Kids need chiropractic.
Now more than ever, supporting the developing nervous systems and bodies of kids is essential. From birth trauma to chemical exposure, sports injuries and bike accidents to information overload, sibling and school stress to hormonal changes, kids these days are navigating a different and oftentimes more stressful set of environments than previous generations. Chiropractic, focused on clearing the interference in the nervous system, brings ease to the body and balance to other organs and systems. It’s not always about pain. Whether it’s latch, colic, gut, immune, sensory, attention, or social, the first thing that must be online when addressing these issues is balance in the autonomic nervous system. This is the primary focus of chiropractic. This is why we measure nervous system function with our Insight technology. This is how we can have and hold a conversation about how function informs how we feel.
What about other modalities?
Acupuncture, speech, PT, OT, primitive reflex integration, and even medical intervention can all provide support to kids. In my experience, the timing and the order in which modalities are introduced is what makes the difference between major benefit and okay results. The first system in the body to come online is the nervous system. It weaves through all tissues and organs. Normal function in the nervous system is the foundation for the health of the body. It literally sets the tone for how the other systems will respond to environmental demands and be able to adapt to stress. By addressing this first with chiropractic, the when and where of bringing in other modalities gets much more clear, and the body becomes more receptive to those other kinds of inputs.
Why a Care Plan?
Nerve interference alters the amount and timing of signal between the brain and body. In chiropractic, this interference is known as subluxation. Chiropractors address this interference with adjustments (plural). Adjustments over time, tailored to the case with technique, frequency, and projected duration is what we call a Care Plan. It is neurologically and clinically more helpful to adjust fewer areas over time than adjusting as many areas as possible in one visit.
The benefits of care are cumulative and consistency is key. Everything that is a process takes time. How much depends on many factors, which is why deep dive on health history and use modern technology to measure nervous system efficiency, adaptability, and resilience, along with our clinical assessments. Every kid is different, but the patterns of interference are recognizable if you know how to look.
Care Plans orient around reassessments. Like telemetry, we want to update our current coordinates, compare with where we started, and make sure we are heading in the direction of reorganization of vital energy and restoration of health. This is what neurologically-focused pediatric chiropractic looks like in our office, and a case for why kids need chiropractic, now more than ever.
If you or someone you know could benefit from learning more about how chiropractic could help their kid, please have them reach out to the office. Thank you!
Tone & Tension
The bony framework of the spine and cranium serves as the physical protector of the nervous system, but also as a regulator of tension. Tension placed on tissue will change its shape. Changes in shape can and will alter function. From cell membranes to capillaries (tiny blood vessels), eyeballs, muscles, and stomaches, the tension on all tissues and organs reflects how well they can move energy and information. Too much or too little tension leads to disorder, dysfunction, and dis-ease. This is why we recognize the vital and central role the neuroskeleton plays in health.
The nervous system is the means of communication between all of the denizens of the physical body, our knowledge of the world around us, our relationship to others, and our connection to Source. It sets the tone for how we (be/do/have) life. Chiropractic is founded upon the principle of tone and its practice supports the conscious and ecological expression of life.
The Problem with Maintenance
In the alternative health field, many people choose to continue care even after there has been resolution of the problem for which they initially sought treatment. In the absence of pain or a clinical condition, continuing care that is “not deemed medically necessary” is called maintenance care. The implication is that the person has achieved a state of health that is better than when they began and they desire to stay there.
This is a reasonable position and one that is understandably desirable. There is also a problem with this perspective.
The problem of maintenance is that the objective is to plateau. The very nature of the language and the intent of maintenance is to keep someone where they are. Even if the current state is better than the old state, if the goal is stasis, this is inherently limiting in both perspective and in practice.
The experience of life and how we are able to navigate through storm and still is not done by picking a place and staying there. Life happens in the balance of stability and instability. There is comfort in stability, but also a massive impediment to growth.
A richer alternative to maintenance would be, as the Stoic philosopher Epictetus counselled, to “make the mind adaptable to any circumstances.” The adaptability of the mind is a direct reflection of the integrity and the tone of the nervous system. It stands to reason (and is evidenced in practice) that an approach to health, wellness, and well-being that promotes neural integrity will not lead to maintaining a static plateau, but a way to embody strategies that advance the human condition.
