Carmichael Chiropractic Care for Kids

By Dr. Beth Blakely

When a small child trips and falls, many adults feel compelled to rush to their aid, reassure them that they’re okay and then encouraging them to get back up and play. Strangely enough, if we were to trip and fall, don’t we tend to react as though the end of the world has arrived? I could easily go through an entire box of Kleenex just thinking about it!

Why do we have such a double standard? Perhaps part of our rationale can be explained by the laws of physics. Since kids are smaller, lighter and closer to the ground, the pain they feel must be inconsequential to the agony we would endure should we suffer a similar plight, right? While it’s true that generally speaking, children are not only smaller and lighter, they are remarkably resilient. While they often bounce back quickly from many injuries, they are not bullet proof. Some falls can result in painful injuries that don’t disappear, even with heaping servings of positive reinforcement.

If such a situation should befall you (pun intended), gentle chiropractic care can be an excellent option. A lot of parents don’t realize that children can benefit greatly from chiropractic care. It really is a great health care choice for kids because they will avoid the risk of potentially harmful pain killing drugs that often have serious side effects.

We provide patients of all ages with a very gentle adjustment with the aid of an impulse instrument. This instrument is not only extremely effective in realigning the spine when a fall or other type of jarring impact occurs, it’s also painless. The results I’ve achieved with kids have been amazing. I think kids do really well with chiropractic care because they are very open-minded and they heal remarkably fast.

I’ve adjusted a lot of children, some as young as four months of age who were injured during a traumatic birth. I’ve treated a few younger patients that had trouble moving their heads in both directions. With several gentle adjustments, I was able to help them get full and unencumbered movement. Several years ago, I treated a four month old patient who could not hold his head up straight, so we adjusted him for a few months until he finally got to the point where he could hold his head up straight and he’s been able to literally hold his head high ever since.

If you have a child that you believe could benefit from chiropractic care, bring them in now while the problem and the child are still small. 

The Road to Recovery is an Adjustment

By Dr. Beth Blakely

Did you know that it can take up to seven years or more to experience pain from the damage caused by an auto accident? In auto accidents, the soft tissues are injured. Soft tissues include the joints, discs, ligaments, tendons and muscles. Soft tissues are sort of like a rubber band, which means they’ll stretch, but then over time they’ll heal in a bad position without adequate treatment. As strange as this may sound, you’re actually better off breaking a bone than damaging soft tissue. Why, because bone heals stronger after it’s broken, but soft tissues degenerate over time, creating greater and greater levels of pain.

Once these tissues begin to degenerate, they pinch against the nerves, which will be extremely painful. So that’s why people tend to get worse as they get older or if they’ve never had adequate care after an auto accident. It’s imperative that you come in for treatment as soon as you’re injured, because then we can control the healing process and get your tissues to heal in a more normal fashion, where everything is in proper alignment.

If you don’t get your vertebrae put back into their normal positions, they’re just going to heal anywhere they ended up and your body will not line back up. A competent chiropractor will put the vertebrae back where they belong and then the tissues will heal in healthy alignment.

Sadly, about 10% of our population suffers needlessly from chronic pain after an automobile accident. In far too many situations, people don’t think they are seriously injured and then six months down the road they realize they are once they start experiencing unbearable pain.

A second very good reason to be checked out immediately after an auto accident involves your bank account. Let’s face it, most insurance companies will not be eager to pay for your injury. If you waited six months before pursuing treatment, they’ll likely say, “Oh no, you did something else to your back, which doesn’t have anything to do with this auto accident.”

If you’ve been in a recent auto accident, don’t try to tough it out, especially when the aches and pains seem relatively minor. And that especially goes for all you men out there. Get the care you need and deserve as soon as possible: The health of your body and bank account depend on it!

Dr. Beth Blakely raises over $20,000 for the Sacramento Children's Receiving Home

Local Business Raises Over $20,000

for Children’s Receiving Home

By Bob Cox

While the vast majority of us enjoyed the cozy comforts of the holidays, sipping cider and hot coco with family and friends, there were large numbers of abused and neglected children in town who wanted nothing more than a safe place to escape to. Fortunately, we have an organization right here in Sacramento that has been committed to doing just that for the last 75 years.

When local law enforcement is called in to remove children from a dangerous home environment, many are transported to The Children’s Receiving Home of Sacramento. The primary goal of this organization is to find safe, healthy and permanent homes for these abandoned children. They have a specialized program to help children under 5 that have suffered from severe physical and sexual abuse. While the average stay is about 30 days, some older children end up staying much longer, which is why this amazing organization provides a wide variety of life training skills.

When local chiropractor and holistic practitioner Dr. Beth Blakely heard about this amazing organization from her Univera representative Bruce Backman, she said: “count me in”!

Backman explained to Dr. Blakely that his health organization Univera has a charitable division called Univera Serve First, which provides nutritional aid to children locally and around the world. There are two great things about Univera Serve First: 1. 100% of donations go directly to the charity because everybody volunteers and 2. Univera Serve First matches each donation dollar for dollar. For these fine reasons, it’s easy to see why Dr. Blakely has become so passionate about Univera Serve First.

This year, with the help of a large number of good local Samaritans, Univera Serve First was proud to present a check for $20,735 last month to The Children’s Receiving Home of Sacramento. Even better news: Every penny of that money will go to help the organization that helps these kids!

Univera is a nutritional supplement company that has committed $100 million and 40 years of cellular research to provide premium quality health products. Owner Bill Lee Lee is much more than a billionaire philanthropist that has refused to take any money from Univera as a company. The heart of his mission is to give back as much as possible to people around the world and this purpose embodies the culture of Univera and Univera Serve First. The charities they support like the Children’s Receiving Home of Sacramento are thoroughly vetted and are required to ensure that a minimum of 90% of all donations go directly to the children.

Editor’s notes: For more information about Univera, contact Dr. Beth Blakely directly at (916) 944-1444 or visit the following websites: www.econetholdings.com, www.newunivera.com/en-us or www.servefirst.org/.  

Whiplash

By Bob Cox

Tony Shannon was waiting in traffic in his car on another hot summer day in Sacramento this past August when out of nowhere, a car from behind slammed violently into his at about 40 miles per hour. The sudden and unexpected impact caused his head to violently lunge forward and then back while the rest of his torso remained protected by the seat belt he was wearing. According to Tony, it was a young kid who was texting while he was driving.

It didn’t take long for him to suffer the excruciatingly painful symptoms of severe whiplash, so he followed up on a referral from a friend, who recommended that he visit Dr. Beth Blakely in Carmichael.  From the moment he met Dr. Blakely, Tony knew he was in excellent hands. “She’s the most competent chiropractor that I’ve ever experienced. She educates you as she practices on you. She teaches you about everything she is doing as she works on you and that’s what makes her incredible. I’ve learned so much about my cervical and lumbar vertebrae and I’ve also learned a lot about my atlas, so I’ll always go back to her”, explained Tony.

Tony has also experienced all the special devices Dr. Blakely uses to help her patients get better, which includes an inclining table, a hand held vibrating massager and special tools that help realign the spine and atlas, as well as an amazing hot waterbed massage table that sends me into dreamland just thinking about it. It is truly that relaxing! “After I leave her office, I always walk away feeling 100 times better than when I walked in. So, I’m really grateful for that. I now only have some discomfort in my neck of course, but it’s not nearly as bad as when I first walked into her office”, said Tony.

When I asked Tony if he had anything else he wanted to add, he exclaimed: “Anyone who wants to be practiced on by a knowledgeable and competent chiropractor that educates you as she practices on you, Dr. Beth Blakely is the one to go to, she’s incredible”!

Health Epidemic: Chronic Inflimation

By Dr. Beth Blakely

Chronic inflammation is now a mass epidemic. I should know, as it’s one of the things that I’m seeing that’s impacting the lives of more and more of my patients.  A number of factors are driving this growing trend, including aging, diet, environment and stress. Chronic inflammation is nothing to be trifled with as it can lead to a number of serious health consequences down the road. It’s bad for our digestive system, our joints, our heart and our arteries, just to name a few.

What are the most common symptoms of chronic inflammation? Oftentimes, people have no idea that they are experiencing chronic inflammatory issues. Some people will have pain, which may be a sign that they have inflammation but many people have digestive inflammation for years and never know it.

In other cases, people have digestive issues that they’re aware of and some may perceive inflammation as joint pain or back pain. Why? Because an inflamed gut can cause a variety of neurological problems. Over 20 plus years of medical research bears this out. Dr. David Pernutter, an M.D. and Neurologist document’s this in his recent book Brain Maker.

There are just so many things that can set off chronic inflammation but a common culprit is a diet that’s high in inflammation. Inflammatory foods can cause serious problems, especially when consumed frequently over a number of years. The foods that cause the highest levels of inflammation include dairy products, beef, foods high in trans-fats, fried foods and sugar.

You want to stick to a natural diet that’s mostly based on fruits and vegetables, lean meats like chicken and fish, healthy fats, olive oil, avocado, nuts and seeds. These foods are easier to digest and they don’t trigger the inflammatory response in our body the way unhealthy foods do. Our body reacts to it by creating this inflammation and can trigger an immune response.

If you go to the doctor with complaints, chances are good that your doctor will either issue you a prescription or an over-the-counter anti inflammatory medicine for inflammation. If this happens to you and you’re not content to merely cover up your symptoms, stop in and see us. I’ve researched the market extensively and have found a few extremely effective and affordable supplements that treat the root cause, without all the nasty side effects.

Is Your Body on Fire?

By Dr. Beth Blakely

The fire I’m referring to cannot be smothered with the popular maneuver (stop, drop and roll) or extinguished with a raging river of ice cold water. The fire I’m referring to is the silent but deadly fire that’s burns inside of us. Millions of American’s suffer from systemic and chronic inflammation, a condition that’s wreaking havoc on our overall health and well being.

According to neurologist Dr. Perl Mutter M.D., extensive medical research has proven that our brain health is dependent on our digestive health and the nervous system and the digestive system are intimately linked. So, people can have inflammation and other issues with their digestive system for years and have no idea because they often don’t feel it. Meanwhile, their brains are deteriorating. They’re getting Alzheimer’s, M.S., Parkinson’s, anxiety and depression. And despite all this is amazing medical research over the last 20 years, it’s unfortunately a slow trickle down process before it becomes incorporated into the medical field. It typically takes 10 to 20 years before they get on the bandwagon with what their own research says.

For these reasons, it’s very rare to find an M.D. that practices functional medicine, which is a method that thoroughly addresses overall health. I do think they’re starting to come around because more of them are recommending probiotics, but there’s so much more that can be done to prevent what we think of as age related brain deterioration. The pharmaceutical industry is now injecting anti-inflammatory products into the brains of Alzheimer patients and they’re seeing improvements!

I think what we’re going to find out is that people taking medications are destroying their digestive systems. Think about it, you swallow a pill, where does it go? What people don’t understand is there’s only one layer of cells between your small intestine and your blood stream. So, if there’s something that slips past your digestive system and into your blood stream, it poisons you. I think what we’re going to find out is that medication destroys our digestive systems. But who knows how long will it take? Another 20 years? We don’t have that kind of time.

So, we in the medical field have become acutely aware that we have raging fires burning in our internal systems, so what can we do to get rid of it? I provide functional medicine, which also incorporates nutritional support where it’s needed. I’m not a big fan of guessing what’s wrong with a patient, which is why I do my best to find out the first time I meet someone what they need by asking them to fill out a very thorough questionnaire before our initial consultation. I’ve worked with a lot of neutraceutical companies that make different formulas for calming down the digestive inflammation and I think I’ve nailed it down to some of the very best products that are available to make sure my patients get exactly what they need.

Not Like Pulling Teeth

By Bob Cox

When Sil Ferrari’s original chiropractor retired about a year or so ago, he embarked on a dialing expedition and got lucky...very lucky! The Carmichael resident eventually chose Dr. Blakely because her practice was also located in Carmichael.

“One of the reasons I definitely wanted to go to a chiropractor was because I kept experiencing pain from arthritis in my neck and hips. I wanted to see a chiropractor before I complained to my physician. One of the main issues that I had for almost two years was a shooting pain from my wisdom tooth on the left side. I would get this shooting pain at least once or twice a week and it felt like it was going all the way up in my brain. I talked to my dentist about it and he referred me to an orthodontist, who recommended that I have the tooth pulled out”, explained Sil.

After going to Dr. Blakely for regular adjustments and supplements for the past four months, Sil’s results have been amazing! “I decided to hold off on having my tooth pulled and Dr. Blakely has had a very good success rate in helping some of the issues that I've had. I haven't had any pain in that tooth since she has been working on my neck. Under Dr. Blakely’s suggestion, I've been taking aloe and a supplement for joint support once a day,” said Sil.

So, the combination of adjustments and supplements has really helped Sil get back on track. “I know the arthritis will never go away permanently, but I no longer have any problem walking, I don't have any problems with my neck and I don't have any shooting pains in that upper tooth area. I would recommend Dr. Blakely for anyone that’s in pain. She's very easy to work with and listens to what's going on and if adjustments need to be made, she has no problem doing that. She'll even take complaints (laughing). She's just a very, very gracious and nice doctor to work with”, smiled Sil.

Dr. Blakely Gave Me Wellness!

By Paula Fredette

When I first hurt my back, I didn't consider seeing a doctor or chiropractor because I don't like modern medicine. I'm not sure how I got hurt. I just turned funny and something snapped. I was in major pain all weekend, so the following Monday, I trusted my instincts and walked down the street to Dr. Beth Blakely’s office.

I was numb from my hips to my toes on the left side. At the time, I was at 25 years old with no health insurance and working at Burger King. During my first visit, I filled out a lengthy questionnaire and then shared my medical history with Dr. Blakely. She took her time with me and explained what was going on in my body. She really knows what she's talking about.

Dr. Blakely gave me an adjustment that day and strongly recommended B-12 to help relieve the nerve damage. She worked out a payment plan that I could afford and I was able to continue an ongoing treatment plan.

During my treatment, I researched the nerve damage I had and found that it normally takes 500 – 1,000 days to heal. With the combination of adjustments and B-12, I had absolutely no numbness in just two months! I was pretty much back to normal and soon began feeling better than ever. I started exercising again and dropped a lot of weight. Dr. Blakely also recommended joint support for my lower back and a supplement for my gut to improve my immune system and mental clarity.

I'm totally indebted to Dr. Blakely! When I was 25 years old, I would wake up feeling like I was 97 years old! But after going to Dr. Blakely's, I now wake up in the morning with no pain. I feel much better overall.  My knees, back and sciatica don't hurt anymore. She did a lot of awesome things for me to help me get to a point where I can now do awesome things for myself.

Today, I've got a real job working at Dr. Blakely's office. I'm surrounded by wellness and life is amazing! 

The Holistic Chiropractor

By Dr. Beth Blakely

My patients often ask me why I became a chiropractor. I’ve had a lifelong interest in taking care of the body naturally. As a kid, my grandmother and father both enjoyed great success with regular visits to a chiropractor in the small town where I grew up. My dad was injured in several auto accidents and his chiropractor was the only person who really helped him. The difference it made in my father was huge. He had vision problems and all kinds of issues that were corrected with an upper cervical chiropractic technique, which is one of the techniques that I do. That’s what really pushed me into chiropractic. Here are a few other frequently asked questions.

Q: How did your interests evolve from chiropractic to also include holistic care?

A: What I’ve seen over the years is an obvious change in our environment. We’re exposed to a lot of toxic chemicals that are really affecting our immune systems and our digestive systems. I realized that for some patients, treating the spine was all they needed but there were always those few people that just didn’t seem to get well. Those were the ones that bothered me and I just felt like I had to figure out why.

Q: Can a toxic environment deplete or destroy a person’s health?

A: Absolutely! We now know that so many health issues are caused by depleted immune systems. Another area of the body I pay close attention to is the digestive system and how it affects our immune system. I saw a huge void in treatment protocol with other doctors. I’ve made that my focus so that I can tailor treatment protocols to patients and their needs.

Q: What happens during the first visit?

A: The initial visit takes about 45 minutes to an hour. I like to sit down and talk to the patient, get to know them and have a thorough understanding of everything that’s going on in their life. I have a thorough questionnaire and I request records from other facilities because most patients have been everywhere else. Unfortunately, I’m the end of the line for some people.

Q: How is your approach different from conventional medicine?

A: Conventional medicine wants to give you pills and perform surgery. I don’t want you to have to do that. I want you to get well and let your body heal on its own. I always do a thorough consultation, examination and x-rays if they’re indicated, along with the health appraisal questionnaire.

Q: What are the main things you look for when you do a holistic evaluation on a new patient?

A: There are four things I look for: 1. Undetected Nerve Damage. 2. Nutritional Deficiencies. 3. Hormonal Imbalances. 4. Toxicity. I’ve treated many people that have undetected nerve damage after they have been injured in automobile accidents. They think they’re okay, but they can suffer years down the road from the degenerative process that started with the accident.

Q: Do you offer specific help for people that are involved in auto accidents and personal injury?

A: Yes. I treat a lot of personal injury cases with great success.

Editor’s notes: Dr. Beth Blakely is a chiropractor that specializes in holistic health care practices. She can be reached at (916) 944-1444.

The Holistic Chiropractor

By Dr. Beth Blakely

My patients often ask me why I became a chiropractor. I’ve had a lifelong interest in taking care of the body naturally. As a kid, my grandmother and father both enjoyed great success with regular visits to a chiropractor in the small town where I grew up. My dad was injured in several auto accidents and his chiropractor was the only person who really helped him. The difference it made in my father was huge. He had vision problems and all kinds of issues that were corrected with an upper cervical chiropractic technique, which is one of the techniques that I do. That’s what really pushed me into chiropractic. Here are a few other frequently asked questions.

Q: How did your interests evolve from chiropractic to also include holistic care?

A: What I’ve seen over the years is an obvious change in our environment. We’re exposed to a lot of toxic chemicals that are really affecting our immune systems and our digestive systems. I realized that for some patients, treating the spine was all they needed but there were always those few people that just didn’t seem to get well. Those were the ones that bothered me and I just felt like I had to figure out why.

Q: Can a toxic environment deplete or destroy a person’s health?

A: Absolutely! We know now that so many health issues are caused by depleted immune systems. Another area of the body I pay close attention to is the digestive system and how it affects our immune system. I saw a huge void in treatment protocol with other doctors. I’ve made that my focus so that I can tailor treatment protocols to patients and their needs.

Q: What happens during the first visit?

A: The initial visit takes about 45 minutes to an hour. I like to sit down and talk to the patient, get to know them and have a thorough understanding of everything that’s going on in their life. I have a thorough questionnaire and I request records from other facilities because most patients have been everywhere else. Unfortunately, I’m the end of the line for some people.

Q: How is your approach different from conventional medicine?

A: Conventional medicine wants to give you pills and perform surgery. I don’t want you to have to do that. I want you to get well and let your body heal on its own. I always do a thorough consultation, examination and x-rays if they’re indicated, along with the health appraisal questionnaire.

Q: What are the main things you look for when you do a holistic evaluation on a new patient?

A: There are four things I look for: 1. Undetected Nerve Damage. 2. Nutritional Deficiencies. 3. Hormonal Imbalances. 4. Toxicity. I’ve treated many people that have undetected nerve damage after they have been injured in automobile accidents. They think they’re okay, but they can suffer years down the road from the degenerative process that started with the accident.

Q: Do you offer specific help for people that are involved in auto accidents and personal injury?

A: Yes. I treat a lot of personal injury cases with great success.

Editor’s notes: Dr. Beth Blakely is a chiropractor that specializes in holistic health care practices. She can be reached at (916) 944-1444.