Kid-friendly Chiropractic

by Will Forrester 

If you do your research online you’ll quickly find out that Dr. Ranicki is imminently qualified to do great chiropractic work with children, with years of pediatric training and experience, he knows his stuff. I would like to add my own voice to this conversation – as a parent of three young children, I have experienced first-hand how “kid-friendly” the entire Ranicki Wellness organization is. Let’s face it, modern parents are picky. When we enter an environment, our antenna is up to see if the environment is safe and clean for our children. Which is why one of the most frequent phrases out of my mouth when I’m travelling with my children and we make a bathroom stop is, “Don’t touch anything.” You know what I mean. 

My family has been a part of the Ranicki Chiropractic family for almost three years, and the environment they have created is consistently flawless and perfect for children. The look and feel is incredible. It is always peaceful, inviting, and clean. You generally do not have to wait more than a couple minutes for an adjustment, but while you wait or while you are being adjusted, they have a huge shelf of wonderful books for children of all ages. There is a perfect little kid’s table with puzzles that my children always gravitate towards. But, as you know, most children have an attention span of only a few minutes depending on their age, so next they wander over to the huge, beautiful aquarium which is always stocked with beautiful, colorful tropical fish. They even have this little wooden stool that every child I have ever seen in there climbs so he or she can see the fish up close. And I cannot reiterate enough, if I have a crawler (which I do), I have absolutely no concern about letting her crawl throughout the facility, because you can just tell it is completely clean and safe for her. It’s rare that I feel that way in a public space. 

But the “Kid-friendly” goes way beyond the environment. It is something Dr. Ranicki and his staff embody. They know how to greet and meet children on their level and make them feel special. He even has an adjustment table just for children that is a fire truck. My girls LOVE it! Whether you are a veteran to chiropractic care or are just considering it for the first time, you will be so thrilled at how your children will feel at ease when they get adjusted. I’ve shared elsewhere how effective the care we have received for our children has been at Ranicki Chiropractic, but I hope you’ll also explore all the other wellness options for children that are available for your family. Whether you are experiences developmental milestone difficulties, troubles with emotions, or are potentially facing diagnoses along the autism spectrum, we have staff and programs that can be tailored to specifically meet your family’s needs. When we say we are “kid friendly” we mean that, and we mean all kids. We have seen even the most difficult situations improve not just slightly but significantly. We hope you’ll stop by for yourself and see how we can take your family to the next level of wellness and overall happiness in life!

Time to Grease Up With Carcinogens!

by Will Forrester 

Well, summer is upon us, and for a lot of us that means hitting the pool or the beach whenever we get the chance! Our family has three small children, so an added bonus for us is when we take our kids swimming they SLEEP BETTER! Time outside during summer is truly one of life’s joys. 

But in recent decades we have all been inundated with news reports that our time outside comes with a price on our skin. Most of our parents didn’t grow up using sunscreen, starting getting skin cancer or pre-cancerous spots, and started taking action. My mom was diagnosed with melanoma as a young adult, so I was raised in a home that used sunscreen religiously. And none of that suntanning oil stuff. Only the best and highest SPF for us. So I’ve always been a big believer in sunscreen. 

So I was personally outraged to learn what you may have been hearing in the news... that many, many of the most popular sunscreens on the market actually cause... skin cancer. For years now, in an attempt to prevent skin cancer, I have been unknowingly rubbing carcinogens all over my body. Oh, and I’ve also found the spray sunscreens that apply so easily a great option for my kids. Turns out... they are some of the worst offenders! I have been spraying carcinogens on my own children. 

As with most issues these days, there is a wide variety of opinion on the efficacy of using sunscreen and how much time is healthy to be in the sun. We know there are numerous health benefits from sunlight exposure that can get reduced by using sunscreen. We also know we don’t want to get burned up, and if you’re a parent the last thing you want is to see your son or daughter in pain because of a bad sunburn. Before you go out again for your next family outing or time working in the yard, I would highly recommend you get out the sunscreen you’re using, read the label, and do some research online. This article has tons of great information on which sunscreens to avoid as well as other tips for managing sun exposure. With the “exposure” this issue has been getting lately in the media, I have found some natural sunscreens have been very hard to purchase because people are already tossing the more harmful stuff they have in their beach bags. 

As always, we are constantly learning from our collective mistakes as a human species. We probably still have more to learn about this issue as well, but for now, it is critical that you do your own homework and come up with a plan for staying healthy this summer, which includes getting some good sunlight on your skin! 

A few basic suggestions before your next time spent basking in the sun: 

• Read up online about the harmful effects of sunscreens

• If you’re going to use sunscreen, find a safe, natural option

• If you’re going to forgo sunscreen, consider building up your skin’s exposure over time and early in the season

• Keep in mind the general principle that our bodies are designed to be healthy and thrive without outside chemical interference. 

• Schedule a wellness visit with Dr. Ranicki to learn more about how you can maintain overall health and wellness this summer and year round! 

I want my kids to have an absolute blast at the pool all summer. I also want them to avoid chemotherapy down the road. 

Back Surgery or Chiropractic Care?
Dr. Ranicki 

There seem to be two paths that people choose to take when they battle chronic back problems. Some people choose chiropractic care, and others choose a medicinal and surgical approach. 

The chiropractic path: Some people see a chiropractor and their symptoms are largely relieved. Others find they need to come back for occasional or routine adjustment to deal with problematic places in their spine. 

The surgical/medical path: Other people begin taking medicine to mask the symptoms and dull the pain of back problems. Over time they generally have to take more and more medicine, then they begin getting steroid injections, and finally they begin having surgeries. Often, one operation is not enough. The question you may have is... Can I change paths? Once I’ve gone down the medical/surgical path, can I jump paths to seeing a chiropractor? Will that really work or help at all? The answer is yes. Absolutely. Chiropractic care can be very beneficial in helping to prevent further back problems, even if you have already had surgery or even multiple back surgeries. In fact, chiropractic care can help heal from surgery and can even prevent or reduce the need to have more surgery down the road. 


A few points you need to consider if you’re considering chiropractic care after surgery: 

• If you’ve had a fusion, you will need care just above and below the fusion site. This is because they will move too much to compensate for the fused joint. Without good chiropractic care around the surgical site (using a low force technique), often people wind up having to get more fusions, sometimes all the way up and down the spine. 

• You need a chiropractor who takes and reads x-rays as part of routine care. Be wary of getting chiropractic care after surgery that does not use and read x-rays. They need to be able to see exactly what hardware has been installed and where. 

• Chiropractic is also very beneficial in the days immediately after your operation to aid in healing. Because chiropractic helps reduce and remove subluxations, your body will be better able to heal itself and fight off possible infections which is critically important after invasive back surgery. A well-trained chiropractor knows how to use low-force techniques so that the back can properly heal while still getting helpful adjustments. 


If you haven’t had surgery yet: If you go see a surgeon, chances are you are going to be told that you need surgery. If that’s you and you’re weighing which path to take, why not keep all your options open by scheduling an evaluation with Dr. Ranicki? We have helped numerous people who were told they “have to have surgery” solve the problem they were experiencing and eliminate the need for back surgery. We see this all the time. By all means, we encourage you to get a medical evaluation from a qualified back doctor, but please do see us as well so we can help you see other routes to health. 

If you’ve already had surgery: We cannot stress highly enough how critical it is that you consider maintaining your back after surgery which chiropractic adjustments. Even though your back may feel somewhat better after surgery, chances are it may be weakened over the long haul, so why not do yourself and your back a favor by getting it fine-tuned so you can hopefully avoid further problems? 

Perhaps you are convinced this back surgery is all you will need, but so was everyone else, until things got worse again and they were back for yet another operation. It doesn’t have to be that way. If you don’t like the path you’re on, why not take a new one? We are here to help.

Welcome to the Allergy Belt

“Are you sick?” 

“Oh, not really. It’s just these allergies.” 

Did you know that there is a simple, homeopathic method to possibly alleviate some of your allergy symptoms if you are a person who is overly bothered by the pollen? Honey. But not just any honey. It needs to be local. And it matters when it was harvested. Before going any further with this possible remedy for your symptoms, it is important that we do a little thinking about this. We are all breathing the same air around here. Some people are bothered by the pollen and some are not as much. People who are reacting to the pollen in the air do not have a honey deficit or a medicine deficit. Their body is just overreacting to pollen and treating it like it were a germ. The good news is that there are lots of treatments out there to help your body learn to recognize pollen better and not get thrown off so badly that you are wiped out with “allergies.” Chiropractic, acupuncture, probiotics, and other techniques can help your body recognize the difference between pollen and germs over the long term. 

But in the meantime, or if your reactions to pollen remain severe, you may want to try taking some local honey, since it is made with pollen, and introducing it to our bodies does help to alleviate allergies in a lot of people. The key is to be able to find out exactly when the honey was harvested. You want to take honey that was made with the same pollen you are affected by. So if you experience pollen allergy symptoms most severely in March and April, you would want to consume honey that was harvested around May of the previous year, and you would want to begin taking it before the onset of symptoms, maybe around February. So get to know your local honey seller so you can find out exactly when and where the honey was harvested. We love the folks over at Polk’s if you want to give them a try! 

And of course, if you’re not working on getting healthier in general, your body is going to have more reactions to more stressors, so it’s a good idea to begin getting chiropractic care for your general health. You’d be surprised how much less the pollen will bother you when your immune system is working optimally! Why not set up a wellness evaluation with us so we can get you on the road to optimal health this week?

Confessions of a Chiropractic Skeptic
By Will Forrester

I’ll never forget my first appointment with Dr. Ranicki. As I’ve mentioned before, I came in with severe sciatic pain. I was hurting and I was desperate for help. And I was a chiropractic skeptic. 

I had internal defenses up a mile high in my mind. It was like I was looking for something to not go well, for someone to say something I disagreed with so that I could say, “See, this chiropractic care is nonsense. It’s a rip off.” Instead, the office was pleasantly decorated, and the staff was out of this world. The place had a very calm, soothing feel. They offered me a bottle of water, had me sit down to watch a video with some information about chiropractic, and asked me to fill out an intake questionnaire. 

As I’m watching the video, I’m still skeptical. Then at some point, they ask me what my goals are for my chiropractic care. Do I want to have Good Health, Great Health, or Optimum Health? Now my skepticism really rises up. Now I see they’re plan. They’re trying to manipulate me into signing up for some regimen that I don’t need or want. What person is going to honestly say they only want to settle for good or great health? Of course I’m going to say “optimum,” and then they’re going to sell me on some long term commitment I’ll never get out of. Right? 

But there was no manipulation. Yes, I admitted I wanted optimum health, and Dr. Ranicki explained what type of care I might need (and also what lifestyle changes I would need to consider as well). I didn’t feel pressure, but I did sense that Dr. Ranicki genuinely cared that I get the very best health and wellness care I could possibly get. 

It took some time for my mind to absorb the difference that chiropractic care could make for me. How it wasn’t just about cracking bones but about improving my central nervous system and removing subluxations. How it was designed to help with more than just leg, neck, and back pain. I didn’t become sold on the program overnight. But I’m so thankful today that my leg pain was worse than my skepticism and hesitancy. Pain can be a great motivator, and it pushed me to at least come back for a few visits and see if this deal could work. 

Why do I bring up how skeptical I was at my first visit do Ranicki Chiropractic? When I was looking for any exit I could find to get out of there? I bring it up because it’s been more than two years now, and while I’m not sure I’ve hit optimal health just yet, I think I’m pretty close. I feel so great most of the time now! This skeptic has become a regular. I still see Dr. Ranicki regularly as part of my ongoing care so that I stay healthy rather than get sick and in chronic pain again. I wouldn’t think of missing my appointment each week so that I stay healthy and feel energized and alive. 

But if you are a skeptic like I was—if you’ve clicked over to this blog and are considering your options but are just unsure—it’s okay. Be skeptical. It’s a good thing to use your mind, toweigh the facts, to consider what path is best. Just don’t be so skeptical that you don’t do your own investigation. Maybe you’ve heard this quote from Herbert Spencer, which definitely applied to me before giving chiropractic care a fair hearing: "There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance—that principle is contempt prior to investigation."

If you’re in need of help with your back, neck, sciatic pain, whatever – why not give chiropractic care an honest evaluation? Come in for an assessment and see if Dr. Ranicki and his team can’t 
take you to better health. Maybe even optimum health.

Is it really better to enjoy the sun and not use a sunscreen? Study say says yes! Suntanning on a daily basis without sunscreen is better than shielding yourself from the life giving sun. Watch and listen to Dr. Ranicki as he explains why the study makes sense and changes the way you think about the sun.

4 Ways You Can Get Rid of Back Pain… without injections or surgery! Part 2

I hope you tried out the suggestions for helping your back pain in the previous post. Those are just two suggestions, and no, I imagine they haven’t completely taken away your pain yet, but I do hope you’ve given them both a sustained, honest effort. To get long term relief from back pain, you must, must, MUST become less sedentary and reduce chemical stress on your body. Now for two more great suggestions that will help you get rid of back pain without surgery:

3. Let pain do its job. 
One very simple way to help get rid of your back pain is to actually feel your back pain. Stop ignoring it, and for goodness’ sake stop numbing it. Pain is an important gift. Pain is not “weakness leaving the body.” Pain is your body telling you what should be obvious: Something is wrong! Stop. If it hurts to stand or sit that way, then move around. Get up. Adjust. If it hurts to walk that fast, slow down a bit, but keep walking. We live in a stressed out culture, and we also live in an attention-deficitculture. We have all been trained to multitask and run around like crazy people, trying to do too much. You may have too much on your plate and there’s nothing you can do about that for now. But if you’re going to get rid of your back pain, you are going to have to start paying attention to your pain. Notice it. Feel it. Listen to your body. 

If you’re taking a lot of pain medicine or anti-inflammatories, I am going to make a counterintuitive suggestion. Cut back or quit taking that stuff entirely. If you can’t feel the pain, that doesn’t mean that your back is fine. It just means you can’t feel it. So it means you’re probably further aggravating theproblematic areas. So then the next day you take more medicine. Instead of numbing it out, I challenge you to allow your pain to do its job for two weeks. Your body has the ability to make adjustments if you will just give it the chance. 

4. Get an evaluation from a chiropractor. 
While all of the above is very good and necessary, if you have serious back problems, your back may be in a position where it will not be able to simple correct itself. Months or years to too much sitting, slouching, bad sleep habits, carrying too much weight, and add to that a few tweaks here and there take their toll. But there really is great, wonderful news. For decades now chiropractors have been offering a method of bringing the spine into alignment which is documented to bring significant and often total relief to back pain of all kinds. 

Sadly, many people believe that traiditional medicine is the only route to getting help for back pain. So they follow the trajectory of taking medicine, then steroid injections, and then they begin having surgeries. Many people who take steroid injections or have had costly and sometimes ineffective surgeries are shocked when the learn that the problematic sites in their back could have been relieved by regular chiropractic care. 

If you are facing taking injections or are considering back surgery, do your own homework for sure, but please stop by Ranicki Chiropractic and Wellness Center, or if you’re not in our area, give us a call and we’ll gladly help you find a quality chiropractor or tell you what to look for. I know you are tired of the pain. It really is possible to get healing and relief for the pain, to feel yourself again, and to work and play the way you want to. Before you go under the knife, why not give us a call or stop by and make an appointment for an evaluation.

4 Ways You Can Get Rid of Back Pain… Without injections or surgery!

Most people at some point battle back pain at some point, whether it’s for a short period of time or something chronic. Back pain makes people miserable. It makes work less fun, and even worse, it can make play less fun! 

Maybe you’ve tried taking pain killers or anti-inflammatories with little to no results, and you’re wondering if getting an injection will help. Maybe it’s even so bad you’re actually considering surgery. I get it. We just want the pain to go away. 

The problem, which I’ve written about before, is that medicine and injections only serve to numb pain 
from problematic sites in the back. The really, really great news is that there are simple, (relatively) easy ways to actually get rid of your back pain… without medicine. Without injections. Without surgery. 

1. Stand more, sit less. 
If you’re battling back pain, I dare you to try this for one week. Just quit sitting so much. Being sedentary puts enormous amounts of stress on your back which you were not designed to bear. Thousands of years ago our ancestors would have rarely sat the way we do. They would have walked most of the time, and they likely squatted when they ate their meals. Now, I am not suggesting you necessarily take up squatting at your next dinner function! But think about it: How much of your day do you spend sitting? Most people sit after waking up, enjoying their breakfast or coffee. Then they get in their car and sit while they head to work or school. Then they sit behind a desk or in front of a screen all day. Then they sit in their car on the way home. Then they come home and do what? Sit. 

If a good portion of your day is done sitting, take a minute to think about how you might be able to change those patterns. Could you walk during your lunch break instead of sitting the whole hour? Could you get a cordless phone for work and walk while you talk, if your work allows that? If not, could you take more frequent “standing breaks” right at your desk? Our bodies were not meant to be sedentary. We were made to move! If you’ll resolve to become a person who stands and moves and walks more, you’ll be amazed at how your back will begin to say, “Thank you!” 

2. Stop drinking soda. 

What does soda have to do with back pain? Do those fuzzy bubbles get lodged in there somehow? Well, no, not really. It’s not the bubbles that are the problem. It’s the chemicals. Back pain happens 
because there is stress on your back. But there are all sorts of stressors that affect our body. One way to give your body a chance to heal and repair itself so you’ll feel less back pain is by removing unneeded stress from your life. Have you ever had just a bad, emotionally stressful day? Ever felt back pain because of it? Because stress is stress. Mental and emotional stress can cause physical stress on the system. 

When you eat or drink stuff that let’s be honest more than likely came from a chemical lab than from the good earth, you are putting stuff in your body that your body was not designed to process. So when you consume lots of chemicals, that is a form of stress on your body which your body then has to deal with. If you’re hurting bad enough to read this far, wouldn’t it be worth it to give your body a break? Maybe you can’t just make the stress from your family or your job go away overnight, but you know what you can do? You can start drinking more water and less stuff with chemicals in it. We live in one of the most stressed out cultures in human history.


If you’re going to get better, you have got to be your body’s best friend and start removing chemical stressors from your system. A wonderful side benefit to cutting out soda or other artificial food and drink is that you will likely lose some weight which will also help your back pain tremendously! I was going to make this post FIVE things you can do to help back pain and make one of them “Lose Weight,” but none of us wants to be told to lose weight, right? So forget about losing weight for now. Just cut out the soda and see what happens.