Chiropractic Care & Allergies with Seasons Family Chiropractic

I am familiar with chiropractic care for adults since I’ve been going in for various reasons on and off for over seven years. I never really considered it for my children before or never really connected or considered the benefits of chiropractic care in relation to allergies until now.

Right before my oldest son turned three, he broke out in hives one warm summer day when the water in our mini pool started to cool off. It was spontaneous and we had no idea what could have caused it. We noticed that after a little while the hives disappeared, and by the time we took him to urgent care, they were totally gone so of course we weren’t able to diagnose anything.

We started noticing over the next few months that when he was exposed to cold air, he’d break out in hives again. Now that we knew the cold seemed to be the trigger, we took him to see an allergist who confirmed he had Cold Uticarius, or in non-medical terms, he was allergic to the cold. Yes, my son is allergic to the cold and we live in Minnesota!

We could control it better since we found out in summer time, but I worried how this would work when the weather in Minnesota turned colder in the Fall and Winter time. Our doctor had him on allergy medicine that we gave him in the morning, and if he needed it, we’d administer it again 12 hours later. We had to alert his preschool so that they wouldn’t be alarmed if he broke out in hives. Once he did, there really wasn’t anything else we could do but throw a sweater or blanket on him. The hives would go down on their own within 20 minutes.

We learned that he could eventually grow out of it, but when that happens, we don’t know. Kids are resilient. He takes it in stride. He just “deals” with it. Sometimes he doesn’t even tell us but covers up the bumps and knows the drill on how to make them go away. He routinely wakes up and takes his allergy medicine before school and reminds us if we forget too (it happens, not going to lie).

A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to meet with Dr. Heather Steckling, who is the lead chiropractor at Seasons Family Chiropractic in Woodbury.

Her focus is both pediatric and prenatal chiropractic care, and we got to sit down and talk about how chiropractic care can help make allergies better. She put it best by explaining that allergies are actually a symptom of how our body processes the environment. Normally, in our bodies, the brain is running the show and interpreting everything going in and out of our body. Our spine is the connection (or the “communication highway”) that our brain uses to talk to all parts of our body – including the immune system, the digestive system, and the respiratory system.   Sometimes we develop “bumps in the highway” that cause interference in that pathway. Then, the brain can’t control or regulate the rest of the body in a normal way and symptoms (like allergies or asthma) will occur.

So, How do those “bumps” get there? Dr. Heather explained that birth puts stress not only on the mom, but the baby too. With the way birth happens nowadays, many kids suffer significant (and often undiagnosed) injuries to their neck and spine that alters their neurological development from there forward and can lead to everything from colic and ear infections when they are younger to asthma, allergies, and developmental and learning disabilities later.

The great thing is that pediatric chiropractors have the ability to assess your child, test for this, and correct it with natural, drug-free options. For my son, Dr. Heather explained that there is something “blocking” his pathway and interfering with his brain’s ability to “run the show” normally and regulate his body temperature. His body isn’t able to correctly respond to messages about the cold and his response is to break out in hives.

We decided to bring him in to see one of Dr. Heather’s colleagues, Dr. Jeremy and Dr. Alison at Experience Wellness Chiropractic in Plymouth. Since they also have a focus on pediatric care, the space was set up to help kids feel comfortable. There’s an area where kids can play and draw while they wait for their adjustments. The first visit is your consultation. We were brought into a room to do his assessment and scans.

We did three scans and “games” for Dr. Jeremy and Dr. Alison to observe.

We came back a few days later to discuss the results of the scans. Overall, they confirmed what we thought was being blocked and it’s amazing to see those results match where the stress is and how it correlates with the symptoms he has been experiencing. My son felt comfortable with the staff and I felt the environment was geared towards families and kids to put them at ease.

We now have him on a plan for a couple of months and the decision was made to have more frequent visits at first and then re-evaluate based on how his body is responding. My son just finished his first week of adjustments and I asked him how he was feeling and he says great! He told me it’s like a massage, which he’s never had before – it’s so funny how they come up with these things!

If you are interested in learning more about pediatric chiropractic care, both Dr. Heather at Seasons Family Chiropractic and the team at Experience Wellness Chiropractic focus on kids and have the expertise to show you how chiropractic care can ease the symptoms of allergies. Both have worked with kids experiencing environmental and food allergies.

It’s been a great experience to learn more and see the differences already in how this care has helped my son. If you are interested in finding a place closer to home that have the same philosophy of what I have experienced, you can search for a chiropractor through www.mychildschiropractor.com.

Note: not all chiropractors have a focus on pediatric care so this would be a great resource for you to search those that do.