Dr. Jake
- Audree Holiday
- Jun 11
- 4 min read
I am very naturally minded when it comes to mine and my children's health and wellness. "Let food be thy medicine", and all that "snake oil hippie shit" (as my ex husband so candidly called it! lol). After I left the chiropractic office I worked for, I needed to find a new chiropractor for Ezra. At this point in time, Ezra was just starting to say a few words here and there, but mostly we were in the throes of meltdown mania. I had a friend who was a prenatal chiropractor and worked on women, but she didn't work on children. However! In her office was Dr. Jake Boraas (the magician!)!
Dr. Jake is a 30-something year old chiropractor who has a remarkably laid back demeanor, talks very calmly and cooly and has a soothing personality. I had high hopes.
Ezra was having a normal Ezra day; we were on month 732 of no sleep and I am pretty sure I was fueled solely by caffeine and copious amounts of desperation. We walked in, I took off my shoes (signifying to Ezra that I was staying) and I sat on the floor with him. He was already not excited. Dr. Jake came in and sat down and asked some usual intake questions and pulled out all of his amazing gadgets - red light therapy, vibration tools and of course he did a very sparse chiropractic exam (due to Ezra's MASSIVE meltdown).
What we walked away with was knowing that Ezra's primitive reflexes from infancy were still in full force and hadn't gone away like they were supposed to. We went home with homework. I was to run a pencil tip (or something similar) down the reflexes on Ezra's body, and this was going to help him switch from using the lower part of his brain, where the primitive reflexes were ignited and instead transition him to using the upper part of his brain. Ezra screamed and fought the entire time we were in Dr. Jakes office the first time. I felt so bad for...everyone. When we left, it seemed like maybe this wasn't going to be a good fit, after all.
I ended up talking to Dr Jake later on and he said he didn't want to push unless I wanted to push and I chose to push. Thank God I followed that. We waited about 6 weeks total and then went back.
We got to the building for Ezra's second visit, and he walked up all the stairs, he hesitated at the door, cried walking through the threshold and -- queue meltdown -- fought during the red-light therapy (literally like a flashlight on his body). He hated the vibration therapy. And then we got to the adjustment table. I asked Ezra if he wanted to "hide" and I got in his face and cupped my hands around his eyes.
It's just Ezra and momma in our own little world.
Dr. Jake is adjusting Ezra while we hide. It comes time for Dr. Jake to check his neck, and Ezra has silent tears rolling down his cheeks and he is connecting with Dr. Jake's soul, I swear. And Ezra mutters "pweaze, hep me" (the biggest sentence he had said to date). Jake stops and just looks and him and says, "I promise I'm going to help you, buddy" and Ezra responded with "tank ewe".
I'm bawling, Dr. Jake has tears, who isn't crying at this point. He knows. Ezra knows.
This neurological chiropractor is so insanely profound, that his CBT therapist recommended that we go twice a month. I have singlehandedly seen more progress through our encounters with Dr Jake than all the other therapies combined (not that they don't have their place or haven't helped my son).
At one point in time, Ezra had regressed massively, in speech, behavior, eating, basically everything. I had such little hope. We went to our appointment, and I once again showed up looking showerless, disheveled, and being fueled with hopes for the future. I talked to him about my fears of the regression, and he smiled and explained to me how he sees regressions.
That when a child has regressed it's like pulling back a slingshot. It's going to suck in the moment, but he's going to catapult forward. And that he did.
We are now to the point in Ezra's journey where he will see a brick building and say "no Dr. Jake" for about 10 days after we see him and then it's like his little body knows and he will say "Go see Dr. Jake?" And that's when I know to make his next appointment.
Because of Dr Jake Ezra's reflexes are working, we are able to cut his hair with trimmers (it used to take 3+ hours with scissors!), his language has progressed immensely, his sleep is better (THANK GOD!), and his meltdowns are a FRACTION of what they were. I absolutely cannot say thank you enough to this man for all that he has done for my son and our family. We may always have the autism diagnosis, but I have so much hope for Ezra's future because of the therapies that he has.
To visit Dr. Jake Boraas:
1900 State Street Bettendorf, IA
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