Have you ever wondered when is the best time to start chiropractic care? There is only one answer: “right now”- which in your case is this very moment and in the case of a newborn baby it’s right after they are born. Did you know that most chiropractors will have their own children adjusted within 15 min, often no later than 1-hr after the baby is born? Why would a chiropractor value this first adjustment so much? There are a few reasons. Most importantly, the adjustment is the only way to change the neural potential of our bodies allowing us to adapt to the external world in the most optimal way possible. Let’s help this make sense. It’s common for a pulling motion to be applied to the baby’s head to help remove it faster from the birth canal. This force can be as much as 60-120 lbs. of pressure placed on the newborn’s head/neck. Considering average new baby weighs 8-lbs this means an average force 12.5 times greater than a baby’s weight is being applied with the majority of the force affecting the 1st cervical vertebrae, aka the atlas bone.

Research suggests that it takes approximately 120 lbs. of force to sever/damage the spinal cord, so it seems insane that a baby can and often does have high amounts of force applied to their necks at birth. If we equate this to an adult human, a 200 lbs. man would have to deal with a force of 2,500 lbs, which is easily enough to kill him. Looking at it from this perspective, it is easy to see why a trained chiropractor will look to correct any spinal misalignments in the baby’s nervous system immediately, to properly restore the normal tone and function of the spinal cord and all the adjoining nerves.

But let’s take a deeper dive with this info. There are three new babies. One was born without any pulling ,only natural pushing, during the birthing process. The other two babies were each pulled with 100 lbs. of force during birth, and only one of those babies received a chiropractic adjustment within minutes afterbirth. It’s now 10 years later. Any other mal-adaptations not withstanding in this example; the baby born without pulling functions normally. The baby that was pulled, but received an adjustment, functions normally. The baby pulled, that has also never been adjusted, was reported to have a few learning disables and struggles with hand-eye coordination. Can you see how neural interference can have a LIFE-long effect on an individual? Even in this hypothetical example, it should be obvious that the only cause of dis-ease, the neural subluxation, lead to the motor and learning disadvantages the one child is dealing with.

Now, imagine all the traumas that you have dealt with throughout your life. Physical injuries, emotional burdens, and mental hardships that have shaped your life. Did you know that it’s estimated a toddler will fall 2,000 times while learning how to walk? Approximately 50% of children ages 4-18 will experience some type of severe emotional trauma. Every child in America is exposed to an unknown, but seemingly endless amount of toxins in food and drinking products, daily use products, and their environment. Your body had to adapt to all of them in some way. When it adapts in a less advantageous way, it does so by creating neurological interference, which changes the patterns of how you interact with life, by changing the tone of your nervous system.

When you begin receiving chiropractic adjustments those neural patterns can be reset, removed, and reprogrammed in the body, allowing the tone of the nervous system to be as optimal as it can be for that individual. That’s why the best time to see your chiropractor is now (no matter what age you are!) The longer someone waits, the more bad patterns compound in that individual, causing the tone of the spinal cord to change, altering neurological signal patterns, and affecting how that person can adapt. These patterns can always be reversed, by the adjustment, but it will take longer for this to occur when addressed in adulthood vs childhood. It often requires more frequent adjustments within a shorter time limit. Once under chiropractic care for period of time, these are the patients that tend to notice the big changes in their health because they have so many neural pattern changes over a short time. Sleep habits, digestive issues, fatigue, energy, mood, and yes, the feeling the individual has within their body; all changed when the neural pattern is reprogrammed from the adjustment.

You may recognize that you fall somewhere on this spectrum. Your family and friends do too. How much have they had to adapt to in their lifetime so far? I bet it is a-lot, and it may have started with the biggest trauma of all, being pulled at birth. The chiropractic adjustment is the one answer to change the opportunity someone has to adapt differently. This week, I am asking you to re-evaluate why you get chiropractic care–and if you don’t–why not? I hope you now recognize the importance of a neurological evaluation to look for misalignment in your nerve system and a neurological adjustment along with any additional therapies(spinal traction, whole body vibration, spinal molding therapies, that will help to set each adjustment into place. If you are able to see a chiropractic adjustment as an opportunity to increase how your body adapts to its environment it can change your life, and those around you forever. The new energy inside of you can be felt by others you interact with. Make that count.