Early Investments

How To Set Yourself Up for a Wealth of Health

 If you have ever spoken with a financial planner or a life insurance salesman, you have likely been presented with a comparison of two scenarios. The first scenario typically shows an individual that began making modest contributions to a retirement account at a young age. The next scenario depicts that same individual beginning their retirement contributions 10-20 years later. When the time comes for that person to retire, the sample that made small investments earlier winds up in a MUCH better position financially with a lower overall out-of-pocket expense.

  How does this relate to your health? Stay with me here. Much like early investments in your financial security pay off in the long run, small investments in your health from an early age greatly improve the likelihood of living a long and healthy life. As we are growing and developing, we are building the framework from which we will live the rest of our days. These formative years can either set a person on the path towards a healthy and independent life or on a path towards sickness and disease. In the giant equation that is our life, each decision we make regarding our diet, activities, or habits either contributes to or detracts from our health. If you wanted to strip that statement down to its essentials: Everything we do either moves us one step closer to health or one step closer to disease. The cumulative effects of sedentary lifestyle and poor diet have been well documented in the medical literature for several generations. By eating a balanced diet and exercising regularly, we can increase our likelihood of living a longer, more active life.

  One component of preventative health that often goes overlooked is the correlation between the structure of the body and its function. As a chiropractor, I concern myself with how the structure of my patients’ body is affecting their functioning. When small misalignments in the bones of the neck and back exist without correction for extended periods of time, the body’s natural regulatory functions are impaired. This can lead to decreased efficiency of body processes and subsequent breakdown of important tissues and organs. Just like a finely tuned machine, alignment and cohesive action of all the parts of the body is paramount to optimal function. By visiting a chiropractor periodically, the body can be adjusted if necessary and reduce the long-term consequences of spinal misalignments.

  The cost of most spinal surgeries today exceeds $100,000. When checking some very basic math this equates to 2000-3000 chiropractic adjustments, depending on the clinic fee. That is enough to pay for about 2 adjustments each month from birth through the first 100 years of your life! A good chiropractor can also be a wealth of information, guiding you in healthy dietary choices, proper exercise habits, injury/fall prevention, and other good health practices. A typical wellness care goal in our office is to try and get our patients to a bi-monthly or quarterly visit frequency. The younger and healthier a patient is when a they begin care greatly improves the chances of care being even less frequent. For this reason, Dr. Hannah has received additional training in techniques developed to gently and effectively adjust infant patients, giving them the greatest possible chances for a healthy life. Periodic check-ups by a chiropractor can help your family reach its optimal health potential and pay dividends in the future.

To request an appointment with Dr. Alex or Dr. Hannah, please call our Metamora, MI office at (810) 212-1200

Dr. Alex

Back to School: Lightening the Load

As parents and children prepare for the end of summer and a return to school schedules, now is a great time to make conscious decisions that can help protect the ones you love most. If you are like us, your mailbox and email inbox has likely been jammed full of back to school advertisements trying to spur you into a last minute shopping spree of pens, pencils, highlighters, binders, notebooks, rulers, scissors, glue sticks, and so much more. With the lists of suggested back to school items at many office supply and department stores extending to multiple pages, it can be tempting to over-buy as an instinct to give our children everything we are told they need. While some of those items might be necessary, take a moment to consider the added strain which unnecessary weight can place on a child’s body throughout the school year.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that a child’s backpack weigh no more than 10-20% of their body weight. For example, a 60lb child’s bag should weigh no more than 6-12 lbs. and for a 120lb high school student, 24 lbs is still the upper limit! Overloaded backpacks can contribute to back pain, poor posture, muscle strain, and can negatively impact healthy growth and development over time. The best way to check the weight of your child’s backpack is to have them step on a bathroom scale wearing the backpack and then again without the bag, subtracting the smaller number from the larger. It is important to check the weight of the bag throughout the year as school work and projects begin to be transported back and forth between home and school.

Limiting backpack weight can be a tricky task as the workload for students increases and heavy textbooks find their way home. One of the most basic ways to ensure that book bags don’t become overloaded is to buy smaller bags with multiple storage compartments, thereby limiting the storage capacity and evenly distributing the weight. Another thing to consider is that some textbooks are available online for free or for a small fee depending on the publisher. This eliminates the need to carry heavy textbooks to and from school. Parents should also encourage their children to use lockers or desks to store materials/items that are not necessary to complete homework assignments. A monthly purge of folders and binders also eliminates unnecessary paper weight and gives parents an opportunity to review schoolwork to check for missing/incomplete assignments.

Once you have ensured that your child’s bag is not overburdening them, it is important to check the way they are carrying the bag to make sure the weight is being appropriately distributed across their body. Bags should be worn with both straps evenly tightened, with the bottom of the bag at or above the waistline.

Despite all of these changes, it is still important to make sure your child is evaluated regularly by a chiropractor that has additional training in pediatric care. Specific and gentle chiropractic care throughout childhood can help ensure proper growth and development, strengthen the child’s immune system, and improve cognitive function!  To schedule an appointment with Dr. Hannah for your child(ren) and yourself, give us a call at (810) 212-1200!