Author Archives: Dr. Andrea
OPEN Saturday April 13th – 10am-3pm
11 Mar
by Dr. Andrea, posted in Stephens Chiropractic and Wellness | Comments Off on OPEN Saturday April 13th – 10am-3pm
OPEN Saturday March 9th – 10am-4pm
02 Mar
by Dr. Andrea, posted in Stephens Chiropractic and Wellness | Comments Off on OPEN Saturday March 9th – 10am-4pm
Stephens Chiropractic and Wellness will be OPEN Saturday March 9th from 10am-4pm
Schedule your appointment with Dr. Andrea or Kaylee today!
913-681-6013
CLOSED Tuesday February 26th Due To Inclement Weather Conditions
25 Feb
by Dr. Andrea, posted in Stephens Chiropractic and Wellness | Comments Off on CLOSED Tuesday February 26th Due To Inclement Weather Conditions
Stephens Chiropractic and Wellness will be CLOSED Tuesday, February 26th due to inclement weather conditions.
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18 Jan
by Dr. Andrea, posted in Stephens Chiropractic and Wellness | Comments Off on “LIKE US” On Facebook!
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24 Aug
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Allergies and Chiropractic Care in Overland Park
10 Aug
by Dr. Andrea, posted in Chiropractic | Comments Off on Allergies and Chiropractic Care in Overland Park
Allergies and Chiropractic Care in Overland Park
Many people feel it’s simply OK to have allergies. That it’s quite normal to be allergic because so many other people are also afflicted. That it’s OK to have a season for coughing, blowing, wheezing, and sneezing. Overland Park chiropractors say IT’S NOT!
Thousands of children (and their parents) in communities all over the world, are affected by the allergy “thing”. For those of you who haven’t, you’re looked upon with envy at certain times of the year. Millions of hard earned dollars are spent on over-the-counter drugs, weekly shots and physician visits. Then there’s time off from school (or work) and the effect of little “Sneezy” on the family.
The toll from allergies is immense. It may sound appalling, but that toll is much to the delight of the pharmaceutical cartel. There’s great profit at stake!
Many parents don’t question why their children or even themselves have allergies. It has just become an accepted fact of life. Allergies seem to be a problem with no apparent solution. What is that?
What makes one child allergic and another not? Why would one child be allergic to cats, dogs, fur, feathers, grasses, tree pollens, or my all time favorite – PEANUT BUTTER? We all live on the same planet. We’re all essentially the same. If I took one individual with allergies and one without and boiled them down to their essentials, I would end up with approximately 32 kilograms of chemicals. The rest would be water, but the chemical composition would be the same in both individuals.
The difference is most often seen in how one child’s body is able to adapt to her environment and another is not.
Simply put, an allergy is the inability of your child’s body to handle something that is in their immediate environment – pollen from trees, grasses, flowers, or peanuts. (There are also allergies to drugs, harsh detergents, and other chemical agents. These allergies are seen as a protective reaction and are not the type I am discussing.) In other words, your child seems to be very sensitive to the pollen or dust in her environment. This is called being hypersensitive. Something is making your child’s body hypersensitive to a perfectly normal part of the environment! If that’s the case, what should the solution be? Would it include getting rid of all the flowers, trees, grasses, and peanuts? Or does it make more sense to try and make your child’s body function normally so it can handle his or her environment in a normal fashion? Visiting a chiropractor in Overland Park can help you find the answers to your child’s allergies!
Acupuncture and Infertility in Overland Park
06 Aug
Acupuncture and Infertility – Overland Park
Acupuncture in Overland Park can help with infertility by addressing problems, such as, hypothyroidism (an under-functioning thyroid) or hyperthyroidism (an over-functioning thyroid), that could be affecting a women’s ability to reproduce. With acupuncture in Overland Park, tiny needles are inserted into certain acupuncture points that reside on what are called meridians. When these points are needled it can help regulate the way the body functions.
Can acupuncture be used to treat infertility?
Yes, acupuncture has been used for centuries in treatment of some, but not all, causes of infertility. While acupuncture in Overland Park hasn’t been shown to work in addressing tubal adhesions, which often times occurs due to pelvic inflammatory disease or endometriosis; it can still be beneficial in improving ovarian and follicular functions. It will also increase blood flow to the endometrium which will help facilitate a thick and rich lining.
When should acupuncture treatment begin?
Acupuncture in Overland Park is a process-oriented method of medical treatment and it is always better to do more than less. Treatment varies from person to person since chronic conditions tend to take longer to treat than acute ones.
What are the risks of using acupuncture?
Acupuncture in Overland Park is extremely safe with very minimal risks despite a person’s medical history.
Natural Tips for Infertility:
Benefits Of Fertility Acupuncture in Overland Park:
– Regulating the menstrual cycle
– Thickening the endometrial lining
– Enhancing cervical mucus
– Encouraging ovulation
– Reducing stress level
– Enhancing libido
– Preventing miscarriages
– Strengthening of the immune system
– Decreasing elevated levels of FSH
– Clearing Blocked Fallopian Tubes
– Improving mobility, quality and quantity of sperm
Fertility Recommendations:
Avoid the two most common allergens DAIRY and GLUTEN:
Dairy products account on average for 60-70 percent of estrogens consumed. Humans consume milk from cows in the second half of pregnancy when cows estrogen levels are high. We usually associate dairy and drinking milk with calcium, and never think about what else we may be consuming along with the calcium (and dairy, by the way is not the best source of calcium). Here is a list of hormones that have been found in cows’ milk:
- Prolactin
- Somatostatin
- Melatonin
- Oxytocin
- Growth hormone
- Lutenizing releasing hormone
- Thyroid stimulating hormone
- Estrogens
- Progesterone
- Insulin
- Corticosteroids and many more
Do you think an excess consumption of all these hormones could disrupt your own hormonal balance? You bet!
A gluten intolerance alone cannot cause infertility; however, the resulting inflammation in the gut can minimize your nutrient absorption and lead to deficiencies in nutrients you need for optimal sperm, egg and hormone production and a healthy pregnancy.
Avoid Coffee, Alcohol, Smoking:
You may not want to hear this, but drinking coffee decreases fertility. A large study from Connecticut found as little as 1 cup of coffee per day increases the risk of not conceiving by 55 percent. And if you have 2-3 cups per day that risk rises to 100 percent and continues to increase with an additional cup up to 176 percent. And did you know that women who drank coffee before and during pregnancy had twice the risk of miscarriage?
Alcohol is harmful to women’s eggs and men’s sperm and as little as one glass can reduce fertility by 50 percent! This can further lead to damage of the developing embryo and may result in miscarriage. And although it’s been known for a long time that drinking while pregnant is a no-no, drinking before pregnancy has been largely ignored.
This doesn’t stop with coffee and alcohol. Smoking and recreational drugs can also reduce your odds of conception. A study tested the effects of cigarette smoking on semen quality in men and found that sperm motility (ability to propel forward) decreased in light smokers while heavy smoking produced abnormal sperm shape. Scientists have discovered that quitting smoking may increase sperm count in men who quit smoking for 5-15 months by 50 percent to 800 percent respectively.
An optimal fertility diet is about what to avoid as much as it is about what to include. A fertility diet should be as fresh as possible and organic wherever possible. Key elements are; good quality protein sources (favor vegetable sources of protein) and good fats.
What should you eat?
- Organic meat in small quantities, game, small deep sea fish like sardines and red snapper, organic legumes home cooked (not canned).
- Whole grains, nuts, seeds, vegetables and fruit in season, organic where possible.
- Increase your consumption of good fats and avoid dangerous fats. Good fats include monounsaturated fats in olive oil, polyunsaturated fats in oily fish and nuts and midchain fatty acids found in coconut oil.
- For cooking use clarified butter (ghee) or coconut butter (without flavor) as they do not become unstable when heated.
- For non-heated oil requirements (salads etc) use cold pressed olive oil, flaxseed oil and nut oils.
Regardless of whether you are eating organic produce and a healthy diet, you are unlikely to be getting all the nutrients your body needs for optimal fertility from your diet. This is why supplementation is important.
Getting pregnant and growing a new human being with your own reserves, requires a surplus of nutrients and energy. In your body’s accounting terms, pregnancy is a luxury, a splurge of energy and nutrients. Some of the key nutrients for fertility are:
- Zinc
- Selenium
- Magnesium
- Calcium
- B12
- B6
- Folic acid
- Vitamin C
- Omega-3 fats
Other recommendations:
Avoid stress. Exercise. Develop a consistent sleep pattern. 8 glasses of water per day. Acupuncture and Chiropractic care in Overland Park to gain optimal health and balance of your body!
Chiropractic Care For Healthy Children
28 Dec
by Dr. Andrea, posted in Children, Chiropractic | Comments Off on Chiropractic Care For Healthy Children
Why chiropractic care for my child? His back doesn’t bother him!
Doctors of chiropractic hear from parents that they appreciate the importance of regular check-ups for their child’s teeth, eyes and ears, but they draw a blank when it comes to a spinal check-up. Yet that could be one of the most important check-ups your child will ever have! Chiropractic care for healthy children is essential.
You might be surprised to learn that most adult problems chiropractors deal with actually have a start in childhood. For example, the “growing pains” of a 12-year-old boy can become crippling low back and leg pains in adulthood; the “jolly jumpers” used by a toddler can cause spinal curvatures (scoliosis) in the adolescent. Your child’s spine is his or her lifeline. Running through it is a spinal cord containing billions of nerves that send messages and information from the brain to every part of the body and back again.
Yes, we all have our very own internet! As long as none of these messages are interrupted, your child should have optimal function and the best health possible. If, however, there is any interference with this “information highway” the message sent by the brain will not reach the part of the body it is intended to reach. As a result the body starts to work improperly. Chiropractors call this “malfunction”. It can be a serious threat to health. This interference will often affect the immune system, lower body resistance and leave your child prey to various bugs and infections.
The Function of the Immune System
It is generally agreed that the immune system is very closely linked to the nervous system. The immune system is like a “circulating nervous system”. Most diseases children get are really the result of the improper functioning of that system. This interference in your child’s nervous system is what chiropractors refer to as a vertebral subluxation – small misalignments of the bones of the spine pinching delicate nerves.
How does your baby’s spine lose its natural alignment?
Vertebral subluxations have many causes. The major cause of most is actually the process of being brought into the world – birth. For an infant, it can be very stressful. Subluxations associated with birth trauma can cause hyperactivity, lowered resistance, ear infections, asthma and allergies, as well as signs of “central motor impairment”.
As babies get older, they are often subjected to some uncomfortable traditions: wearing tight diapers that do not allow proper hip development; “jolly jumpers” which place an infant in an upright position long before the spine can deal with gravity; just to name a few. Then of course there is the usual process of crawling, walking, and running. As your child matures, other incidents and activities can also create vertebral subluxations. For instance, falling off a bike or down stairs, soccer, football, and cheerleading.
As an example, the so-called growing pains I mentioned earlier that children often experience in their legs have traditionally been explained as part of childhood. Worried parents hear such nonsensical statements as “It’s nothing – they’ll grow out of it”, or “It is because they are growing”. Many parents tend to buy these excuses. But when we really think about it, those explanations simply do not make any sense. After all, when did it ever hurt to grow? And why only in the legs? Don’t the arms also grown? Why don’t they hurt?
From a chiropractic perspective these “growing pains” are a vertebral subluxation in the low back or they are caused by a “functional pelvic imbalance”. In simple terms, it’s a subluxation of the pelvic bones which then changes the way a child walks. These pelvic imbalance subluxations can lead to the development of early scoliosis (spinal curvature), knee problems and difficulty with balance. These are often the children who are wrongly labeled as “klutzy”.
If allowed to remain, subluxations are the starting point of nerve system and body malfunction. When a vertebral subluxation has existed for some time it will eventually produce symptoms (pain is the most common) as a warning to let you know that something is simply not okay, that there is a threat to health and well-being.
One must remember that symptoms are similar to a fire alarm. They let you know that there is a fire. At this point you have a choice. You can put out the fire (correct the subluxation), or turn off the fire alarm (using medication) to make yourself feel better. Which is logical?
Chiropractic care is for everyone who wants to experience wellness, but especially important for children. It can make a huge difference in their lives. Conditions easily corrected by chiropractic therapy at an early age are often neglected and can be carried by a child as a burden throughout a lifetime.
I firmly believe that all children should be checked by a chiropractor to ensure a normally functioning nervous system and a healthy body. Please contact us at 913-681-6013 to schedule an appointment with Dr. Andrea today!
Acupuncture and Chiropractic Care for Headaches in Overland Park
13 Oct
by Dr. Andrea, posted in Acupuncture | Comments Off on Acupuncture and Chiropractic Care for Headaches in Overland Park
One of the most common reasons people seek Acupuncture and Chiropractic care for headaches in Overland Park is for headaches. Chiropractic care, acupuncture, and nutritional counseling can get you back on the road to a pain free life!
When you have a headache, your eyes hurt, your forehead pounds, your neck is sore and tight, and your scalp feels as if it’s being slowly removed. Lights bother you and noise sets your teeth on edge. Then there are your children, the house, dinner, your spouse, and the daily demands of life. You would like to stop the world and get off!
Headaches have been sold to the public as a disease to be “treated”. Millions of dollars in advertising are spent annually on the benefits of drugs for headaches. We’ve bought into this carefully contrived thinking. Let’s look at this from a different perspective. The word headache simply means ache in the head. It’s not a disease. It’s a pain – a symptom. I’m not making light of the symptom: it can be severe and debilitating.
Most people are so busy treating their pain they forget that pain has a reason for being. A headache is your body “talking” back to you and you need to interpret that language. It’s a signal to let you know that your body’s having a difficult time handling something and the vast majority of headaches are found at the base of the head, in the region of the temples or over the eyes.
There are several different types of headaches and several different causes for each type of headache. Chiropractors have found that many headaches signify a distortion of some of the vertebrae of the neck area affecting the function of the nervous system. When this happens certain muscles are called into play to protect the nervous system from damage resulting in tension.
Some headaches are not caused by subluxations. They can be caused by wrong diet, poor nutrition, toxins, hormonal changes, or a disease process.
No headaches should be taken lightly. Something is not right. At Stephens Chiropractic and Wellness we will provide a comprehensive examination to help determine the reason for your headaches. Stephens Chiropractic and Wellness will get you back to living a healthy life with chiropractic care, acupuncture, or nutritional counseling.
Chiropractic Solutions to Digestive Issues
16 Aug
Chiropractic Solutions to Digestive Issues
Many patients with digestive problems feel that their difficulties are just an inconvenience and that they can get by with only the occasional stomach cramping, constipation, and once a week diarrhea! They think rectal bleeding is normal, that blood in the stool is OK, and that missing school or work because of these difficulties is just part of life!
I hate to burst your bubble. It’s not normal. Symptoms of digestive distress usually are indicators that there is a malfunction somewhere within the system. Ignoring such signs is akin to cerebral constipation and one thing I’ve learned is that the body does not like to be ignored. You can find chiropractic solutions to digestive issues you are experiencing!
Your digestive system is essentially a long tube that starts at your mouth and ends at your other end. It has one purpose – to extract nutrients and energy from the foods you eat. Digestive organs – esophagus, stomach, liver, gall bladder, and intestines – are simply modifications of that tube. Certain digestive enzymes, juices, acids, and other additives are secreted into this system to make the digestion of foods and the extraction of energy more productive. This system is efficient when it functions normally.
Many children and adults, however, suffer from a malfunction of the digestive system. In fact the three most common conditions affecting intestinal function that I see in my practice are irritable bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis, and Crohn’s disease.
Crohn’s disease is the most serious. It’s a chronic and long-term ulceration of the digestive tract. It usually extends through the wall of the intestine and involves all layers of your digestive tube. In essence, the body attempts to heal localized ulcers and sores and produces scar tissue, which then restricts the movement of food through the system.
Ulcerative colitis, on the other hand, mainly involves the internal layers called the “mucosa” and the “submucosa”. An irritable bowel is even lesser on this scale.
Your nervous system runs your whole body and all its functions: your immune system, heart, healing ability, and even your digestive system. All these function under direct orders from your nervous system. If there is interference with its normal function, your body will not work the way it should. We call this interference a vertebral subluxation. It means that the nervous system is no longer able to control the normal function of your intestinal area.
A subluxation that caused this scope of damage has usually become a pattern the body has learned. It’s a habit – a bad one! A chiropractor will, in all likelihood, place a patient suffering with digestive difficulties on an intense schedule of care in order to get a handle on this bad habit as quickly as possible. We are in fact changing neural programming. However, it’s not treatment for these conditions. Rather, the emphasis is to correct subluxations and make the body function normally. Seeing a chiropractor is crucial in reversing this condition and insuring that the digestive tract is functioning optimally!
