Monthly Archives: December 2023

Have you ever wondered why so many children today seem to be facing chronic illnesses and struggling with their health? And why are so many parents grappling with stress and exhaustion themselves? What if we told you that a single, straightforward concept could be closely linked to almost every health challenge that families are confronting in today’s fast-paced world?

In this blog, we will dive into the incredible power of addressing subluxation and stress on the nervous system, offering a game-changing health solution for you and your children. If you’ve tried everything it seems to get your family healthy, and it hasn’t clicked just yet, this is for you!

The Rising Tide of Chronic Conditions in Children

One troubling trend in our current world is the surge in chronic health conditions among children. From allergies and asthma to autism, anxiety, and ADHD, these conditions are on the rise, largely due to the stressful and toxic environment in which we live. While modern medicine often attributes these issues to genetics and bad luck, research points to a “Perfect Storm” of factors and stressors affecting our children’s health from as early as pregnancy and early childhood. 

The culmination of these factors results in an overburdened and unbalanced nervous system, triggering an overactive sympathetic fight or flight response. This state is known as subluxation, and it’s pivotal to comprehend how our children’s health can be negatively impacted.

Subluxation doesn’t confine its impact to a single facet of health. It permeates the core elements of well-being, affecting sleep, gut health, immune function, and motor development. As the condition progresses, it sets deeper into the brain and nervous system, influencing cognitive and emotional health, behavior, focus, concentration, speech, and more. 

Identifying Subluxation in Kids and Families

Subluxation can manifest differently in children of various age groups: 

• Infants: struggles with latching, sleeping, soothing, eating and digestion.
• Toddlers: chronic ear infections, respiratory challenges, constipation, gross motor delays, sensory issues, meltdowns, tantrums, speech delays, and more.
• Grade School: challenges with focus, concentration, behavior, emotional regulation, anxiety, chronic gut issues, and more. 
• Teens and Adults: chronic fatigue, anxiety, brain fog, exhaustion, and depression. 

At Impact Chiropractic we leverage an extraordinary piece of technology called INSiGHT Scans that’s transforming healthcare. This groundbreaking technology empowers us to detect and measure subluxation, sympathetic dominance, and neurological imbalances throughout your entire family.  Our scans are safe for infants as young as a few days old, and within minutes, you can finally uncover the true root cause of your family’s health challenges. Take that vital first step towards a healthier, happier family by addressing subluxation.

If you’re a parent who is deeply concerned about your child who is grappling with the challenges of uncontrollable motor tics, rest assured, you’re not alone.  Watching your child struggle with these involuntary movements can be an emotionally draining and perplexing experience. However, knowledge is power, and understanding the root causes of motor tics can be the first step towards empowering yourself as a parent to take proactive, drug-free measures that can make a profound difference in your child’s overall well-being. 

Understanding Motor Tics

Motor tics, at their core, are involuntary movements that arise from built-up neurological tension. They are a common feature of a neurological condition called Tourette syndrome, although they can occur in other disorders like chronic motor tic disorder and transient tic disorder. These movements can take various forms., from subtle facial twitches and shoulder shrugs to more complex actions that might include neck bending, mouth opening, clenching, and even vocal tics accompanied by sounds, grunting, and more. 

Recognizing symptoms of motor tics is important. They can manifest in a wide range of ways, from seemingly inconspicuous eye blinks to more pronounced and complex movements. These movements, at times, can become noticeable to the extent that they affect your child’s daily life. 

The Root Causes of Motor Tics

A key piece of the puzzle is understanding the root causes of your child’s motor tics. Subluxation, a term referring to misalignment, tension, and dysfunction within the neuromuscular system, is often a significant contributor to the development of motor tics. 

Imagine your child’s nervous system as a complex network of communication pathways, like a web of electrical wires. When subluxation occurs, it’s akin to a kink in one of those wires, which disrupts the flow of communication within the nervous system. This disruption can result in heightened stress and tension within the nervous system. The accumulation of this stress and tension can, in turn, manifest in your child as motor tics. Similar to a pressure cooker, where the internal tension builds up and eventually finds an outlet through involuntary muscle movements. 

Understanding the connection between subluxation and motor tics can be pivotal because it can shed light on potential solutions. By addressing and alleviating subluxation, you can help relieve underlying stress and tension on the nervous system, which is often the core of motor tic development. 

What Makes Motor Tics Worsen?

Motor tics tend to exacerbate when external stressors come into play. Factors like growth spurts, seasonal changes, immune challenges, or emotional distress in your child’s life can intensify motor tics. These events can act as triggers, amplifying the underlying stress and tension (subluxation) in the nervous system. 

The Connection with Other Conditions

Motor tics frequently co-occur with other conditions such as ADHD, Autism, and anxiety. Interestingly, all these conditions share a common thread – they are rooted in excessive stress and tension in the nervous system. The correlation highlights the importance of addressing the core issues.

Conventional medical treatment options for motor tics often involve prescription medications like Clonidine and Guanfacine. Unfortunately, these medications can bring a host of side effects with them, including sleepiness, fatigue, mood changes, headaches, and gut issues, leaving many parents searching for alternative solutions. 

If you are a parent who seeks natural solutions and wants to explore options beyond medications, consider delving deeper into the role of subluxation and neurological tension in motor tics. Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic may hold the answers you’ve been searching for. It empowers you with drug-free action steps to help your child regain control over their health and well-being

Have you ever wondered why a colicky infant can’t calm down and be soothed? Why it is so hard to redirect a wound-up toddler or young child in the middle of a meltdown? Or why a child with Autism, ADHD, and anxiety struggles for so long to calm and regulate in certain situations? Or how about you, mom and dad – do you ever feel like your heart is constantly racing, your stress levels are maxed out 24/7, and you can’t fall asleep?

In this blog, we’ll be diving into the fascinating world of the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS), which activates the body’s “fight or flight” stress response and controls things like our adrenal glands, cortisol levels, inflammation, and so much more. If you feel like you or your child has a “gas pedal” and stress response that you can’t get turned off, this information is for you!

Flight or Flight – The Body’s Protective Response:

The Sympathetic Nervous System is a crucial part of our body’s defense mechanism, commonly known as the “fight or flight” response. It’s a natural, adaptive reaction that’s essential for our short-term survival and daily life. Imagine it as a biological alarm system designed to be activated when we face a potential threat or danger. When the threat is imminent, it prepares us to respond swiftly.  However, what’s equally important is that it’s also meant to be turned “off” once the stressor or threat has passed.

The ability to switch gears between readiness and relaxation is a critical component of our bodies. It ensures that we don’t remain in a heightened state of alertness indefinitely, preventing unnecessary stress and strain on our nervous system. However, when this balance is disrupted, especially in the context of our children, it can lead to a range of challenges.

The Sympathetic Nervous System and Kids

Our children are supposed to spend the majority of their time in parasympathetic “growth and development” mode, not in a constant state of “fight or flight.”  In this state, their bodies are free to grow, learn, and thrive.  The parasympathetic mode is the ideal setting for healthy development. 

However, when the Sympathetic Nervous System becomes persistently “stuck on,” it can have detrimental effects on children. This continuous activation of the fight or flight response often manifests first as colic, making it difficult for infants to settle and sleep. As children grow, the signs of a “stuck on SNS” become more evident, including constipation, frequent tantrums and meltdowns, behavioral issues, sensory challenges, and more.

Sympathetics “Stuck On” – Developmental Delays and Other Neurological Challenges

One of the most significant factors contributing to developmental delays and neurological disorders in children is the continuous activation of their sympathetic nervous system. This persistent stuck-on-the-gas pedal state can be likened to having a car with a jammed accelerator – it’s constantly revving in overdrive. 

The results of this overactivity can be profound, exacerbating conditions like Autism, ADHD, Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD), and anxiety. When children’s nervous systems are unable to switch back to the calm and restorative parasympathetic mode, it places an extraordinary burden on their physical, emotional, and cognitive development. 

In the world of Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care, we use the term subluxation to describe a situation where the body’s stress response gets stuck in the “on” position. It’s as if the alarm is ringing continuously, and the body remains in a perpetual state of readiness. 

Dysautonomia, then, refers to the imbalance within the autonomic and central nervous system. It’s a condition where the body struggles to maintain equilibrium, often with an excessive sympathetic overdrive. This can lead to a wide range of physical and emotional health challenges, particularly in children who are still developing. 

The connection between these factors is significant, and understanding them is crucial for addressing the root causes of various health challenges in children. 

How to Find and Measure a Stuck On Sympathetic Nervous System

To identify and quantify the extent of a dysregulated nervous system, we utilize cutting-edge technology known as INSiGHT Scans. These scans not only pinpoint the presence of sympathetic overactivity but also provide a precise location of major subluxations that may be contributing to the issue.

By understanding the exact areas affected, a Neurologically-Focused Chiropractor can tailor a custom care plan to help the body regain its natural balance. This personalized approach is a game-changer for children and their families who have struggled with the consequences of a continuously activated Sympathetic Nervous System.