Understanding The Problem of Antibiotic Resistance

Antibiotic resistance in bacteria that cause ear infections (otitis media), pneumonia, and other disease, is one of the biggest concerns in the health care world. By improving the over all health and caring for illnesses in a natural way, chiropractic care can help stem the tide of growing resistance. By limiting the reliance and unnecessary use of antibiotics, we can save the use of antibiotics for when they are needed, i.e. to save a life.

Facts About Antibiotic Resistance from the CDC

"Antibiotic resistance has been called one of the world’s most pressing
public health problems.
The number of bacteria resistant to antibiotics has
increased in the last decade. Many bacterial infections are becoming resistant
to the most commonly prescribed antibiotic treatments.
Every time a person
takes antibiotics, sensitive bacteria are killed, but resistant germs may be
left to grow and multiply. Repeated and improper uses of antibiotics are primary
causes of the increase in drug-resistant bacteria.
Misuse of antibiotics
jeopardizes the usefulness of essential drugs. Decreasing inappropriate
antibiotic use is the best way to control resistance.
Children are of
particular concern because they have the highest rates of antibiotic use. They
also have one of the highest rates of infections caused by antibiotic-resistant
pathogens.
Parent pressure makes a difference. For pediatric care, a study
showed that doctors prescribe antibiotics 65% of the time if they perceive
parents expect them and 12% of the time if they feel parents do not expect them.
Antibiotic resistance can cause significant danger and suffering for people
who have common infections that once were easily treatable with antibiotics.
When antibiotics fail to work, the consequences are longer-lasting illnesses,
more doctor visits or extended hospital stays, and the need for more expensive
and toxic medications. Some resistant infections can even cause death."

Ways To Help Prevent Ear Infections

Chiropractic care can do wonders for children who suffer with ear infections (or otitis media), but of course the best thing for the infant is to never get the ear infection in the first place. There are many things that you as a parent can do to help reduce the risk of your baby getting an ear infection. Here are just a few suggestions:

Breast feeding is probably one of the best ways to prevent not only middle ear infections but also other types of infections in infants. Breast milk contains an antibody called “secretory IgA” that is very effective in fighting off infections. This antibody is not made by infants in significant quantities, but is plentiful in mother’s milk. There is a protein found in breast milk that prevents the attachment of bacteria. If a bacteria cannot attach its ability to cause an infection is severely decreased. There is evidence that the two most common ear infection causing bacteria, H. influenzae and S. pneumoniae, are prevented from attaching by this protein.

If you are bottle feeding your baby, whether with pumped breast milk or formula, try to mimic the nursing position as best you can. This will allow her to be more upright and reduce the risk of the milk backing up into her Eustachian tube (the tube that normally drains the middle ear). If baby is allowed to drink the bottle while lying on her back, say in a crib or playpen, the chances of formula backing up and providing growth material for the bacteria, greatly increases.

Another preventative measure that you can take is to improve the air quality in your home. When there is a high level of allergens and irritants in the air, they can cause inflammation in the nose and throat area. Inflammation in this area can lead to blockage of the Eustachian tubes. The use of an electrostatic furnace filter (significant investment $100-200, but long life-span), and negative ion generators can eliminate many of the airborne allergens and irritants. Identify and eliminate sources of dampness in your home, and do everything possible to limit your baby’s exposure to smoke, whether cigarette or wood smoke. The link between exposure to smoke and ear infections in infants is too great to ignore.

Preventative chiropractic adjustments can play an important role in avoiding ear infections in your baby. Not only have the been shown to increase immune system function but they also help to keep the Eustachian tube open and functioning optimally.

I hope that this is helpful in your pursuit to raise a healthy and happy child.

Ear Infections and Chiropractic Care

"My son has had 6 ear infections over the last 4 years and he is only four and a half years old. We have always given him the antibiotic that the doctor prescribed, but it seems that the ear infections just keep coming back. The doctor wants to put tubes in his ears now, but I am worried since he is so small. Maybe the doctor is right and we need to put the tubes in."

I have heard this same story over and over in my 10 years of practice. The only thing that changes is if it is a boy or girl and how many courses of antibiotics they go through before the ear tubes are recommended. It is such a difficult situation to hear about because you are presented with a parent that cares deeply for the health and welfare of their child, have done what they were told by their pediatrician and now are faced with a situation that may put their child at risk. Are there alternatives to antibiotics and surgery? Why do the ear infections keep coming back if they are getting the antibiotic? and What causes an ear infection in the first place?

I will answer these questions in the reverse order because if we start at the root cause of the ear infection the rest becomes easy to understand. An ear infection or otitis media becomes an infection when a bacteria or a virus grows rapidly within the middle ear. However those microorganisms will only grow in the ear when the conditions are right for them to do so. Every one of us has the very same bacteria and viruses in our ears that is causing the infection in the child's ear. The difference is that in a child that has an ear infection they have a build up of fluid within their middle ear. This fluid which naturally forms in the middle ear to continually wash out the unwanted microbes, will sometimes get backed up within the middle ear cavity. When this happens, the fluid that is present is ideal for the bacteria and viruses to grow in. The primary reason for the back up of fluid is inflammation causing a narrowing of the Eustachian tube. The Eustachian tube is the small passage way that drains that fluid out of the ear and into the nasal passage. The swelling and nervous system dysfunction associated with a spinal misalignment is a likely cause of that Eustachian tube narrowing. Here is a great visual slideshow demonstrating what I just spoke about. Ear infection slide show.

Why do the ear infections keep coming back if they are taking the antibiotic? If the ear infection is due to a bacterial infection the antibiotic will be able to kill the bacteria, but they will not be able to do anything for the fluid that is present. This means that it just takes another bacteria or perhaps a virus, to find its way into the middle ear and start to grow the way that the last one did. This leads to further antibiotic use and the cycle continues on. The next step then is the introduction of tubes in the ear drum to try to relieve the pressure of the backed up fluid.

Is there an alternative to the antibiotics and surgery? Absolutely! Chiropractic care does not directly treat the infection, but gets at the heart of the problem by restoring the proper function of the ear. When gentle chiropractic adjustments are applied to areas of misalignment of the baby's spine, it allows the the inflammation around the Eustachian tube to be removed and the backed up fluid in the ear to naturally drain out of the middle ear. When the fluid is once again washing out the area of the middle ear it no longer gives the microbes a place to grow and thrive.

Stop the cycle of pain and antibiotics, seek help with chiropractic care and get at the heart of the problem not the symptoms.

What is Colic?

The mothers of my young patients often ask me "What exactly is Colic?" That is a good question and there is still some debate as to what causes the inconsolable crying and screaming that a baby suffering with colic has. If you go on the popular site WebMD they will tell you that "Doctors are not sure what causes colic, but it may be the result of a baby's sensitive temperament and an immature nervous system."

Traditionally the word "Colic" is associated with digestive issues such as gas and bloating. However the most reliable information now says that while digestive issues may increase the baby's discomfort they are not the main cause of it. If we go back to WebMD we see that they agree "Colic is not related to health conditions, such as digestion problems. But having gas in the belly can make crying worse." The research is pointing toward the nervous system as the true culprit of the pain and discomfort. This is where we come to treatment options for your baby.

The traditional medical approach has been and still is the prescription of a gas relieving drug such as dimethicone. This approach of course addresses the aggravating factor of colic but not the primary cause. What if you can go directly after the core of the problem that is causing your baby to cry and scream? This is where a chiropractor can help out. The medical community agrees that the likely cause of colic is found in the nervous system, but they do not have a way of addressing dysfunction that can be found there. What they are left with is trying to suppress the symptoms enough so that the parent can survive until the child is older.

Chiropractors on the other had have always worked directly with the nervous system, and to be more precise, removing the dysfunction that can occur in the nervous system. The primary focus of chiropractic care is to make corrective adjustments to the bones of the spine, in order to remove any irritation that the misaligned joints maybe causing on the nervous system. This is the same approach that we take with colicky babies. Of course the adjustments that we perform on babies are even more gentle than with older children and adults.

Babies often respond very quickly and with great results. I remember one mom who brought her son in for care. She looked tired and defeated, and I knew she had come to me as her last option. The morning after the first adjustment she called back and told us that her son had slept through the night! After a few more adjustments he no longer fit the criteria of a colicky baby.

Chiropractic Care and Colic.

Spinal manipulation is effective in relieving infantile colic.

This is the conclusion of a study done in Denmark on the effectiveness of chiropractic care for infants with colic. The researchers found a decrease in the number of hours of crying by 67%. They compared this to only a 38% decrease in a second group that was treated with dimethicone over the same time period. An interesting note is made in the discussion of the study that there were 9 drop outs in the dimethicone group and none in the adjustment group. The authors comment on this "inspection of the data in the last infantile colic profile completed before dropout show clearly that for all where information is available, the dropout was due to a genuine worsening of symptoms and not parents' bias." The effect of the drop outs and the removal of their data likely, according to the authors, made the data on the dimethicone appear better than it would have if they had remained in the study. The authors concluded their discussion with this statement: "Spinal manipulation is normally used in the treatment of musculoskeletal disorders, and the results of this trial leave open 2 possible interpretations. Either spinal manipulation is effective in the treatment of the visceral disorder infantile colic or infantile colic is, in fact, a musculoskeletal disorder, and not, as normally assumed, visceral. This study does not address this issue."

References:

Wiberg JMM, Nordsteen J, Nilsson N. The Short-Term Effect of Spinal Manipulation in the Treatment of Infantile Colic: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial with a Blinded Observer J Manipulative Physiol Ther 1999 (Oct); 22 (8): 517-522

Can Chiropractic Care Keep You From Getting Sick?

For years chiropractic patients have told about their families having fewer illnesses while receiving chiropractic care. They report fewer cold and ear infections in their children and decrease in allergies and sinus infections in themselves. Is this a legitimate benefit to simply having adjustments to your spine?

Here is an article from the magazine Psychology Today. It tells about how during the flu epidemic of 1917 and 1918 it was discovered that those people who were under chiropractic care had significantly reduced rates of dying from the flu compared to people who were not being cared for by a chiropractor. The writer, Katie Gilbert, also mentions a study in which patients infected with the HIV virus underwent six months of spinal adjustments and experienced an increase in their white-blood cell count. In the study the researchers compared these results to another group who received no chiropractic care. The second group had a decrease in the level of their white-blood cells over the same time period.

If people facing a deadly flu epidemic and with an active HIV infection experience such results, what can chiropractic care do for your family? Should chiropractic care be part of your plan to fend off the seasonal flu or the H1N1 virus?

Great News Article on Chiropractic and ADHD

Here is a video of a news article on how chiropractic can help children with ADHD. Dr. Rosen is a wonderful doctor, he was one of my instructors when I was studying with the ICPA.

The point that is being made is that if there is spinal misalignment that is irritating the nervous system, the results of that can look like what is commonly called ADHD. The child is irritable, agitated, cannot sit still, has a hard time concentrating, all of the classic symptoms of ADHD. Think about how annoying it can be to have something caught between your teeth. It is all that you can think of and your tongue just continues to go to that spot almost without thinking about it. Now just imagine how you would behave if there were always something that was irritating the nerves in your back. That signal of irritation continually being transmitted to your brain over and over again.

Often parents think that the nervous system cannot be the source of their child's distracted or hyperactive behavior because they never complain about pain in their back or any where else for that matter. One of the biggest misunderstandings about chiropractic care is that it is just for the relief of pain. The focus of chiropractic is not the relief of pain. That is often a pleasant side-effect, but not the main result. What we are trying to do is to remove spinal misalignments so that the nervous system can function the way that it was designed. What are some of the functions of the nervous system? Sensory (everything that we think of with the five senses, including pain), motor (provides the stimulus to contract muscles, both muscles like the biceps and also the muscles in the stomach), and autonomic (which means that it controls all of those bodily functions that we don't think about but are necessary for us to live). The pain sensing fibers of the nerve only make-up about 10% of the nervous system. In other words approximately 90% of the time that a nerve is being irritated by a spinal misalignment there is no pain involved.

A child may have no pain at all, but yet be experiencing irritation on their nervous system that is effecting other parts of their body.

Chiropractic Care and ADHD

I just came across a great case study demonstrating the connection between the misaligned structure of the spine and the function of the nervous system. To summarize the study, a 5 year old who had been diagnosed with ADHD and unsuccessfully treated with Ritalin, Adderall and Haldol presented to a chiropractor. Upon x-ray examination it was revealed that the curve of the 5 year old's neck was reversed from what it should have been. After 27 visits with the chiropractor, the young boy's pediatrician stated that he no longer displayed behaviors associated with ADHD. Follow up x-rays, after 35 visits over 8 weeks, show that the normal curve was restored to the neck.

This is a great example of the kind of results that chiropractors see when we care for children. Imagine the difference that chiropractic care has made in the life of that little boy and his family.

Here is the article for you to read if you like.

Breech Pregnancy Help

Did you know that chiropractic care can be used on expectant mothers with their baby in the breech position? Certified pediatric chiropractors are trained in the Webster Technique, which is a technique that addresses specifically the alignment of the pelvis and therefor also the ligaments that are attached to the pelvis. Some of these ligaments are also attached to the uterus to help support it within the pelvic cavity. When those ligaments become torqued they alter the shape of the uterus. With the uterus twisted the baby inside finds the most comfortable position possible with the space available. Often that will be a position that is commonly called a breech position. Gentle chiropractic adjustments can correct the misalignment in the pelvis and relieve the torque on the ligaments allowing the baby to find a new position of comfort.
The official definition of the Webster Technique from the ICPA is that the Webster Technique is a specific chiropractic technique designed to help correct sacral misalignment, balance pelvic muscles and ligaments which in turn removes torsion to the woman's uterus, its resulting constraint to the baby, and allows the baby to get into the best possible position for birth.

What is FICPA?

So, what does the FICPA stand for after my name? Good question. FICPA is the acronym for Fellowship in the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association. The ICPA is a non-profit organization developed for the training of chiropractors and the promotion of chiropractic care for children and expectant mothers. They formed to provide doctors of chiropractic with the highest quality training to best equip them to care for children. To earn a fellowship standing with the ICPA, I attended an extra year of training (120 hours) and completed an evaluation of competency. This is often referred to as being a certified pediatric chiropractor. I then completed an additional 240 hours of training over 2 years with the ICPA. Check out the website for the ICPA at www.icpa4kids.org

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Healthy living,
Dr. Ryan