Lighthuis Chiro- Pella

10/09/2025

What is colic really?

Many see colic as a diagnosis for a baby who has long periods of crying, reddened face, clenched fists and reflux. However, this is not the full story.

Colic is a symptom just like reddened face, clenched fists and reflux. The symptom of colic is a signal of a deeper root issue.

A nervous system stuck in fight/flight is the root of the colic, clenched fists, and long periods of crying. They are all signals saying the baby's nervous system is stuck in a tense, highly stressed state.

Prenatal stress has been shown to determine the stressed state of baby once born. If mom had large amounts of prenatal stress, including a traumatic birth, baby will also have large amounts of stress stuck in their system.

Those stressors cause interference within the nervous system's communication pathways. Interference results in missed or improper communication being sent through the nerves.

The colic, reddened face, clenched face and long periods of crying are the result of the missed or improper communication occurring within the nervous system.

Removing the interference and restoring proper communication within the nervous system will change your baby from being colicky to calm and relaxed.

If you know of someone who has a colicky baby, share this post with them!

09/18/2025

Find us this weekend at the Baby Fair!! We are so excited to share about the importance of chiropractic care during pregnancy and for infants at this event. Stop by our booth to enter to win our giveaway full of goodies with the star of the show being a ✨complementary new patient appointment!

Baby Fair this Saturday!
You're invited to Pella Regional’s Baby Fair — a free, come-and-go event for new parents, grandparents, and caregivers. The first 65 attendees receive a free goodie bag full of baby care items and resources!

📅 Saturday, Sept. 20
🕘 9–11 a.m.
📍 404 Jefferson St., Pella

✔️ Tour the Family Birthing Center
✔️ Talk with local experts
✔️ Learn about newborn care, safety & more
🎁 First 65 guests get a free goodie bag!
🎉 Enter to win a Graco Pack 'n Play!

More info: www.pellahealth.org/babyfair

08/22/2025

Last week Dr. Maddy had the privilege to serve her community by providing free sports physicals to any kid who will be participating in a school activity. We are so thankful for partners like Crossroads of Pella who put on events like this.

06/07/2025

A great opening night to the summer!

06/06/2025

We had an absolute blast last night at Thursdays in Pella!

Mr. Bear had so many wonderful adjustments done by doctors in training.

We are so thankful for the incredible community we get to support.

Keep an eye out for the next time Mr. Bear will appear at Thursdays in Pella!

06/03/2025

Second Trimester

Baby is developing and growing exponentially.

The second trimester of pregnancy consists of the developmental weeks 13-28.

It is truly incredible when we think about the unique ways baby is changing and growing.

We cannot forget about the growing changes also seen in mom. During the second trimester, moms begin to "pop" and the body starts to shift drastically to make room for baby to grow.

This is when low back pain, sciatica, stiffness of muscles, acid reflux and so many more common but not normal symptoms of pregnancy can occur.

We are here for you mommas out there who are struggling with any of those symptoms listed above. We want to help you have the most wonderful experience during pregnancy.

Contact us today if you or a loved one is pregnant and would benefit from seeing a chiropractor.

05/29/2025

First Trimester of Pregnancy

The creation of new life is beautiful in so many ways. 🌟

Knowing how your baby is changing and growing inside of you can be exciting. Each week your body nourishes what started out as an egg and a s***m into a human being.

As a chiropractor, knowing how your baby is changing and helping support your body through all of the growth occurring within you is an honor.

As you go through pregnancy it is essential to be taking care of your body so it can provide well for the new life it is creating.

Chiropractic care is one way to encourage optimal development of the new life within you. It alleviate stress on your system, as mom, which alleviates stress on baby's system as well.

Follow us for more on how baby is growing inside of your and how to support the optimal growth.

05/21/2025

Preconception Guide

When prepping for growing your family the preconception phase can be instrumental in improving fertility, reducing pregnancy symptoms, and determining birth outcomes.

Pregnancy and birth are a marathon... we must prepare for them!

You and your spouse should start prepping your bodies, minds, and environment at least 3 months prior to trying to conceive. Ideally you are prepping your body 6-9 months prior to conception.

Preconception prep can be categorized into three different areas: body, mind and environment.

Body Preparation:
1. Get your nervous system checked- your nervous system is the control house for all of the functions within your body. A healthy nervous system creates a healthy environment for the body to thrive in
2. Fuel your body with whole foods- Providing your body with essential and clean nutrients creates a healthy nutrient source to future baby
3. Move your body with purpose- Movement is medicine!
4. Sleep 7-9 hours each night-
When we are well rested our body is able to heal and grow.

Mind Preparation:
1. Release any emotional trauma/pain-
Our body holds onto emotional stressors of the past. These stressors affect how our body perceives the world and how safe it is
2. Determine what you DO want-
Many couples know what they do not want to occur during pregnancy or birth but they never focus on what they do want.
3. Informed consent-
Know and understand what is suggested to you during pregnancy and be aware of how you can choose an alternative path.

Environmental Preparation:
1. Reduce toxin load-
The more chemical stressors our body has to process through the less time it will have to complete the essential processes of life.
2. Wear natural fiber clothing-
Many of our clothes today are created from synthetic and plastic fibers. These plastic fibers drain energy from our system.
3. Be surrounded by encouragement-
The people who speak into your life can speak healing or hurt into our body.

These are simple action that can make a huge impact on your conception journey.

Follow us for more on how to prepare your body best for pregnancy.

05/06/2025

1/3 adults struggle with at least one type of allergy, whether it is seasonal, animal or food

1/4 kiddos struggle with at least one type of allergy, whether it is seasonal, animal or food

Many of you know some of the common symptoms of allergies: sneezing, itchy and watery eyes, congestion and sinus pressure, headaches, brain fog, fatigue and weakness. These symptoms can range from minimal to life threatening depending on the depth of response your immune system.

The common way to care for allergies is to notice the symptoms, find the Zyrtec or Benadryl, suppress the immune system's warning sign of dysfunction within the body, the suppression of the immune system masks the dysfunction occurring in the nervous system, and then the cycle never breaks because no true healing has occurred.

This cycle is the reason why the allergies come back every year. The antihistamine medication does not address the underline cause of why your body is reacting the way it is.

An allergy response occurs due to a nervous system stuck in a sympathetic dominant state.

Sympathetic dominance leads the body to thinking it is in danger and in need to protect. Our body is designed intelligently to protect ourselves from something that is perceived as dangerous, however, when our body gets stuck in this state (sympathetic dominance) it starts to perceive everything in the world as dangerous. This signals the immune response of protection or also seen as expression as it tries to rid your body of what "dangerous"/"foreign" substance that has entered.

The key to breaking the allergy cycle is breaking the cycle of sympathetic dominance.

Chiropractic care is how to break the sympathetic dominance. Specifically, activating the vagus nerve. The activation of the vagus nerve breaks the sympathetic dominance cycle, breaking the allergy cycle. Your body no longer perceives the outside world as dangerous diminishing the allergy symptoms many of us know as "normal".

We INVITE you to join us for our Raising Healthy Kids Naturally Workshop next Wednesday at 6:30 to learn more about how to combat the allergy cycle naturally within your family.

04/23/2025

🌷Reminder for next week🌷

Most of our patients appointments have been shuffled to fit the schedule of next week, however, if you have any questions about our altered schedule send us a message!

04/21/2025

✨You have asked for it and here it is!✨

Our first live workshop:
Raising Healthy Kids Naturally

We are so excited to host our first workshop in our new space! This is a completely FREE event to attend. You do NOT have to be a current practice member to attend.

We encourage parents, grandparents, and future parents to attend this workshop. You will learn how to best care for and encourage a healthy life style in and outside of your home!

☀️Put it down in your calendar and tell a friend about this event because you don’t want to miss it! ☀️

More information to come soon!

04/18/2025

🌸Allergy season is upon us🌸

We are here for you and want to give you a few simple ways to help naturally combat those allergy symptoms.

MOVEMENT- Keeping our bodies moving and grooving is essential to keeping our lymphatic system flowing. Our lymphatic system is in charge of clearing out the allergens from our system.

NERVOUS SYSTEM REGULATION- This is our specialty. Keeping a well adjusted nervous system is vital to keeping the stress load on the body to a minimum.

NATURAL ANTIHISTAMINES- Consuming food that contain natural allergy fighting components such as foods high in vitamin c and quercetin. Consuming local raw unprocessed honey is a great way to desensitize the system to different seasonal allergens.

HEALTHY HABITS- Keeping health habits at the fore front of our life will be essential to reducing the affects of allergies. Stay hydrated with mineral rich water, get at least 7-8 hours of quality sleep each night and spend time outside soaking up the sunshine.

Our body was designed to move, process through stress, and enjoy the outdoors.

Follow us for more tips on how to keep your body healthy this spring.