The Human Joint Chiropractic, Nutrition, Lifestyle, Allergy Elimination, Denver Colorado : Seymour in the news #1

Chiropractor Specializes in Keeping Children Aligned

Originally published by the Rocky Mountain News in 1995 and written by Linda Castrone.

{Webmaster's Note: Dr. Julia Cochran-Seymour DC practices now using her married name: Dr. Julie Seymour DC.}

Tony Hall had his first migraine headache when he was 9.

"After that he had about one a month," says his mother, Alice connor-Hall. "Sometimes, the only way he could feel better was to vomit."

Nothing they tried worked, so Connor-Hall turned to an old friend for help. She took Tony to see Julia Cochran-Seymour, a Louisville chiropractor who specializes in treating children.

Within three months Tony's migraines were gone, says Connor-Hall.

"We haven't been back to the (medical) doctor since, because Julia keeps him in alignment."

Chiropractors have always treated children as part of their caseload, but Cochran-Seymour is part of a growing number of practitioners to get special training in the field.

She is one of six specialists from Colorado registered with the International Council on Chiropractic Pediatrics, and since 1992 has been working on a post-graduate degree in her specialty.

Treating kids requires the same basic approach as that used for treating their parents, Cochran-Seymour says.

"The basic philsophy of chiropractic is that everything in the human body is governed by the nervous system," she explains. "If the vertebrae stop moving correctly, it can irritate the nervous system and cause pain and illness."

Practitioners learn as many as 400 techniques for adjusting the alignment. Most involve using a thrusting movement with the hands that may or may not cause a popping sound as the joints are adjusted.

There is no such thing as a perfect spine, she says, "but we want one that works as normally as possible. Everyone needs an occasional tuneup because we set up patterns of dysfunction by how we sit or sleep or carry our bags on one shoulder."

"For example, professional athletes get the equivalent of a train wreck every day at practice," she says.

Children as young as newborns can benefit from her skills, Cochran-Seymour says because even they can have misalignments.

"People say, 'But it's just an infant! It hasn't done anything to get misaligned.' I attribute it back to birth trauma or any falls the infant may have had off the changing table," she explains.

Cochran-Seymour has treated babies with colic, a digestive disturbance that may be caused by birth trauma, she believes.

"There are a lot of reasons they could be having problems," Cochran-Seymour says. "If it's because of spinal problems, I can be very effective."

"Some adults are a little frightened that I do the same things to children that I do to them, but of course I modify it. And why not? It's a drug-free, nonsurgical approach to health, and kids respond so well."

Cochran-Seymour acknowledges that chiropractic has gotten a bad name from a few wackos who claim to practice it.

"There's a mainstream group of chiropractors and a fringe group that seems to get all the press," she says. "I run a small, low-tech practice that is very much in the mainstream."

Now 35, Cochran-Seymour grew up in Broomfield, graduated from Broomfield High School and earned a bachelor's degree in theatre from Colorado State University in 1982.

For several years she worked as wardrobe director tor the Denver Center Theatre Company, then realized it was no way to make a living.

While pondering a career change, Cochran-Seymour had a car accident that drove her chin through the steering wheel. Doctors were able to sew up the cuts in her mouth, but weren't able to treat the lingering headaches, jaw and neck pain.

"I had to try something else," she remembers, "so I went to see a chiropractor. Within two weeks I saw results."

Impressed by her experience, Cochran-Seymour made her way to Davenport, Iowa, birthplace of modern chiropractic, and enrolled in Palmer College. Founder Daniel Palmer is credited with coining the term "chiropractic" and doing the first spinal adjustment there in 1895.

The four-year program is rigorous, Cochran-Seymour says, and includes two years of hard sciences that are similar to the first two years in medical school.

In the third and fourth years, students learn about the spinal adjustment techniques that are, so to speak, the backbone of the discipline.

Cochran-Seymour graduated in 1989, spent three years working in other metro area practices and in 1992 opened her practice in downtown Louisville.

She considers herself unique because, in addition to adjusting their spines, she talks to her patients about staying well.

"We tend to do things and eat things every day that are harmful to our bodies, and then feel surprised when we get sick," Cochran-Seymour says.

She also knows what her limits are, adds Connor-Hall. "Julia tells you if you have something that needs a doctor's care. That's what I respect about her."

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