THE WELLNESS CENTER OF BOCA RATON HOME PUBLISHED ARTICLES Dr. David Warren To get kids off to a healthy start, Dr. Warren treats the children of his patients for free.  Children must be age ten or younger. If you have never been to a chiropractor, chances are you think of a chiropractor as a "back" doctor or the place to turn when drugs and surgery fail.  That is an unfortunate misperception.  In actuality, chiropractic is preventative health care that should, in fact, be considered before drugs and surgery. Especially for children. Vitality and well-being begin with a healthy spine. A child who begins with a healthy spine is far more likely to develop into a healthy teenager and, eventually,a healthy adult. CHIROPRACTIC FOR KIDS? BY DAVID WARREN, D.C. Chiropractic offers a wide range of benefits for people of all ages.  Starting from birth, chiropractic has been proven safe and effective.  It has helped infants with problems such as colic and constipation. Children under chiropractic care have received tremendous relief from ear infections, allergies, asthma, learning disabilities and an array of neurological conditions.  Without even realizing it, parents also help their children minimize the likelihood of spinal degeneration later in life. Consider the following analogy.  Your child is a brand new car and his/her spine is the engine. In order to take the best possible care of your car, you would get the oil changed regularly and have an occasional tune-up to prevent the major breakdown from occurring. Chiropractic, especially for children, is the "tune-up" that keeps your child running.  A "well-oiled" child is healthier...a healthier child misses less school due to illness...more time in school often means greater academic achievement... and on and on. You get the idea. Medical intervention is definitely necessary in many instances, but for a child's overall health, chiropractic is a viable first choice. Dr. David Warren is the author of many   published articles on the various aspects of his chiropractic practice.  drdave@bocachiropractor.com 561-417-9355 CHIROPRACTIC FOR ENHANCED ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE                            BY DAVID WARREN, D.C.  If you are an athlete, chances are you take good care of your body. You practice hard, eat well, wear the proper equipment, and carefully select the best shoes for your game.  But what about a preventative health care plan to keep your body functioning at its optimal level to increase athletic performance and stave off injury?   Perhaps the most common misperception about chiropractic is that chiropractors are only able to relieve low back pain.  In actuality, chiropractic removes nervous interference and allows the body to function at its peak level.  Eager to get back in the game, athletes often use drugs and surgery as a quick fix for common ailments and injuries. When those fail, chiropractic is seen as a “last resort.”  Especially because surgery is costly, time-consuming and irreversible, the reliance on surgery is an unfortunate trend.   Athletes face rigorous routines on a daily basis. From the weekend warrior to the professional athlete, injuries are a part of every game.  Sprained ankles, jammed fingers, knee pain, and a host of other injuries often sideline athletes or, on some cases, end their athletic career.   In many cases, the problem is not necessarily at the site of the pain.  A chiropractor will work with you to determine the actual cause of the pain.  Under chiropractic care, many injuries can be corrected without the use of drugs and surgery.  Therefore, the noninvasive approach should be the athlete’s first choice. If the chiropractic route doesn’t work, then medication or surgery is an option.  By trying chiropractic first, there is “no harm, no foul.” Here are some examples to consider.   • Knee pain is not always caused by knee injuries. Sometimes, compressed nerves in the lumbar spine cause radiating (or referred) pain into the knee.   • Shoulder pain, in many instances, is not caused by direct shoulder injuries, but rather from nerve irritation or compression in the cervical spine.   Chiropractic focuses on the spine. Misaligned vertebral segments can compress the nerves that run to various parts of the body.  A chiropractor removes this interference, allowing the nerves to get their messages across. Further- more, improper nerve supply may cause problems, such as numbness and tingling, pain, muscle weakness and atrophy. Think of spinal nerves as a garden hose.  If you step on the hose and block the flow, the water has a hard time getting through.  A chiropractor will focus on the problems, not the symptoms.  If you are having shoulder pain, for example, you can take an anti-inflammatory, aspirin, or get an injection to treat the symptoms.  Surely, the cause of the pain is not a “lack” of these substances.  A chiropractor looks to alleviate the cause of the problem, thus relieving your pain and possibly preventing its return.  Back to the garden hose analogy.  The “aspirin” would turn up the pressure to push out more water.  Chiropractic looks to remove the interference (i.e., getting the foot off of the hose), allowing the water to f low freely through the hose.   There are definitely needs for drugs and surgery, for there are injuries that a chiropractor may not be able to heal. But why not try the noninvasive technique first?  Here are some other examples of injuries that are not necessarily where the pain occurs.   • Low back pain, in fact, may not originate in the low back.   • Foot fixations can cause radiating pain.  As the shock absorbers to your spine, your feet take a beating on a daily basis. There are twenty six bones in the feet and when they are not moving together properly, it can cause various aches and pains that may cause pain in the knees, hips or lower back.   • Another example is carpal tunnel syndrome, or even wrist pain.  Sometimes, fixation in the wrist may be the cause of the pain.  However, sometimes cervical interference is the culprit.   The benefits of chiropractic go beyond back pain into the realm of total health and well being.  Not only does chiropractic help with various injuries and ailments; it also helps prevent them.