma. That trauma doesn't need to be a car accident or a fall. It can be stress, bad posture, an overexcited hug from a friend... many, many things.

When the vertebra moves out of alignment and creates pressure on a nerve, the types of problems you can experience are numerous. Just a slight adjustment to the right part of the spine in the right direction makes all the difference. Time to give chiropractic a try?

Monday, March 2, 2009

Organic farming and your health...

Like the soil of an organic farm, the nerve system requires carefully measured upkeep. How is the acid content? Are the right minerals present in the right proportions? These are issues that have a measurable impact on the quality of the crop, and even determine whether the crop survives.
In reflecting on the thousands of cases I have managed with upper cervical care, I have come to recognize that the reason more people fail to get under care is this; The belief that chiropractic is just another "pill" for a particular problem. Let us consider this belief. If someone comes to me to make headaches go away and the digestion and elimination improves instead, can you call this procedure a failure? Or if someone comes to me for low back pain and their sleeping and vision improve, can you say, "It doesn't work!?" So if you cannot pin down how the procedure is going to help the body heal, what can you say about it? You can certainly say that it will set up the conditions favorable for the body to heal anything according to the conditions present.
Would you like to find out if upper cervical care can help you?

Saturday, February 28, 2009

What Does The Jaw Have To Do With Your Neck?

Think about this; if the lower jaw hinges at the TMJ, where does the upper jaw hinge? If the muscles of the jaw are receiving signals from the brain, what happens if those signals are garbled by some sort of interference? Why does Dr. Norman Thomas, TMJ specialist, recommend that his patients get checked and adjusted by an upper cervical chiropractor?

Here's the short story... The jaw is designed to move in several directions so you can chew and grind food. Muscles that do the work attach at all kinds of angles from points in the skull to points in the jaw. If the TMJ doesn't work right it is important to discover the primary cause, which can be in the neck, skull, nerves, or the muscles they run, tissues in the jaw joint, or even the teeth. In order for the dentist to get a good picture of the influence of the teeth, the NUCCA procedure can bring balance back to the neck, skull, and nerves.

If there is another factor working, the dentist will be better able to address it once the other factors are eliminated.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Spinal Cord Injuries...

Spinal cord injuries are something that can puzzle any clinician. Sure there are the overconfident ones that will give a blanket statement, "You'll never walk again," or, "it will take at least one year to get better." But can we ask some questions first? How about this one - "What kinds of things will maximize my ability to heal from this injury?" Here's one that is going to make the neurologist's head hurt - "How can you be sure that it won't get better?"

Asking questions is what drove Columbus west, and asking questions is what drove Edison to invent the light bulb
successfully. The questions we ask include - Is there interference with the brain's control of the healing process? What is the nature of this interference and can it be corrected with the NUCCA procedure? These are the questions that have driven my patients with spinal cord injuries to my office and these are the questions that are finding a positive answer for even this type of injury.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

A Chiropractic Miracle Story!



We see miracles every day at our Rockford Chiropractic office, but this is still one of the best stories about chiropractic.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

I went to a different church a few weeks ago and met a friendly gentleman...
He introduced me to a professional woman whom he thought I should meet. When I met her, I was honestly baffled as to why he thought I should meet her, so I told her about myself. "I'm an upper cervical doctor," I started, and didn't get any further because she started crying. She told me about her neck, face and jaw pain and all the things she had been trying, without remedy. She told me that they were going to do an MRI of her neck in two days to see if a problem could be seen. I suggested that once the MRI is done, she come in for a second opinion.

Well, as it all turned out, she had a serious problem in the connection between the head and neck. It was creating a lot of tension in the temporal bone region, which not only serves as one foundation for the jaw, but also cradles the nerve centers that produce facial pain. The first adjustment went beautifully and over the last few weeks, the pain has been receding. I love it when the body can heal itself so easily. In this case the only interference was structural. She had not engaged in poisonous drug therapy which in other cases seems to have injected layers of complexity onto the case.

How long do you want to wait before finding out if 1st Step Chiropractic can help?

Speaking Of High School...

Speaking of High School, I adjusted my 9th grader last week since his nerve system was indicating chronic stress. With the NUCCA procedure, you can't feel the adjustment, so it's hard to tell anything happened, unless you have significant pain that vanishes. In his case, I've observed that he does his homework more easily when adjusted well, but I've always wondered what he experiences when he is in adjustment.

So this week I asked him, even though I know teenagers are, well, speech-challenged. Surprisingly enough, he said that although he still had some aching sensations around the body, he felt that his spine was balanced. I'm not sure which surprised me more, that he communicated, or that he could feel the balance in his spine. Maybe the spine helps the teenage problem too?

You know, it's never really soon enough to visit a Rockford Chiropractor and get the help you need...