Your Balanced Baby- Part II “A 6 Week Old Infant Pre – Post Atlas Correction”

Little Kimberly entered the world 6 weeks ago through a relatively unremarkable birth process. She has not yet had a bowel movement on her own, and has struggled nursing—having more difficulty on one side, than the other.

Kimberly's mom had been a patient of mine, and Kimberly's older sister, Kristen (now 3) had needed an adjustment right after she was born. So, fortunately for Kimberly, her mom knew what signs and symptoms to look for. She brought Kimberly in several days ago, and I examined her, and determined that she was indeed subluxated—not all newborns or children are subluxated, some are just fine—but this wasn't the case with Kimberly. We decided it would be of benefit to do some imaging to help us determine the exact nature of the Atlas Subluxation.

In the x-rays above, the pre-correction x-ray (on the left) shows that the atlas bone is elevated on the left side 7.5 mm. Close examination also shows the collar bone on that same side is dislocated and elevated. Notice mothers loving hands supporting Kimberly's tiny head, stabilizing it for the x-ray. Everything is miniature in this X-ray, except the misalignment.

After taking the initial frontal view, I was able to calculate the appropriate vector to properly reposition the base of the skull on C1. After doing so, little Kimberly was immediately more happy.

A close look at the Post-correction X--ray shows not only the head and neck realigned, but the collar bone has properly repositioned itself.

DISCUSSION:

In an earlier blog post, I gave parents a few pointers on what to look for in their newborns and infants so they might be able to detect when the newborn or infant was in need of getting balanced by an AO or NUCCA doctor.

Kimberly's mom noticed some of those signs, such as, she was frequently “scrunched” up on one side, and tended to hold her head in fixed patterns and positions. She also noticed that Kimberly was more difficult to nurse on one side over the other—a tell-tale sign of an Atlas Misalignment.

Getting this corrected at this age will make all the difference. At six weeks, Kimberly is tabula rosa, meaning a blank slate. Her genetic body plan is to develop a straight and balanced spine. I believe that undetected atlas misalignments can cause the bony structures to adapt to the cranio-cervical distortion, and change the course of her healthy body plan. Some of the research suggests that early spinal distortions can lead to more serious structural problems later in life.

I am not sure this little lady would have been referred by her pediatrician—in fact, I’m quite sure she would not have. In my 15 years of practice, I have never had a referral from a pediatrician. The clinical need for AO and NUCCA work does not often show up on the radar of conventional medical practice as pediatric resources—but rather falls squarely in their blind spot. Mostly, it is discerning parents who are able to perceive the need. If you are curious about what to look for, I posted an earlier blog that addresses that very subject.

I love this work! And as always, I'm here to help you with your family's health.

Your comments and questions are welcome.

Dr. Chapman

Is Your Head On Straight?

TEA CUP COMPARISON:
C1 is situated between the base of the occiput and the superior articular surfaces of C2, much the way a tea cup rests in a saucer on a table surface.

Let us look at the anatomy of a tea cup in a saucer, as this comparison is useful in demonstrating how the head sits on the neck.

The tea cup base is formed to be stably situated in the circular impression of the saucer below. If it is dislodged from this impression, it will be situated slightly askew on the saucer, and the cup’s rim will rest at an angle that is not co-planer with the base circular impression of the saucer, or the table surface.

If the cup is filled with tea, the liquid will seek equilibrium, and the liquid surface will be oriented to the surface of the table and the circular recess within the saucer, but not the rim of the saucer. This is not only an example of compensation, it is an unstable system. The fluid elements seek equilibrium within the rigid form structures. The system comes into balance and equilibrium when the tea cup is placed properly into the circular recess of the saucer, and brings the rigid forms and the fluid elements into balance, and one could say that the system has achieved a higher level of thermodynamic balance, i.e., a lower energy state. Objects at rest tend to remain so, hence, stability.

The analogy is useful if one considers that bringing the base of the cranium, i.e., the occiput back onto the superior articular facets of C1 is like restoring the tea cup to the circular formed impression on the saucer. The cranium is the tea cup, while the base of the tea cup is the occipital condyles. The liquid may be analogous to the dynamic compensatory functions organized and initiated by the pre-motor cortex in keeping the head in a state of dynamic balance. The saucer is related to the Atlas bone which maintains a “physical” relationship with the cranium above and the spine below. The superior surface of C2 may be analogous to the table top surface.

It's about "tea-time"... Is your tea cup straight?

Results: Gentle Upper Cervical Care for Baby's

In my last video, Part 1, I showed how you could tell if your baby was in need of being corrected by a NUCCA doctor. I am re-posting that video here for your convenience.

Next, in Part 2 I show the correction procedure. It's pretty interesting, but you really need to see Part 1 so you can see the immediate differences. I am also posting the video---Part 3---of my exam of the infant and my interview with the mother regarding the extraordinary results from just one correction in just 2 days!

In my first video, I showed how parents could recognize when their baby is out of alignment and needs to be corrected using the gentle NUCCA procedure.

I discussed how a small amount of misalignment between their head and neck can cause symptoms affecting the eyes, ears, nose and throat--including digestion and airway disorders. I made recommendations that parents should have their infant checked by a Grostic based upper cervical doctor such as a NUCCA or Atlas Orthogonal specialist.

I pointed out that one of the things parents and caregivers can look for is: the tendency of the length of their little bodies to bend or twist to one side, in a "banana" like posture while sleeping, diaper changing or laying on their backs. Also, notice any difficulty in breast-feeding more on one side than the other. This usually indicates a subluxation in the infant.

Here is the first of three. Enjoy, and share this with someone you love.

Part 1

Healing the body may actually start by healing the mind.

Just this morning I received this message on my Facebook from a patient whom I had seen in the clinic on Friday:

“I seem to have taken a turn for the worse. My head has a splitting head ache. I have pain between my shoulder blades. I have not thrown up yet. I have no organ pain. So I do not think it has anything to do with the pancreas, liver, or gall bladder. The diarrhea has not let up. I get waves of stomach cramps after sipping water or eating. I have been having muscle cramps. Once it was my left hand thumb cramped to the hand would not move, it was painful and then it opened. Once my left abdomen the muscle cramped until I put my hand on it and relaxed it. Sometimes even my heart hurts. Sounds like dehydration and mineral depletion. My body does not respond to PB8 so I cannot [imagine] it metabolizing minerals. I simply do not know what to do. It is the holiday weekend and I do not know what to do. Any suggestions[?]”

That message and the telephone conversation we had this morning after I called her provoked the explanation below.

I have often witnessed that symptomatically some of my patients seem to get worse before they get better—and truthfully, this has caused me some consternation in the past. But, I have come to realize that the body has ways of expressing healing that are not all pixie dust and warm fuzzies. Some of the cleansing/healing processes can be a little itchy-scratchy—and painful. Some can be downright terrifying. Understanding what the body is doing and decoding the symptoms and process correctly is a key step in healing the mind, hence, keeping the body on the right track.

The human mind deals in code, and language is the code of the mind. The body also deals in code. The sensory parts of the body transmit coded messages to the brain, and those coded messages are detected by the brain through our nervous system. It is the mind—not merely the brain—that must decipher these codes and make judgments about them. The mind asks the question: Am I dying? Or, am I healing? In some cases, it can feel grossly similar…. This is where the code of language can help.

The mind simply needs to be reassured that the body is healing rather than dying. (Let me say that I am not suggesting that in acute medical emergencies, like stroke or myocardial infarction, wherein a patient is in dire need of interventive care that simply tricking the brain into believing that it is healing rather than dying is the remedial path. Clearly, I am not saying that…) But in situations where healing has begun and the patient is unsure—THIS is where a caring helper and facilitator (like a doctor) comes into play. This, I feel, is the essence of being a doctor. Being a doctor is sort of like being a “seeing eye dog”—sans the fleas... During the first few steps towards healing, our patients rely more heavily upon us until they gain their footing on the path. They need not only remedial procedures, but they need to be taught what is happening inside their own bodies and shown what it really means. They need a discerning eye to help them to interpret the body codes.

I am going to give an example. Say you have a person with a constellation of symptoms ranging from.

• Gastrointestinal distress such as stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhea.
• Musculoskeletal pain in all four limbs and in the back, neck and head.
• Abnormal sensations in the hands and feet.
• Postural distortions in sitting and standing positions.
• Sensory disturbances like vertigo and sensitivity to light.
• Anxiety over finances and inability to keep commitments due to health challenges.
• Anxiety over the meaning of the symptoms themselves: “Is it my heart? Am I dying? What is really wrong? What am I going to do? Who can help me? Essential queries that produce fear and more anxiety rather than peace and reassurance.

The patient’s history is significant for several falls in the last year—some of them hard falls on hard surfaces—though no broken bones. The most recent fall was just 2-3 days prior to their presentation at your clinic. The patient is under financial and emotional stress, and has perhaps done a little more stress eating that they should have…and thus has gained some weight. The patient has just eaten something that clearly has not “agreed” with her digestive system and appears to be in acute gastric distress.

There are several layers of issues and complexities that you are dealing with as a physician—from mind to toe. Clearly, there are likely some chronic musculoskeletal issues going on with the older injuries. There are chronic issues of emotional stress on the system and the wear and tear associated with that silent killer. There is the issue of recent, compounded upon the chronic gastric distress. There is some acute distress and inflammation from the recent trauma. So there is understandably the emotional lability that comes from having to live in the context of this suffering from day to day without relief or answers.

What to do, what to do….? The question we face on every patient---------every encounter.

In my first blog, my “welcome to the mending path”, I mentioned that the body has numerous mechanisms for dealing the stimuli which cause a state of dis-ease in the body. Stimuli can be an internal encounter with some “thing” like a toxin, or, it can be an external encounter like our encounter with a belief. The effects of either can and often will manifest in the body.

The body has many defense mechanisms. One of these is compartmentalization. This is where the body may “wall-off” a disaster area. This can occur cellularly or systemically…. it can even occur psychologically. If the burden on the system is greater than the ability of the system to buffer, or dispose of, or effectively mitigate the destabilizing effects of a noxious stimuli, they will simply build-up or accumulate until naturally dispelled through some process—or, sadly until it kills us. (Clearly not an option for my patients) As the body deals with the load of harmful stimuli it must have a way to express or spill off the bi-products. Since the body has an on-board program to maintain a state of homeostasis or balance, it would stand to reason that it would use its various systems to facilitate this. And in fact, it does quite a nice job of this most of the time unless is becomes overburdened.

Overburdening means that the mitigating/balancing mechanisms innate to the body cannot keep pace with the stresses placed upon them. This results in a state of dis-ease. We could use the metaphor of the body being like a bathtub with a drain. The bathtub has a capacity to hold a certain quantity of water, but likes to keep the level relatively unchanged and at a certain balanced midpoint. That point is like homeostasis, meaning a point of equilibrium or balance of the systems. The bathtub has a source for water (input) and it has a means of draining the water (output). If the output can keep pace with the input and keep the water level on the balance point mark, then all is well in the system. But, IF the input exceeds the drain output, then the water starts to build to a point where it must dissipate by spilling over the tub edge. When the water starts rising beyond the balance point, it may start to get our attention by alerting us to the subtle disturbances reverberating in the system—but maybe not…. In our body, these disturbances come in form of subtle symptoms and signs. This is the perfect time to call the plumber right? Ideally, yes. But usually the plumber is not called until after the first flood, or maybe the second one… just human nature. Part of the reason for that is we don’t know where to turn for understanding.

So once the plumber is called, they can get to work on solving the problem.

In the case of this patient, I was the plumber and she finally called. (Bear in mind, I was not the first plumber she called on these issues) So, from the perspective of a NUCCA doctor, I made certain assessments and determined that a particular intervention was needful.

I took specific X-rays of the head and neck determined that the patients Atlas was severely subluxated—in other words, “not in the right place”, and that was causing the following:

• a slight distortion of the spinal cord,
• interference in the vascular supply and drainage to and from the brain,
• and broad primary muscular imbalances of the entire spine and pelvis.

Because this kink between the head and neck is in an area just south of the main autonomic centers in the central nervous system that control digestion and some of the other autonomic sensory centers of balance systems I conclude that the distortion caused by the subluxation was in a locale that likely explained many of her symptoms—if not all of them. The X-rays I had taken gave me a clear corrective pathway to follow and I did so gently, precisely and intentionally. Following the corrective procedure, the patient “recovered” for nearly an hour in our recovery area allowing the healing process to continue. Recovery is an area in our clinic where we take the patient into a sort of stasis, taking them “offline” for a time thereby allowing their body’s innate intelligence to focus on healing and balancing the systems, and little more. This is where the healing process develops and sets in. Their bodies begin sorting through the rubble of the internal stimuli in waves, and a real corner is turned. But it may not feel that way to the patient.

When the body embarks upon a mending path, it can be just about as pleasant as cleaning out a septic tank. So, when in the midst of the muck of the mire—know that you are "coming out of it" rather than "settling into it". The proper interpretation of the unpleasant codes produced by the body can make all the difference to the mind.

Try to enjoy the journey…