It's Back to School Time!
Time for new clothes, new pencils, new notebooks and new backpacks. Backpacks
can be a useful tool for kids. However, carrying heavy backpacks can lead to
back pain and other problems.
Backpack Safety America offers these tips to make sure
your child's backpack doesn't cause injury:
• Ensure that your child's backpack is sturdy and appropriately sized.
Some manufacturers offer special child-size versions for children ages 5 to
10. These packs weigh
less than a pound and have shorter back lengths and widths to prevent slippage.
• Consider more than looks when choosing a backpack. An ill-fitting pack
can cause back pain, muscle strain or nerve compression. To help distribute
the load, look
for packs with padded shoulder straps and waist straps.
• Ensure that the weight of your child's pack does not exceed 15 percent
of his or her body weight. Avoid overloading by prioritizing the items your
child carries
and eliminating unnecessary contents.
• Teach children to pack their backpacks by evenly distributing the contents
throughout
the pack.
Insist that your child never carry a backpack over one shoulder. Both shoulder
straps — as well as the waist strap — should be used at all times.
Backpack
Safety for Children 
Is your child's backpack causing problems? Do your children
complain that their fingers tingle? Do they ever say that their shoulders or
back are bothering them? Do they have neck discomfort? Is your child's back and
neck tired at the end of the day? These are the signs of backpack
injuries. Backpack injuries are real. Backpack injuries mimic repetitive stress
injuries that adult
experience on the job. There is only so much the human body can take before it
starts to send out warning signals. Backpack injuries may include neck pain,
upper back pain, mid and lower back pain, shoulder pain, arm to fingers numbness
and tingling and headaches.
If you or a family member has experienced any of these symptoms you should be
evaluated by a chiropractic Physician. Because this is a new phenomena in our
society we do not know the long term effects of backpack induced injury. Similar
effects from other repetitive stress injuries have been documented resulting
in longer recovery and healing and in worse case scenarios chronic lifelong struggle
with pain management.
Stop in to Parkhurst Chiropractic Center for a free backpack
evaluation. Bring in your own backpack or try one of our back-friendly backpacks.
We offer free
backpack assessments and scoliosis screening. Call 616 392-9500 to make an appointment
before schools starts.
www.parkhurstchiropractic.com
Lower Back Pain
In The Young
60 – 80% of all adults have experienced or will experience low back pain (LBP). A three year study of 15 children to assess how many of them suffer from LBP revealed that, among the general population of young persons, 8% of them have LBP as a recurring problem.
According to the study some of the possible causes could be:
• Sedentary Lifestyle
• Very high levels of activity in competitive sports
• Low school desks that force the low back into a forward leaning position
The study also confirms the hypothesis that disc degeneration begins in their twenties.
The study suggests that young adults should have their spines checked by a chiropractic physician to help avoid present and future spinal abnormalities and degeneration.
Source: Spine, Volume 20, Number 18, 1995, pp 2101-2108, Lippincott-Raven Publishers.
Falconshire Raptors
Offering Birds of Prey Programs
to Schools, Businesses,
Churches and Civic Groups
New for 2008 –
Flighted Birds of Prey Demonstrations
Call Dr. Brian at 392.9500
WHY VISIT A CHIROPRACTOR
1. Relief from muscle pain by restoring proper nerve function by adjustments.
2. Reducing the destructive effects of stress utilizing customized clinical nutritional counseling with Dr. Karla.
3. Reducing chemical toxicity by using our ion bath, massage or other detoxification methods that we offer.
March 3, 2008
Parkhurst Chiropractic Center
Before receiving Spinal Decompression Treatment, I experienced lower back pain for many years. Now with the new treatment of spinal decompression from Parkhurst Chiropractic Center, things have changed for me. After the first week of treatments I noticed big improvement. The treatments were painless and easy. About 30 minutes each visit for a determined period of time. Now that I am nearing the end of my treatments, I am feeling great. Thanks to Dr. Brian Parkhurst and the staff, they want to see you get better. All the treatment that I received was in the office that is very relaxed, comfortable and professional.
Sincerely,
Jack Garvelink
My Lordex® (decompression) Experience
By Robert Hale
I thought the best way to describe my experience would be to explain my previous symptoms. Lower back pain that would come and go, it came more then went. On a good night, I would get 5 to 6 hours sleep waking up to severe back pain. I was not able to crouch down, bend at the knees or do anything. My back was so stiff that when I went into Parkhurst it took 2 cycles in the massage chair, ½ hour massage and a treatment on the spinolater to get me loose enough for Dr. Brian to fully adjust my back. I was barely able to tie my own shoes. I also had two nerves that would get pinched, one in my leg and one in my arm, on both sides of my body and at various times.
Wow, what a wreck I was. I was with getting adjustments when I needed to get them (anywhere from twice a week to 1 ½ weeks between). This was very costly! After I got my first trial session on the Lordex® I felt fine. I came home, ate and went to bed early for an early day of work the next morning. As I was lying in bed relaxing flat on my back, my legs suddenly felt funny. They began to shake as if I was having a seizure. Then I felt something shift in my lower back. My legs started tingling and I got feeling back in my legs. I had lost it so gradual, that I never knew the feeling was partially gone. I am now pain free and I owe it all to Parkhurst Chiropractic and Wellness Center and their Lordex® decompression machine.
If you or someone you know are experiencing back pain, call the office to schedule a free consultation and free DVD explaining the benefits of decompression.
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For more information visit us at www.parkhurstchiropractic.com