This title might be different than you’re used to seeing on the NWF; being pediatric-focused, most articles and workshops center on kid-related challenges such as ADHD and ear infections. However, with all the kids we strive to help comes one other common ingredient – mom!
It’s How Moms Roll
They get up before the sun (often with little sleep from waking up to care for their child), drink their first cup (or bucket) of coffee, and begin to attack the day.
They dive into making breakfast, packing lunches, dropping kids off/picking them up, helping with homework, confirming appointments/activities, and for many of them, somehow finding time to get themselves ready for their own day.
If you’re thinking “sounds about right” while reading this then you also know what early mornings and busy days can do to even the most super of Super Moms. For most moms, it’s a couple of things wrapped together in one: fatigue, headache, neck and upper back tension, and foggy thinking.
Many of my blog posts have discussed the “Perfect Storm” that we see our kids today go through, often leading to the now pandemic list of struggles they have – autism, ADHD, allergies, asthma, and on. However, the reality is that parents -moms especially- have their own “perfect storm” that brews day in and day out, year after year.
Self Medicating
Depression, anxiety, thyroid disorders, headache and migraine challenges, metabolic and hormonal disorders now affect the majority of adult women in the United States. When women start struggling with these health challenges, they often to turn to “over the counter” forms of help: coffee and caffeine during the day to compensate for low energy and foggy thinking, wine at night to help unwind, drugs for headaches and pain, etc. When these challenges escalate and get worse over time, they’re often forced to rely on prescription anti-depressants, migraine medications, and thyroid drugs.
Just like the “Perfect Storm” kiddo is now commonplace in the US, the stressed out, worn down Mom is the “new norm” as well. Interestingly enough, the cause(s) of this pandemic are the exact same: too much stress, poor dietary habits, and sedentary living. The “3Ts” we talk about in chiropractic (Thoughts, Traumas, and Toxins) affect adults just the same as kids by overwhelming our central nervous system, leaving it stuck all day in what is called sympathetic (fight/flight) overdrive.
The longer we stay “stuck” on the gas, the faster we burn out and wear down.
Chiropractic Can Help
All of this adds up to something Doctors of Chiropractic term “subluxation”, which is simply an overstressed, overworked, poorly functioning spine and nervous system. For women, subluxation and stress bears down and typically gets stuck in their neck, right in between the shoulders, and the hips or pelvis.
NWF Providers run a set of scans that measure nerve function and stress. These scans are absolutely crucial in helping them determine EXACTLY where women are holding all their stress and EXACTLY what it’s doing to their health and vitality.
For the nerve and muscle tension component, they run a scan called an EMG, which “lights up” in most women’s lower neck and upper back. Most have been holding tension there for years by the time we check them, and that tension (subluxation) has worn down their nervous system so much that it affects the systems and glands it controls, leading to chronic headaches and thyroid issues.
You are Vital to Your Family’s Health
Moms often hold off on their own care, sacrificing their own health and energy for the good of their kids. It’s in virtually all parents’ DNA to let ourselves get run over again and again because we think it’s for the good of our kids. We tell ourselves we have to sacrifice our own health and well being to ensure theirs. Unfortunately, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Moms are the quarterback, head coach, coordinator, GM, and owner of most family’s health care team. Being constantly stressed, sick, struggling, and “out of gas” has a huge impact on a family. Bottom line: when moms suffer, the whole family does.
The NWF Providers will do all they can to not just “calm the storm” for the kids we care for, but also for the parents, especially the Super Moms I’m reaching out to. Because you rock star epic moms care more about your kids than anything in the world, it is my hope that this article and the words within it help motivate and inspire you to not let the “new normal” of exhaustion, stress, and sickness be your normal. It’s our hope that you put your health first- not last- so you can continue doing what you do to put your family first.
Article originally posted on Premier Wellness Chiropractic’s blog
Dr. Tony Ebel is a pediatric and wellness certified chiropractor, who specializes in neuro-developmental disorders such as autism, ADHD, sensory processing disorder, seizure disorders and other special needs cases. He has extensive education, experience, and passion in these areas, and has a large family practice in Crystal Lake, Illinois, serving this population, as well as general family wellness. He holds post-doctorate certifications in pediatrics and wellness, and also has hundreds of hours of continuing education and training in the areas of autism, ADHD, sensory challenges, seizures, neuro-immunology, and other pediatric topics.
Dr. Tony now frequently travels throughout the country as well as internationally, providing his Perfect Storm lecture and seminar to other chiropractors, staff, and related professionals, and also has done over 100 public/parent lectures on this topic and others. He has been a featured presenter at the world’s largest autism seminar, Autism One, held each year in Chicago.
He has a beautiful wife Kristina, three incredible daughters, Addison, Alaina and their latest addition, Emilia, and an amazing little boy Oliver who himself went through “the perfect storm” spending 6 weeks in the NICU with a very grave prognosis of lifelong epilepsy, autism, and severe developmental delays. However, thanks to the early application of chiropractic care, Oliver never had a single seizure, or a single delay, and today is a vibrant and healthy 6-year-old stud! Dr. Tony is a health and wellness “junkie” who loves CrossFit and juicing, spending time with his family, and sports.
