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.

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!

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.

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

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.

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.