“I desired to know why one person was ailing and his associate, eating at the same table, working in the same shop… was not? Why? What difference was there in the two persons that caused one to have disease, while his partner escaped? Why?”DD Palmer, the Founder of Chiropractic.
With the cooler weather here, have you been left wondering the same thing? What is it that makes one child or one individual, more prone to catching bugs than another?
I was reflecting on this last week when I was helping out in Nelson’s classroom.
His teacher had commented on how “bad” Harrison’s cough was, when all of a sudden the whole class started coughing and spluttering in unison. I couldn’t help but chuckle when her eyes widened as each one of the 22 Preppies desired to cough louder and harder than the next.
“Oh dear” his teacher cried, “We need some Glen 20!”
Obviously with this scenario the children were responding to well meaning attention, yet at the same time germs were indeed spreading from child to child. When I saw Nelson’s teacher later in the week she told me that 10 children were away sick with the flu.
So I’m asking you to consider, why is it that some children always seem to get sick and other children move through the year with only a few health challenges?
For me two things come to mind when assessing a child who is chronically unwell.
1. What is the health culture of the family? Is it focused towards illness behaviour or wellness? Is their illness a learnt behaviour? This also involves examining the family’s health habits, including diet and exercise.
2. Does the child have nerve dysfunction preventing them from being strong and vibrant?
Chiropractic began in 1895, when D.D. Palmer questioned the vital connection between the human frame and health. He discovered that specific spinal adjustments could assist in the removal of nerve interference.
The chiropractic profession has developed from the principle that chiropractors adjust subluxations (joint and nerve dysfunction) in order to free the body’s innate intelligence to restore and maximise health.
According to Deepak Chopra M.D, “All disease results from a disruption of the flow of intelligence.”
The innate or inner intelligence of the body operates with such perfection that most of us are completely oblivious to it. Your brain and nervous system co-ordinate this intelligence, and in doing so, millions of vital bodily functions. Instructions are sent via your nervous system to the cells and organs of the body, directing your breathing, immune responses, digestion and growth. Your nervous system also governs your thoughts, your child’s ability to concentrate and the quality of their sleep.
Learning to appreciate the “cleverness” of the human body is a VITAL health concept I believe we do well to instill in our children. Helping them from an early age to gain respect for their magnificent being.
What if you were to try this winter discussing with your children a few of the following health topics which specifically relate to the body’s Inner Innate Intelligence. You could stage some of the following conversations if you like, adding in just the right amount of good humour or drama.
(This one is always good after they have debriefed a nasty fall at school.)
1. “Sounds like you were very brave handsome. Do you know what is involved for your body to fix-up that grazed knee so that in about a week it is all shiny and new looking?”
You could then explain something along the lines of – “Well, firstly your body makes clots in your blood so that you don’t just bleed to death there on the concrete; that would be awful! Then your body orders its defence army to move into the wound and kill all the bugs and gets rid of the dirt. Then your body binds the open skin back together just like a spider web by making a great big ugly scab.”
2. “Did you know sweetheart that when your throat becomes sore like it is, that your clever body is using its police department to make a jail for those naughty invading bugs. Yep that’s right, sitting right there in your throat is a jail. Those sore lumpy things, called your tonsils, are a jail for any bug or germ. When you are a bit tired like you’ve been sometimes lately, your body needs to work extra hard. Your tonsils get bigger and they lock up the germs and break them down into itsy, bits of nothing…
So what do you think hey? Pretty clever huh?
Did you know that there are three things you can do to help your body capture all of those bugs? One is to get an adjustment with Dr Naomi(the family chiropractor), another is to get some extra sleep, and then finally, eat special germ fighting foods.”
Kids are fascinated with how the body works. There are also plenty of kids “Body” books that you can buy to add some more visual impact when you are explaining about the bodies intelligence.
When kids learn from an early age that “health comes from within”, that health comes about because of healthy habits and not because they needed cough medicine, then they learn to listen to their bodies. Children can learn to pick up the cues or read the signs, for example, ‘a dry raspy voice and a tickle in the throat = their body is getting run down’. That “I need to slow down and focus on what my body NEEDS right now.”
Most of society has an ‘outside in’- attitude towards health.
Almost every second television advertisement tells you to take a drug to fix your body. If you have a headache take a drug, if you have a cold, indigestion, period or back pain… ‘TAKE a drug!!!’ Our quick-fix society has forgotten just how clever our bodies are, much less how to listen to the feedback it gives us.
By educating our little people and teaching them about the “magnificence” of their bodies they will become stronger and more vital than most of us. By encouraging them to respect their “Inner Innate” more than a prescription for pain-killers, then in time, we may just see evident signs of a “Real Health Reform” in Australia. Wouldn’t that be nice!
Respectfully,
Jennifer Barham-Floreani
Bach. Chiropractic, Bach. App Clinical Science
Registered internationally, no longer practicing as a chiropractor in Australia.
