Keeping our kids healthy and happy is generally at the forefront of everything we do as parents, caretakers, teachers, family members and as anyone else who plays a significant role in the life of a child. We rely heavily on our chosen professionals to keep us in the loop about what needs to be done to meet health requirements at each stage of development and in this way they serve as crucial resources. As the obesity epidemic for our youth is currently very concerning to say the least, good health for kids now centers on sticking to a healthy diet and engaging in regular physical activity—and implementing this as a lifestyle will allow for the best long term results for your family!
Chiropractic Care
Chiropractic care benefits infants and kids because it keeps their body functional. “Many times, if parents are thinking about taking their child to a chiropractor, the decision is based on pain,” explains Brad Schmitt, DC, owner of Schmitt Chiropractic & Rehab. “They may think that children don’t need chiropractic because they don’t ‘hurt’ all over yet. If their child does happen to have pain or an injury, they will often wonder if it is safe to take their child to a chiropractor. Chiropractic care has proven to be safe and effective for children. The reason for that is because chiropractic keeps joints functional, as already mentioned. As children grow and develop, outside stresses on their body can affect this growth and development. By keeping joints of the spine (and elsewhere) moving the way they should, bone and nervous system development is optimized. The goal with treating children is to eliminate pain if pain is present, prevent painful joint problems, and allow for optimal development. With the fast paced society that we live in, it is easy to wait until little problems become big problems before doing anything. Chiropractic care is a pro-active way, like exercising and eating healthy, to help with proper development.
There are many techniques that I utilize in addition to chiropractic that can benefit kid’s health and function. Sometimes a child needs work on activating/strengthening a muscle more than anything, so that is what we will focus on as well.”
He adds, “Kids rarely think about what is healthy for them. For example, without parent’s guidance, not many kids would eat healthy and get the nutrition they need. They will often not even mention if they are feeling pain because they think it will just go away. Often times it will go away, but the dysfunction that is causing the pain will remain. It is important for parents to be proactive in their kids health, no matter what they decide is right for them as they grow and develop.
My recommendation for frequency of care for children will vary depending on each situation. For example, a child with scoliosis will need much more frequent care than a child without it. If a child has a fully functioning spine, then occasional checkups would be sufficient. Pain is not the best measuring stick for the frequency of treatment needed. Pain is present after there is dysfunction, so finding the dysfunction first will prevent pain from occurring. Once pain is gone, it does not mean that dysfunction is gone. Chiropractic treats dysfunction (which often accompanies pain), but not only pain.”
Allergy & Immunology Concerns
Many parents must seek medical help for their children for a variety of allergic illnesses such as food allergy, asthma, eczema and nasal allergies typically associated with recurrent ear or sinus infections. “Our goal is not just to treat the symptoms of the allergy, but to identify the cause and provide effective long term solutions and care for the child,” emphasizes Dr. Brett V. Kettelhut of Allergy and Immunology Associates PC. “Childhood is a critical time for identifying and treating allergy as undiagnosed and untreated allergies can develop into chronic illness affecting the child’s health and development. For example, school aged children with untreated allergies have been shown to have poorer school performance than children without allergies. Also, children with asthma may need more medication than necessary if an allergy that triggers the asthma is not identified with subsequent education on avoidance measures.”
Dr. Kettelhut offers a few top recommendations for parents:
1. Identifying the allergic trigger with effective avoidance measures being undertaken, critical in food allergy and asthma
2. Understanding the nature of allergic inflammation and the medication used to treat allergic inflammation
3. Development of a long term effective treatment plan as allergies and asthma persist in many patients into adult life becoming a difficult to control chronic illness
He also offers proactive measures for a child with spring allergies:
1. Begin early treatment of the symptoms
2. Take proper avoidance measures to decrease allergen avoidance
3. Follow up with your child’s doctor if symptoms remain uncontrolled
4. Observe for nighttime mouth breathing due to nasal congestion disrupting sleep
He adds, “The effective treatment of allergies is the recognition of the inflammation that is the cause of most symptoms. If avoidance measures are not effective in relieving the allergy or asthma symptoms then a topical steroid spray for either the nose or lungs may be prescribed for additional control of symptoms.”
Total Family Support for Families of Children with Special Needs
“Children’s Respite Care Center (CRCC) is an organization passionately focused on providing programs and services that ensure children with special needs have every opportunity to reach their highest potential socially, emotionally, behaviorally and intellectually,” explains Meaghan Walls, Director of Rehabilitation Therapy.
“CRCC’s two locations in Omaha provide professional, loving care and support to families in need. Services are available to children birth to age 21 and are tailored to the individual needs of each. With an array of services from early care services for infants and child care for all ages, to inclusive community/activities and school-age supports; we’ve designed services to fit your family’s needs and daily routines that are right in your community and all under one roof.
Our nursing, rehabilitation and behavioral therapy and educational supports promote growth and development in all areas to help a child succeed. CRCC’s Team draw upon each other’s expertise, working together to create comprehensive, individualized plans of care for each client that assist our highly trained classroom staff to provide the best care to each. Utilizing the collaborative and comprehensive services provides a sense of relief to families.
The medical and organizational structure in place allows us to handle daily needs as well as the unique and emergency challenges this population deals with on a regular basis. It allows for continuity of care as well as support and education for parents, grandparents and foster parents. Sometimes parents/caregivers are caught in the maze of a complicated diagnosis, sometimes there is a language barrier, and sometimes they just need a little more help in understanding what the physician ordered. There can be many reasons for parents having difficulty with care, treatments, medications, schedules, therapies or health crises that are an ongoing part of their lives. Having a trusted nurse to talk with and help figure out the answers to their questions is invaluable.
CRCC’s specialized facilities and resources are made specifically for children. Highlights include:
• Team of pediatric specialists that are attuned to the various areas of development for children with special needs.
• Child sized play and care environments.
• Greater staff to child ratios which provide the needed direction, attention, guidance and medical surveillance that special needs children require.
Are you worried that your child is not meeting his/her developmental milestones? CRCC’s Therapy Center can provide evaluations in the areas of Physical, Occupational, Speech-Language and Feeding/Swallowing that can help you determine if your child is meeting their milestones.
The Therapy Center provides medical based therapy that focuses on the child’s functional skills and level of development. Among our therapy services are Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Speech-Language Pathology, Feeding/Swallowing, Augmentative & Alternative Communication and Sensory. We take a global approach to helping a child reach their full potential in all settings, we are a complementary service to what children receive through Early Education Services or in school. We offer extensive experience in areas such as adaptive equipment, communication devices, feeding & swallowing, vision and neurological diagnosis that allow us to support families with a wide range of needs.
We also offer individual and family Behavioral Health Outpatient Therapy, which incorporates Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) and Child and Family Traumatic Stress Intervention (CFTSI). Additionally, with our Community Outreach program we provide a Video Series with online tools/resources for parents, an annual Event Series, our Tech Tools Lending Library, and our Special Olympics Nebraska Partnership for young athletes.
Above all we believe that communities are stronger when they include everyone, including our youngest citizens! From child care options to coordinating inclusive community opportunities, CRCC is invested in providing families the resources they need to achieve a healthy, happy, satisfying life.”
It’s a continuing endeavor to stay on top of keeping our kids healthy, especially where we find ourselves at in terms of health as a society in 2015, and most of all it’s important to model the behavior ourselves. We are truly lucky to live in one of the healthiest cities in the U.S., where we are surrounded with a culture that values health and wellness. Largely because of this we have access to plenty of wonderful local resources to utilize in keeping our kids healthy so that they can grow to their full potential, so there’s always a helping hand available when needed. Here’s to a healthy 2015 for all, young and old!