Sprout Chiropractic

If you are a parent who is feeling stressed about your child's health, perhaps the next step to consider is chiropractic care. It's tough to see our kids dealing with symptoms, but it doesn't have to stay that way forever!🌱

If you want to know if seeing a pediatric chiropractor would help your baby or child, send me a message! If for some reason it wouldn't, I will do my best to help you find the resources you need.🤗

We love a happy report from parents after their baby gets checked and adjusted!🤗

Hello!👋 If you're new here, welcome!

I'm Dr. Morgan, owner of Sprout Chiropractic.🌱

Sprout is a membership practice serving women and their families.

I specialize in perinatal and pediatric chiropractic care, and love taking care of families as they grow.

I created a course called Prepare For Your Postpartum for expecting mothers to put a plan in place for their postpartum healing and recovery.

I am a wife and mom of 5.

I love reading, coffee, chocolate, plants, and time spent outside.

If you hang out on this page, you'll find all things chiropractic, motherhood, and whatever health topics are on the forefront of my mind.

Glad you're here🤗

One of the unique aspects of Sprout is our membership plan for our clients. We love having this option, especially for the families that are a part of our practice!🌱

A lot is happening! So why see a chiropractor now?

The basic principle of chiropractic adjustment is to find where there are areas of tension in your nervous system and help the tension decrease.

When this happens, there is an improvement in the communication between your brain and your body.

There is better awareness of what changes are happening in your body as your baby grows.

Ready to get started? Get a discount off your New Patient appointment for December!

Let’s talk about all the ways chiropractic support can help during pregnancy!
So many clients report more achiness and stiffness in their body, especially in their hips and low back.
Headaches, constipation, increased susceptibility to getting sick, round ligament pain, muscle cramping, dizziness, skin changes, heartburn, and increased urination are just a few more of the common symptoms women experience.

Clients report that they feel better when getting adjusted regularly. Their achiness and stiffness usually decreases and in most cases goes away. Sleep improves. Digestion improves. Headaches decrease. Round ligament pain decreases. Heartburn may improve.

Do you see the trend here? As your brain continues to communicate more clearly, your body function improves, and you feel better.

Did you see a chiropractor during pregnancy? What was your experience?

Chiropractic might feel a little scary to a kiddo who has never been adjusted before! One of the best ways to help them get familiar with chiropractic so they are more comfortable with adjustments is to follow your lead, Mama ♥️

Bring them along to your next adjustment so they can watch how great it is! They may ask questions or just quietly observe. Maybe they climb on the table or want to check out the tools. Some kids can even be a little protective of mom and just stare us practitioners down 😉

All of it is welcome!

I encourage my clients to be mindful of helping their children see it as a fun, feel-good experience and for many children, a slow introduction is best!

How did your kids feel about chiropractic at first? Drop your stories below! We love to hear them 😍

I love hearing from parents the different things they notice about their kiddos post-adjustment!

One of my favorites was this comment from a dad who noticed a change after their baby's first visit, and it wasn't what they were originally coming into the office for!

Mom had booked an appointment to see how chiropractic care could help their breastfeeding struggles, and in addition to the baby's latch improving, Dad noticed that their baby seemed taller, and in his words, "more stretched out".😄

The reason this change occurred is because of the release of tension in the baby's body after getting adjusted.

No longer was he curled up as tightly, with his shoulders close to his ears and keeping his hips flexed (can you feel the relaxation in your own body when you read that? I can!)

His little body had given a sigh of relief and relaxed, which resulted in looking like he had an increase in his height!

Chiropractic care didn't make him grow taller in a span of a couple days, but it did allow his body to relax so that he could stretch out to his true size, in addition to making his breastfeeding journey with his Mom easier! Win-win!

For the month of December I’m taking on new clients at a discounted rate! DM me or head to the link in my bio to book 💛

Expecting a baby in 2024? In addition to preparing for your baby's birth, remember to plan for your healing and recovery postpartum!🤱

The Prepare for Your Postpartum course is 7 modules with self paced videos, a work book, guest practitioners, and supplemental resources. Each module covers a basic principle of postpartum: rest, nutrition, bodywork, movement, and community.

Whether it is your first, your fifth, your tenth baby, use the framework from this course to put a plan in place so that you the mother get the care you need!🤍

When it comes to your body and your healing, there are two things I know for certain: healing is NOT linear and healing requires time. This can be frustrating, especially if it feels like you are reverting backwards in your health journey and always landing back at square one.

Our bodies are complex organisms. If a pattern of health has been present for a long time (years, decades) it can take a long time for it to change and resolve. If you have had the same eating habits for years, the same movement habits, the same job, experienced the same toxic relationship, the same emotional struggles, the same financial struggles, for days, months, years, it is absolutely going to take TIME to heal.

You may feel change immediately after one adjustment, but it is going to take time to fully change your neurological pattern of your body. Like it was said at the beginning, healing is also not linear. You'll have good days and you'll have great days, and you will also have bad and terrible days. That is a part of life. The biggest key here is that you remain CONSISTENT with whatever healthier habits you are implementing. Are you getting adjusted regularly? Are you going to bed at the time you said you would? Are you moving your body on a daily basis? Are you eating the nourishing food that your body needs? This list goes on and on.

Healing takes time. But it may take less time the more consistent you are with your actions. And what do you have control over at the end of the day? Your actions. You ultimately get to decide how you are going to show up in each season of your life.

Ready to get started on your healing journey? Get $50 off your initial assessment on December!
DM or head to sproutchiromt.com to book

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!🦃🤗

If you're interested in birth stories, then this blog is for you!

My fifth baby joined our family on Sunday Oct 8th. That's him oh-so-cutely yawning above :)

He was born at 41 weeks and 2 days gestation, and let me tell you, the week before he was born was the longest, strangest week of my life.

I worked until the 40 week mark, which was Friday Sept 29th. That weekend I attended a retreat for mothers put on by my church, which was great for distracting my mind and also for connecting with other mothers. I had made it to my two goals: work until my scheduled maternity leave and attend the mothers camp.

Read more about his birth story on the blog at www.sproutchiromt.com

I'll be back in the office starting Wednesday November 29th - yay!

My office hours will be the same as they were prior to maternity leave, with the exception of Mondays. I am taking a break from house call appointments for the winter and plan to add these hours back in starting in March.

The schedule will look as follows: Mondays 4:00 pm to 7:30 pm, Wednesdays 2:00 pm to 5:30 pm, and Fridays 10:00 am to 1:30 pm.

I will have a little visitor in the office for a while - my baby! I ask that you give us grace as we readjust to being back at work and navigate around feeding schedules, nap time, and childcare.

If you have a family member who is interested in starting chiropractic care, Sprout is running a New Client Invite for the month of December. Those who book in between Dec 1st and Dec 31st will get $50 off of their initial assessment, bringing the price from $145 to $95. You can book through the link in my bio or DM me for the direct link.

If you have not gotten on the schedule for when I get back, be sure to book in before the holidays!

I look forward to seeing you all again! I hope your holiday season is off to a great start as well!

Infants use these reflexes for survival, to eat and to attempt to stay close to their caregiver. Gradually, these reflexes will seem to go away. What is really happening is the baby's brain is integrating these reflexes and bringing more complicated reflexes on board, that will help the baby continue to adapt to the world around them, as they begin to roll, crawl, and walk and navigate their environment in an upright manner.

If your baby is under the age of 2, they will be checked for primitive reflexes at their initial assessment with Dr. Morgan. If a child over the age of 2 is indicating they may have an unintegrated primitive reflex, then they will also be checked. Indicators may be things like difficulty concentrating in school, experiencing bed wetting, and W sitting. Your child will be given exercises to do at home that will help these reflexes get integrated properly. Once their brain has fully done so, between the combination of chiropractic care and exercise, we usually see the child's symptoms improve. This indicates neurological development and advancement has happened.

One simple trick to try at home is to test for the palmar grasp reflex. Take something like a small paintbrush and run it across each palm. If the sensation makes your fingers twitch or makes your hand feel itchy, this can indicate you have a retained grasp reflex. The integrate this, you would start out running the brush across your palm a few times a day and work up to 10 times a day over the course of 30 days. This "overloads" your brain in a sense, making it become very aware of the reflex that the sensation is causing, and encourages the neurological change to integrate the reflex.

So while it may seem like a simple thing, that a baby is grabbing onto your finger, it is actually a sign of some really incredible neurological work that is occurring! If you have any questions about how this may be relevant to you or your child, ask away!

That the special mama-baby bond is even deeper than what you may realize.

There has been some recent research revealing a beautiful cellular connection between us and our babies known as microchimerism.

"Microchimerism" refers to the presence of a small number of cells from her child within a mother's body that stay with her even after she is done carrying her baby.

When you become a mother, your child becomes a part of you at a cellular level. This suggests a baby's physical and emotional experiences become imprinted on you, extending far beyond pregnancy.

How beautiful is that?

You are the healer. I am the facilitator.

It is YOUR body that does the actual healing process. You must turn inward and trust your body's innate intelligence. Trust your intuition. Relying on external sources, like your doctor, practitioner, supplements, etc, is taking you away from the source of your own internal power. Your foundation lies in your trust in your own body.

When you can trust your body's ability to heal, then everything else you do is complementary.

The keyword here is trust; a knowing on a foundational level that your body is absolute capable.

Of course, how you take care of yourself is going to affect your capability and your capacity to heal, but you need to also trust that your body can get its work done too. It's not an either/or situation, it is an and situation. You believe in your body's capabilities AND you make decisions to support your body's capabilities.

Forever chasing remedies and solutions outside of you while not trusting your body is frustrating.

How can you rebuild your trust? If you have been dealing with chronic illness, it can feel like your body has been betraying you. Trusting your intuition and your body's intelligence can be hard. It won't be an easy road, but it is a worthwhile road.

At the end of the day, my role is to support you through chiropractic care (and two listening ears:)).

I want you to know that you ARE capable of healing. You DO have the capacity within to be resilient and healthy. You ARE innately intelligent. Your body IS trustworthy.

A chiropractic adjustment isn't going to magically remove your emotional stressors (and as much as I'd like to say I wish I could, I know that there is growth to be found in moving through stress and that is a good thing for you!).

What chiropractic care IS going to do in times of emotional stress is impact the way your brain receives and sends information about the stressor.

Research shows changes in brain function in an area called the prefrontal cortex after a chiropractic adjustment.

This area is largely responsible for things like planning, decision making, executive function, and personality.

If we can positively impact this area of the brain during a time of stress, it is going to positively impact how YOU show up in your life.

It isn't going to take away the pain of the heavy and hard emotions, but it will hopefully help that emotional resiliency of yours to continue to show up, even when the going gets tough.

And know that at the end of the day, I am always willing to lend a listening ear to whatever is going on. Sharing the burden can be incredibly therapeutic when life has put a lot of emotional stress on your plate.

Maybe it comes as no surprise to you that emotions can be stressful.

But do you know just how much of an impact it can have on your health?

I will ask clients when they come in complaining of xyz symptom how their stress levels are.

Very often they will be describing something very physical that is occurring - migraines, digestive issues, difficulty sleeping, stiff lower back, etc - and through our conversation I will find out that oh, their in-laws are in town, or that they are having some conflict in their marriage, or that they just found out about an unexpected bill that is due, and so on.

These other emotionally-stressful events will be triggering a physical response in their body.

So while maybe one night recently they did "sleep wrong" or had some other physical stress occur, like heavy lifting or yardwork, in my mind the likely culprit of their physical symptoms are their emotional stressors.

How do you resolve the emotional stress? It can be tricky! Especially if the stress is involving other people in your life.

The biggest thing that YOU can work on is your emotional resiliency. No, this isn't a tough it out situation, or sweep things under the rug so you don't have to address it.

Emotional resiliency comes in when you recognize your emotions, acknowledge your emotions, and figure out what thoughts are triggering those emotions in the first place. Awareness of your self is a key piece to emotional resiliency.

The conversations you have with a chiropractor who focuses on the nervous system will be about your stressors, in addition to your symptoms. Yes, we will talk about what is bothering you at each visit, but we will also talk about what stress is on your plate.

There often is a correlation between flare ups of symptoms and increased stress loads.

Keep in mind that stressors can come in many shapes and forms, whether it is physical (big things like sports injuries or car accidents, or small things like daily posture), chemical (the quality of your food and water, the air, your cleaning and beauty products), and mental (emotional, financial stress, relationships, jobs).

Symptoms are your body's way of communicating to you that something isn't right. Your brain-body communication (the nervous system) determines how well your body functions.

Your brain controls literally everything in your body. How well your body functions determines how well you feel aka presence or absence of symptoms. If there is a breakdown in communication in the nervous system, between your brain and your body, dysfunction will occur.

If dysfunction is present, this will lead to symptoms popping up.

Nervous system based chiropractic helps to restore communication in the nervous system for optimal function.

A chiropractor who is interested in the wellbeing of your nervous system will do tests to that specifically assess the nervous system.

In my office, I do a series of tests called INSiGHT scans.

These three scans - muscle EMG, thermal scan, and heart rate variability - measure how efficiently the nervous system is functioning.

The muscle EMG scan measures how much energy is being used in your body by your postural muscles.

The thermal scan measures how efficiently your brain is communicating with your organs, blood vessels, and glands.

The heart rate variability measures your body's ability to adapt to stress, also known as your resiliency.

It is based on the results of this scans coupled with your health goals that I make my recommendations for care.

The scans tell us where your bodily function is at and your health goals tell us where you want to go.

The chiropractic care, along with other health decisions you make outside of the office, bridges the gap between where you are and where you want to be.

Mama and baby go through a transformational experience at birth and both bodies need TLC once baby is Earthside.

If your baby is experiencing any of the following, it may be a sign they need a nervous system based chiropractic visit;

Tummy Issues (this could be colic, reflux, constipation, or other tummy stuff)

Irritability

Breastfeeding Challenges

Frequent Illness

Gentle chiropractic adjustments help to restore nervous system function from the brain to the circulatory, digestive, respiratory, hormonal, elimination, and immune systems allowing healing to naturally occur in your little one.

Have you tried chiropractic care for your kiddos?

Reviews like these 🥹
My pregnancy and postpartum experience showed me that women deserve better - deserve better care, deserve better options, deserve better support during their transition into motherhood, regardless if it was their first, fifth, tenth time having a baby.
I have dedicated my career to learning as much as I can about pregnancy, birth, postpartum, and beyond. Because truly, on the day your baby is born, you also are being born as a mother. And you deserve the best care and support during your motherhood journey.

To all my fellow mamas out there, find care providers who support YOU.

Giving birth is no cakewalk for mom, as we all well know. But we often overlook how traumatic being born is for the star of the show- the baby!😊

Whether your baby is born vaginally or via Cesarean, chiropractic care can support their brain&body in the transition from womb to the new world.

Gentle checks and corrections in your baby’s spine can help to ease tension and strain, as well as correct nerve problems that may have occurred during their big entrance.

Stiffness, arching, fussing with tummy time, spitting up, and constipation are just a few signs that your baby's body is feeling the strain from birth, and could benefit from the care a chiropractor can provide!👐

Let’s talk tongue ties!

Seems like tongue ties are on everyone's radar these days!

My thoughts regarding tethered oral tissues (TOTs) aka ties:

-if your child has been diagnosed with a tie and you are thinking to get a release done, please consider getting bodywork pre and post-release, whether it is chiropractic care, craniosacral, myofunctional therapy, etc

-the tension in the mouth from the tied tissues isn't only in the mouth, it is present in the midline of the body as well, and bodywork can unwind some of this tension

-unwinding this tension can create a situation where possibly not so much tissue needs to be lasered (and therefore less needs to heal)

-sometimes, this can help the tied tissues to become more functional and a release can be avoided

-if a release is the route you plan to go, please consider a practitioner who uses a laser

-clipping the tissue has a tendency to lead to reattachment of the tissue and poorer outcomes

-there are times and places for surgical intervention, and sometimes a release is the best thing for a child!

We are so excited to announce that the newest addition to the Kumplua family has officially made his entrance into the world!

The days are getting chillier, and along with it, our daylight hours are waning. I am half excited, half not entirely ready for cold winter weather! You might notice this change in season has an impact on your sleep and energy cycles. A few posts back I talked about the infradian rhythm, and how a female’s cycle differs from a male’s. Keep this in mind as we talk about the changes in circadian rhythm moving into the fall and winter seasons.

What is your circadian rhythm? It is a response cycle within your body that is tuned into light and dark signals. As we approach morning, and it gets lighter outside, our bodies will naturally tune into this and become more wakeful. In the evening, as it gets darker, our bodies will again tune into this and become more sleepy.

As we move into fall and winter, you may notice shifts in your energy levels. That is perfectly normal! However, due to electricity and artificial lighting, we are able to create an environment that continues to signal to our brain that we don’t have to go to sleep yet, and that there is still enough “daylight” to continue working. I am by no means arguing against electricity (thank goodness it exists!!) but it is interesting to note how our primitive brains will still try to default to the light of the sun as opposed to the artificial light in our homes and workplaces.

When you take a step back and view the season of fall as a whole, as opposed to the daily rhythm, it is considered a time of harvesting, a time of settling in, a time of preparing for winter. Then when winter arrives, it is a time of hibernating, a time of resting, a time of enjoying the fruits of your labors from the past year. Given this rise and fall in energy throughout the year (spring = planting and starting new life, summer = focusing on growing, fall = harvesting, winter = resting), it is also no wonder that you will feel this change.

🍁 Our bodies are cyclical

There are seasons for everything.

What is your body asking if you right now?

If you haven't read it, I just posted a new blog on this wonderful (and colorful) season of fall and how the waning daylight affects our bodies. When you take a step back and view the season of fall as a whole, as opposed to the daily rhythm, it is considered a time of harvesting, a time of settling in, a time of preparing for winter. Then when winter arrives, it is a time of hibernating, a time of resting, a time of enjoying the fruits of your labors from the past year. Given this rise and fall in energy throughout the year (spring = planting and starting new life, summer = focusing on growing, fall = harvesting, winter = resting), it is also no wonder that you will feel this change.

As I was thinking about this topic, and considering what my overarching point of this blog is, it came down to this: our bodies are cyclical. There are seasons for everything. It is normal to have times of higher energy levels, to have more clarity and capacity to take on projects, to fill yourself up in external ways like social activities or traveling. It is also normal to have times of lower energy levels, making rest a priority, and spending more time with things that quietly fill up your cup.

Read more of the blog at www.sproutchiromt.com/post/waning-daylight-and-your-body-s-rhythm

Meet one of the guest practitioners from my new course, Prepare For Your Postpartum, Shaira Dossey, Health and Nutrition Coach

"My name is Shaira and I'm a wife, mom, and follower of Jesus. Because of my son's cancer journey, and other family members and friends who have been affected by cancer, I've made it a lifestyle to be more intentional about what we consume and put in our bodies. Food IS medicine and it has the ability to heal us all the way down to our DNA and influence our genetics.
By educating and guiding others to a healthier lifestyle that they can apply and love, it is my hope to reduce the risk of disease and chronic illnesses for our family's children and everyone else's and teach others to live in a constant state of self-improvement and growth. Utilizing what I learned in IIN, I found freedom from anxiety, depression, and OCD, and was able to increase my son’s success in recovery from chemo.
It is now my passion to help other moms balance life, motherhood, and wellness so they can do the same: take care of themselves, set up a foundation of health for their families, and thrive in motherhood. With my knowledge, we will co-create completely personalized actions based on your goals to move you toward your ideal vision of health within your unique body, lifestyle, preferences, and resources."

Shaira Dossey, INHC, Nutritionist
Shaira Dossey

Don't forget, Prepare For Your Postpartum is only $50 through the end of the month using the code BABYMONTH! Head to the link in my bio to sign up and get access right away!