​This may date me a bit, but I remember back in middle school having mandatory scoliosis screenings done at school. A nurse would come to school during our gym period and we would all line up and be checked for scoliosis. Now I had no idea what scoliosis was when I was in middle school but it sounded scary and I always crossed my fingers that I wouldn't be one of those girls who had it. Now looking back I realize just how uneducated parents and children were on scoliosis. If we "passed" the scoliosis test we were sent on our way, no explanation what so ever. Today I'm not even sure if kids are screened at school anymore for it (my kiddo has not yet reached school age) and if they are I'm hoping that it is done way before middle school. 

​Scoliosis, well not as scary as it sounds, can cause issues in growing kids. Scoliosis is defined as an abnormal lateral curvature of the spine. Most of the time a scoliosis will start to develop in the first 10 years of a child's life, when the most dramatic amount of growth occurs in the spine. These scoliotic changes can be subtle at first and usually become more apparent around the time puberty starts. Here are a few signs that parents can look for to stay on top of early detection for scoliosis. It is important for parents to be aware of the signs of this condition before structural scoliotic curves develop.
 
Very often the first indication of scoliosis noticed by parents in their children is that there is "something wrong" in the fitting of clothes. One hip may appear higher that the other, a hemline on a skirt or dress may be higher on one side, jeans are too long on one leg, etc.  

Having your child shirtless or in a bra is the best way to look at the spine and to observe his/her posture from behind.
1.  Does he/she hold his/her head tipped to one side?
2. Is one shoulder higher that the other?
3. Is one shoulder blade more prominent that the other?
4. With both arms hanging down to his/her sides, is there more room between his/her body and the arms on one side or the other?
5. Looking at the child's waist, does one side curve in more than the other?
6. Does one hip appear higher, or more prominent, than the other?
7. Have the child bend over at the waist (as to touch his/her toes). Does one side of the spine appear more prominent that the other? Is there a hump or bump on one side between the shoulders, or on the lower back?

​If the answer is yes to one of these questions, the child is showing a sign of scoliosis. Now what? If your child presents with some of these symptoms, don't worry many things can be done to help with scoliosis. And actually in most cases a wait and see approach is common, because slight abnormal curvatures are very common in growing children, due to backpacks, computer and phone use, and the rapid growth of the spine. Scoliosis isn't diagnosed until a curvature is 10 degrees and then bracing isn't even considered until the curvature reaches 25 degrees. However, there are things that can be done chiropractically that can help stop the progression of a curvature and in some cases reduce the curvature before bracing becomes necessary. Chiropractor's are trained to look at the misalignments of the spine and how that affects the musculature surrounding the spine. Making sure misalignments aren't present in the spine and giving exercises to help muscle imbalances as your child grows can help tremendously in preventing scoliotic changes in the spine. 

For the first time in 6 years I spent Mother’s Day alone. I needed this. For the past 7 weeks I have slowly been losing my balance. The balance that for the past 7 years has helped keep me sane, fulfilled, and any other word you can think of that means stable.  
 
I am a mother, wife, and business owner and have worked hard to fine balance so I am first and foremost myself. It was very important for me from the very beginning that owning my own business and raising a family (which all happened within 3 months of each other 7 years ago) would be the perfect combination of balance. So I took a very different approach than most business owners. I knew as a new mom that I didn’t want to spend 40+ hours a week growing a business, because I wanted to have time to see my kids grow up, so I never opened my doors longer than 30 hours a week. I also knew that I didn’t want to be only mom, I needed to still remain Ali, so self-care was always at the top of my list. Over the years I’ve maintained this balance and even considered myself pretty damn good at it. Sure I had a week here and there where things went a little haywire, but I always could get back in my groove and fine peace with all the hats I wore. I even gave a few talks here and there to local mom groups and was always giving tips and ideas how my patients could achieve balance. Then COVID-19 happened and a shelter in place order happened so fast I didn’t have time to really figure out a new normal.
 
Like many panic mode set in quick and I was faced with all the questions and feels. How am I going to homeschool and keep my business open, how am I going to pay the bills, how am I going to pay my employees, how how how? None of these how’s though, were How am I going to take care of myself. I went into fight or flight mode and did what I did best created a new schedule, a new routine, but it lacked my self-care routine. Not at first, but slowly, so slowly in fact that I didn’t notice it at first. I was too busy…too busy being mom, wife, teacher, friend (to my kids who could no longer see theirs), doctor; that I forgot to be Ali. I decreased my work hours even more so that I could devote more time to make sure my kids were getting the needed time for schooling, but in doing this I didn’t save time for my CEO time that enabled me to be a doctor and business owner without those 2 interfering with each other. I now had to keep my kids focused on school, while not having the social interaction with peers they both loved. I had to be a referee for the two of them, who were spending too much time together and getting very annoyed with each other. And I had to step into a friend role for each of them, so that they had some sort of human interaction that was not in a parent/child role. With all this I lost balance.
 
I didn’t realize it at first, because I was to busy taking everything one day at a time and just trying to do everything that I could to normalize what was going on for my family. But I started noticing things about 3 weeks ago. I first started to realize my balance was gone when I reached out to a friend, who I was suppose to be a guest speaker for her mom’s group, and asked her to reschedule the talk. I told her I didn’t feel like I could give a talk because I didn’t want to add another thing on my plate right now. After we talked and decided to postpone the talk, I really asked myself if it was because I didn’t want to add another thing or I felt like I couldn’t give a talk on balance when I didn’t feel like I had any balance in my life. Then I started hoping that my husband would forget that Mother’s Day was coming up so that I didn’t have to spend a day with my kids “pampering” me and pretend that I was excited to wear their homemade jewelry and eat their breakfast in bed smorgasbord. Then my dear friend sent a message a week before Mother’s Day and suggested a Mother’s Day hike without the kids…and I immediately thought wow, when was the last time I did anything by myself, for myself? The answer in 7 weeks was nothing. So I agreed and thought morning Mother’s Day hike with friends and no kids, I could get behind that and then spend the rest of the day refreshed and ready to be “pampered” by my kids. As the week went on I kept having this anxious feeling that a few hour hike was not going to be enough, and yesterday I told my husband that this Mother’s Day I was taking the day off. I was going to wake up, hike with my friends and spend the whole day gone. I didn’t know what I was going to do, but I was going to focus on me and fill my mind, body and soul back up. He agreed and I spent most of Saturday thinking about what I was going to do with my day. I won’t bore you with what I did, because after the hike it really wasn’t exciting, but it was what I needed to re-center myself and to really reflect on where I lost myself. I will say that this time was partially spent figuring out how to get my balance back and putting a little me time back on my schedule. I had planned to stay away from the house until well after the kids’ bedtime, but felt more like myself around 5 and came back home to have a special Mother’s Day dinner well planned out by my husband.
 
I will say that the whole day, I never felt mom guilt that I wasn’t spending Mother’s Day with my kids, I only felt proud of myself for recognizing that I needed space, and that I couldn’t let that space go back to not existing. The truth is that even as a mother, I am first and foremost myself, and when I lose site of that I’m not the good mother that I know I am. We all have been in a weird place, whether you’re a parent, not a parent, mom, dad, brother, sister, child, these are uncharted waters and in all of this chaos many of us are forgetting to take care of ourselves. We can’t be fully functional humans without first acknowledging ourselves, so I give you permission. Permission right now to stop taking care of others and the many things you might be doing now, stop being all the things, and just be you. Find yourself, keep yourself, and hopefully you can find the balance you need (even if you don’t think you need it). 

​Dr. Ali Schweitzer

​The 4th trimester is a phrase used for the postpartum period until your baby is about 3 months old. This is a time where mamas are getting used to being new moms and getting into the groove of having a new life that depends on them every minute of the day. With all of this excitement of welcoming in a new life can also come some hard time of stress, little sleep, and aches and pains. Moms out there need to know they are not alone and everyone goes through the 4th trimester (in all different ways) and still need love and a support system to get them through it. 

​The demands of your body have now changed from feeding and nurturing the baby in utero to now carrying and caring for this baby in the real world which can put a lot of stress on the body. You can thank your body for the hormone Relaxin as it helps most mamas have a relaxed pelvis and cervix during birth but this hormone is rolling through the body till about 6 months postpartum so this helps your body heal from the incredibly amazing experience of child birth you just went through. However, the sleepless nights, countless hours of holding baby and still taking care of your family can take a toll on your body so make sure to let your parents, friends, family and whoever is wanting to help, help you out with small chores to make your life easier.
 
Breastfeeding and caring for a new baby can be difficult on your body. If you are nursing your baby, your body has to not only hold the baby up and use muscles in your arms that you might not have ever known were there but you also change the way you sit while nursing. Mamas have a tendency to slouch forward to help get a clear view of their baby and the most important thing is to be comfortable with your baby so there is no need to focus solely on your posture but to be aware of it after breastfeeding so we can help stabilize those back muscle so we don’t cause tension in the neck, shoulders, and back. One good way to help with this and still get to look at the wonderful life you just created is to bring baby up to you or support them with a nursing pillow. We will be publishing another blog about exercises to do during this time period so don't fret. 

Having a baby, no matter how prepared you might be, is going to shake your world up but I promise you will see it is in a good way!! Wether you are a first time mom or a pro at the whole parenting world, you can still have emotions running through you, some good, some bad throughout the whole 4th trimester and even after. This is a time where you cannot forget about yourself. You need to take time for yourself, take care of yourself, let people help you so you can get just 30 minutes of sleep because your body will thank you! As a chiropractor I see not only the physical demand it takes to be a parent but the emotional demand. Moms are exhausted  and to add emotions in the mix can really cause a lot of tension in their shoulders, neck and back. This is why it is important to not forget about your chiropractor during this time because we can help decrease joint restrictions in the pelvis, back, and neck as well as evaluate your baby to help with some stressful things like latching and sleeping.
 
A lot of moms want to be the perfect mom out there when in reality you don’t have to be perfect; babies don’t need perfect; they just need you to be you, the loving mom they had nurturing them in utero and now in the flesh!!  DO NOT forget that you are all they need in these first years of life… no special gadgets, no special toys, no special feeding utensils.. just YOU.

​Every pregnancy, birth, postpartum period and baby are different. Just make sure that you are taking care of yourself. Take time to exercise or spend time with a friend or do activities that you might not of been able to do during pregnancy.  If you feel overwhelmed, ask for help… remember most people would drop their whole day to help you snuggle and care for a new baby… it a blessing for most people to just be there to hold your baby so you can take a shower or go to the bathroom in peace. 

​Increased milk supply
Better hormonal balance
Increased energy levels
Less stress and anxiety
Better sleep
Improved immune and nervous system function
 
Bottom line is parenting can place a physical and emotional demand on your body but you have a team of family, friends, and providers waiting to help you get through this 4th trimester. Don’t wait to see your chiropractor because they can help you feel back to normal and live a healthy and happy life with your new little one.
 
YOU GOT THIS MAMAS! 

​For simple terms, a diastasis is a gap in the muscles of your stomach that causes a protruding belly. It is also a gap of more than 2.7 centimeters between these belly muscles. If you are doing a finger width gap test you are able to tell if you have a diastasis by having a width of 2-3 fingers in the gap. 

​During pregnancy, the uterus grows and stretches the muscles in the belly. Specifically it starts to stretch a band of connective tissue called the linea alba in response to hormone change during this uterus growth. This can cause the two bands of muscles that meet in the middle of the belly to separate —this might cause a bulge in the middle of the abdomen where the two muscles separate causing us ladies to think we have a “pooch.” 

You might be thinking well I am not pregnant anymore and my hormones are back to normal why is this still an issue? This is the hard part about a diastasis, it is not all about hormonal changes, yes, the hormones start to balance out in our postpartum period but sometimes the linea alba gets stretched out too thin that is loses it bounce back and is harder to get back to the pre-pregnancy state. Think of a hair tie that has been stretched out over and over… over time you see the hair tie stretched out because it lost all of its elasticity, however it is still a hair tie and functions but not as optimal. This is why it is important to get checked by your primary care provider, chiropractor, or women’s health physical therapist so we can help regain that core and allow for the stomach to function at its best.
 
It might not be all about the hormone change and the over stretching and might just be about your typical daily movements or simply your body type and anatomy. Some things that plays a part in developing a diastasis are:
 

• If you had one from a previous pregnancy, you are more likely to develop one with your next pregnancy (if not properly treated)
• Are of smaller stature and petite
• Have pelvic instability
• Have a weak core 

During your pregnancy and after pregnancy, there are everyday activities that can be modified to prevent your core from being in a vulnerable state. One way you can help prevent is when picking up anything off the floor that might be heavy like a baby or boxes, you want to make sure you are using your legs to help you support the weight. You want to make sure you are squatting to pick up instead of bending down with a straight back and knees causing your core and low back to be vulnerable. Another way you can help prevent is when getting off the couch or out of bed is to try your best to not do a sit up type motion and twist your body to get out of bed. The best way to get out of bed is to roll onto your side, then use your arms for support on your side to push your body up to a sitting position then get up to a standing position. 

​If you are pregnant or in your postpartum period and think you may have a diastasis or want to get checked seek out a health care provider like your chiropractor to help assist you in diagnosing and treating your diastasis. Both Dr. Ali and Dr. Kayla (me) can assess you after pregnancy and help you with proper form with movements and healing as well as what to avoid if you have a diastasis! You can also check out our new Facebook group linked at the bottom of the page that is geared towards helping and empowering women throughout pregnancy and the postpartum period. 

 Heartburn is that not so fun sensation felt in the upper chest that is a burning or gnawing type pain. If you experience heartburn I am sure you are already saying to yourself that heartburn is your worst enemy… well look no further because here is some reasoning behind what causes heartburn especially during pregnancy and how to help diminish the symptoms!! 
 
How to know if you might be experiencing heartburn 
Here are just a few symptoms you might feel if you have heartburn 

• Feeling warmth or heat in chest 
• Burning sensation in your chest 
• Bitter or acidic taste in mouth 
• Pain that is worse when lying down 

​The hormone progesterone which has high secretions during pregnancy to support baby and all processes in the body happening during pregnancy can have an effect on the sphincter in your esophagus (throat). The hormone causes relaxation of the lower esophageal sphincter who’s role in the body stops food from flowing in the wrong direct. However, if it cannot do its job as well because progesterone is telling it to relax, this causes heartburn and reflux because stomach content gets backed up into the esophagus. 

​Heartburn is most common to be experienced in the third trimester as baby is growing in the uterus. The growing uterus starts to put pressure on the stomach and the intestines causing stomach contents to push back up into the throat which causes reflux and heartburn. 

​Did you think I would leave out chiropractic… no way!! Chiropractic during pregnancy is completely safe and very beneficial. We are able to help you with digestion while working with the spine and nervous system to allow the parasympathetic nervous system to do its job!! Certain adjustments geared towards relaxing the diaphragm can help with the valves in your esophagus to help with reflux and heartburn.