23May
Pediatric patient face down on table

Gross Motor Delays and Developmental Milestones

May 23, 2023By

We understand that there’s a lot to keep track of when it comes to taking care of our little ones. From the numerous items in the diaper bag to everything they need day to day, it can be extremely overwhelming. Then there is a whole other chart that isn’t in that diaper bag we need to be aware of as parents, and it’s called the Developmental Milestones Chart. These are things that your pediatrician or family doctor will check in with you on during your well-baby checks.

Often, motor development and developmental milestones are overlooked, dismissed, or missed altogether by pediatricians and standard doctors. So, in this blog, we are going to discuss gross motor development, referring to your baby’s larger muscles, which includes tummy time, rolling over, sitting up, crawling, and walking. These are important movements that contribute to your child’s overall health and well-being.

As a parent, it can be challenging to navigate these issues without proper knowledge or expertise in neurodevelopment. That’s why I’m here to provide you with the answers and explanations you need because, as a pediatric chiropractor, neurodevelopment is my expertise.

If you’re concerned about your child’s motor milestones and aren’t receiving the answers you need from your pediatrician, this is for you. It’s also suitable for parents whose children have plateaued in physical therapy or other related therapies, so please share this information with other parents who may be experiencing similar struggles.

The missing link we’re about to discuss is not typically found in pediatrician’s offices or evaluations by physical, occupational, or speech therapists. However, when neurologically-focused chiropractic is combined with these movement-based therapies we co-collaborate and co-manage with all the time, it can yield excellent results.

PTs and pediatricians are simply not trained to look for this missing link, but it’s present in 80-90% of cases.  If it is not found, it cannot be fixed. If it’s not identified and addressed, it can lead to weak core muscles and limbs, as well as low-tone challenges. We’ll also explore the cause of low tone and break that down in this blog.

The Connection Between Gross Motor Development and the Nervous System

So what is that missing link?

The key to understanding motor development lies in the nervous system. The muscles of your child’s body in the developing muscular motor movement system are under complete and total control of the nervous system. 

The central nervous system is the absolute boss and controller of the muscular system.

When we look at motor delays or structural deformations, such as plagiocephaly and torticollis, we find that these gross motor and structural challenges have a neurological foundation. Stress can affect the central nervous system, causing it to be stressed out and wound up. The nervous system has two sides to it, the sympathetic fight or flight tension side and the parasympathetic calm and relaxation side. When the sympathetic nervous system is firing and overactive, as we find in many of our gross motor and neurodevelopmental cases, the muscles become too tight and too wound up.

You may be thinking, “That’s not my child’s problem. My child has low tone.” However, hypotonicity or low tone cannot exist in the core or limbs without first having excessive hyper-high tone in the neuro spinal and brain stem areas. The central nervous system comprises the brain, spinal cord, and motor and sensory nerves that control every tissue and cell of the body, especially the muscles. If the central nervous system is injured during birth trauma, from a fall or childhood physical trauma, it can cause misalignment, fixation, and tension, also known as subluxation.

Subluxation can take the central nervous system and wind up the fight-or-flight sympathetic nervous system, especially in the neck, traps, and shoulders. If your child has low tone or coordination challenges, we need to assess their brainstem, neck, and spine to identify any subluxations that may be present. Pediatricians, PTs, and OTs are not trained to assess the nervous system in the same way that a trained, neurologically-focused pediatric chiropractor is.

Sequential Order of Gross Motor Development

It’s important to address gross motor delays, as gross motor development needs to occur in a complete, organized, and timely fashion to kick on fine motor and advanced neurodevelopment. Think of it like project management, where the gross motor system, which includes the big muscles of the neck, spine, trunk, core, and limbs, needs to develop first. And it’s not just the big muscles on the outside but also the muscles on the inside that need to be functioning properly.

This neuro-gross motor system needs to be fully functional before the brain can focus on speech, socialization, and behavioral and emotional regulation. What we see all the time is that these gross motor delays are missed because it’s not a parent’s job to know how to spot them, and pediatricians are not trained to spot them.

As I mentioned, birth trauma, such as a stressful pregnancy or an intervention during delivery, can lead to subluxation, which can cause tension and tightness in your child’s neck, traps, shoulders, and spine right from the start. This can result in weak core and limb muscles, making it difficult for your child to develop their gross motor skills, which can then lead to developmental issues later on.

If your child exhibits signs such as being colicky, fussy, having torticollis or plagiocephaly, acid reflux, chronic ear infections, or difficulty sleeping, these may all be indications of subluxation in the central nervous system. Until this subluxation is found, fixed, and adjusted, your child may continue to experience challenges with gross motor development, which can hinder their overall development.  Because everything not only has to ‘go on time’ as the charts say but more importantly, it’s supposed to go in the right order and sequence.

If you have tried everything, from tummy time to regular PT sessions, and are still struggling, or if you haven’t started yet, there is still hope and we’d love to help! You can check out the PX Docs website, which has a plethora of articles and videos that explain more about subluxation and neurologically focused chiropractic care. Understanding this crucial piece of information can be the key to unlocking your child’s full potential.

If you suspect your child may be subluxated, please give us a call to schedule your exam and consultation with our team, who can conduct an INSiGHT scan. This scan measures neuromotor function and can determine if your child is subluxated and the severity of that subluxation. From there, you can get a customized care plan that will help your child get back on track with their gross motor development and overall health.

Motor development and overall developmental milestones are crucial for the health and function of the brain later in life. If subluxation is the hidden challenge hindering your child’s development, it is crucial to take action and address it sooner than later. We want to help you take the necessary steps to ensure your child reaches their full potential!

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16May
insight scan of pediatric chiropractic patient

Dysautonomia and Chiropractic Care

May 16, 2023By

Let’s delve deep into the topic of dysautonomia. It’s a term you may not be familiar with, and even some medical doctors may not have a full understanding of it.

Dysautonomia is a condition that affects the autonomic nervous system, which is responsible for controlling and coordinating every function in our body. The autonomic nervous system is designed to operate on autopilot, but when it’s in disarray, it can lead to a variety of issues. Most medical doctors do not evaluate the nervous system when assessing illness or sickness, which is why dysautonomia often goes undetected.

They look at lab results, which is looking at our chemistry or blood work. Or they look at imaging which may be looking at tissue or structures – such as X-ray, MRI, or CT scans. Neither of these most common modes of medical analysis – blood work and lab analysis and imaging (MRI) – evaluate the function of the nervous system.

You’re probably wondering what dysautonomia is, what causes it, and how it can impact your child’s health.  And most importantly, what to do to help them. If your child is struggling with various health issues and has seen multiple specialists, dysautonomia could be the root cause of their problems. Every single teenager we see struggling with anxiety, depression, brain fog, sleep disturbances, ADHD, and gut issues has dysautonomia.

What Is Dysautonomia?

To begin, let’s define dysautonomia. It’s a condition where the autonomic nervous system is disorganized and imbalanced.  There are two sides to the autonomic nervous system; there is the gas pedal, fight or flight side, which means stress, tension, and anxiety.  Then there is the relaxation side, which means calm, rest, and emotional regulation.

When dysautonomia sets in, other systems in the body also begin to experience symptoms, leading to conditions such as anxiety, depression, ADHD, gut issues, fatigue, brain fog, and sleep disturbances. Therefore, addressing dysautonomia is crucial for improving overall health and well-being.

  1. Decreased Motility in the Gut

One of the first symptoms of dysautonomia is decreased motility in the gut – which means things are not moving along very well. What this looks like in infants are reflux and colicky behavior.  Older kids may experience chronic stomachaches, nausea, and constipation. These symptoms can be particularly challenging for children and teenagers.

  1. Immune Challenges

As parents, you’re probably well aware of the gut-brain connection and the importance of a healthy digestive system for a healthy immune system. But did you know that the autonomic nervous system plays a crucial role in this connection? Dysautonomia, or a subluxated nervous system, can lead to decreased movement in the gut, increased mucus and secretions, and a higher risk of respiratory and immune system congestion.

This congestion can manifest into ear infections, sinus infections, chronic strep infections, and even more serious conditions like PANDAS, asthma, allergies, and pneumonia. Every time a child gets sick, they can’t kick it.

This all starts with an out-of-balance nervous system, which causes an out-of-balance immune system. We end up with a high correlation, especially in older kids and adults, between dysautonomia and autoimmune challenges.

  1. Mental and Emotional Health Challenges

Dysautonomia has also been linked to mental health challenges like ADHD, OCD, and anxiety because the autonomic nervous system also controls our mood, memory, emotional regulation, depression, and focus. In fact, exhaustion is one of the clearest and most common symptoms of dysautonomia, affecting everyone from grade school children to adults. They are wound up and worn out at the same time.

As pediatric chiropractors, we see firsthand how correcting subluxations and restoring balance to the autonomic nervous system can lead to significant improvements in digestion, immune function, and mental health. By ensuring that the nervous system is functioning properly, we can help children and adults alike lead happier, healthier lives.

To help your child, it’s essential to address the root cause of dysautonomia, which is often related to subluxation in the spine and the Vagus Nerve. Subluxation is a misalignment of the neurospinal system that can interfere with the proper functioning of the nervous system, leading to dysautonomia.

  1. The Motor System

The final system impacted by dysautonomia is the motor system. When that sympathetic fight or flight system is running too much, you’ll get spasms, tension, neck pain, back pain, tension headaches, migraines, and weakness.

So what we see a lot with our special needs, sensory, and spectrum children are commonly affected by dysautonomia due to a combination of factors, leading to a Perfect Storm that just keeps going until the autonomic nervous system is addressed.

Medications or chemistry can’t address the issue, and medical testing such as lab results and imaging can’t take care of it. Therefore, the only way to address dysautonomia through the motor system is by addressing tone and coordination. Motor tone and coordination are two significant aspects of the muscular or motor system that dysautonomia greatly affects.

The Simplicity of Healing the Nervous System

I understand how overwhelming it can be for parents to manage multiple health concerns for their children. If you’re juggling appointments with specialists, OT, PT, and psychologists and trying to keep up with daily struggles, you’re not alone.

However, I want to share a key piece of information that can tie everything together. In the majority of cases, there is one underlying issue that is causing your child’s gut, respiratory and immune issues, ADHD, behavioral or cognitive concerns, and more.

Before we dive into the details of what causes this issue and how to address it, I want to emphasize that the solution is simple. But don’t let the simplicity fool you – it’s effective. In today’s world of advanced medical technology and lab work, it’s easy to believe that the solution must be complex.

The truth is that God designed our bodies to be healthy, and the control and coordination of our various systems are managed by the nervous system.

When this system is functioning well and communicating properly, it controls and coordinates all other systems in the body, leading to better digestion, immune function, sleep, focus, energy, and more.

Conversely, if the nervous system goes haywire, everything downstream can go haywire as well. This is where neurologically focused-pediatric chiropractic comes in.

By improving the function of the nervous system, we can greatly improve the function of many other systems in the body.

The beauty of this approach is that we can address a multitude of challenges tethered to and caused by one thing, greatly improving the quality of life for children and their families.

We’ve witnessed firsthand the top three positive responses to chiropractic care for thousands of young patients in our practice. Number one is better sleep. Number two is improved energy and emotional regulation. And number three is improved digestive and immune responses.  It’s amazing how one thing, adjustments, can have such a profound impact on a child’s overall health and well-being.

What Causes Dysautonomia?

Let’s discuss the primary cause of dysautonomia, which is subluxation. Subluxation is a neuro-spinal term that we use in a completely different context than medicine.

Simply put, it refers to #1, the misalignment of the joints and neuro biomechanics of the body, specifically in the neuro-spinal system that closely connects and protects the central and autonomic nervous system.

The neck and spine are crucial in this regard, and we need to be careful with them, whether it’s a football player, a youth gymnast, or a newborn who can’t hold their head or neck yet – we all know the most important thing to protect, is the neck. Unfortunately, everyday factors like birth trauma and staring at phones can lead to subluxation and neck injury.

Most children have a significant subluxation in their neck and upper cervical brainstem region from birth trauma, forceps, vacuum, C-section, and induction. These physical traumas cause misalignment, which leads to fixation and tension and, ultimately, neurological imbalance or dysautonomia.

Subluxation causes an excess of sympathetic fight or flight response, called the gas pedal. A subluxated child with sensory issues may have a meltdown in a store or restaurant, get overwhelmed easily, and struggle with brushing their teeth or wearing certain clothes. This happens because the child is stuck in fight or flight mode due to too much subluxation and tension.

Furthermore, subluxation causes too little parasympathetic or vagus nerve function, which regulates our heart rate, breathing, digestion, immune system, inflammation, and sleep quality. It also helps to focus our emotions, socialization, and communication. A subluxated child may have difficulty relaxing, calming down, and regulating their body functions.

The word to remember here is “subluxation means stress stuck on.”

When that stress is stuck on, it shifts the nervous system into fight or flight mode, causing significant disruptions in a child’s overall well-being. Therefore, it’s crucial to identify and treat subluxation in children through neurologically focused pediatric chiropractic care.

How Do We Care For Dysautonomia and Find Subluxation?

The first step in addressing subluxation is finding it. This is where our advanced INSiGHT scanning technology comes in. We use thermal, EMG, and HRV scans to locate, quantify, and measure the extent of subluxation. By doing so, we can determine if your child is struggling with dysautonomia.

Once we have this information, we can develop a personalized plan to correct the subluxation and restore balance to your child’s nervous system. This plan involves chiropractic adjustments, which can release tension and restore proper alignment. Our goal is to get your child’s vagus nerve, a crucial regulator of the autonomic nervous system, back online and functioning properly.

To get started, you can schedule a consultation with us or a PX Doc in our network, if you’re not local to our office. During a reported findings visit, they’ll review the results of the scans and show you the plan for correcting subluxation. Our clinical protocols are designed to get the job done and help your child achieve optimal health and wellness.

In conclusion, finding and correcting subluxation is crucial for your child’s overall health and well-being. With our advanced scanning technology and clinical protocols, we can locate, quantify, and correct subluxation to restore balance to the nervous system.

I hope this blog provides you with answers that you haven’t found elsewhere. Please share this information with other families who may benefit from it. We are always here to provide hope, answers, and help.

Understanding dysautonomia and subluxation is the missing link in healthcare that can make a significant difference in the lives of millions of children. Once parents have access to this information, it leads to action and helps their child get out of that stress mode, out of the storm, and back to the healthy, thriving life they deserve.

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04Mar

Chiropractic Care Enhances Children’s Health and Wellness

March 4, 2023By

Chiropractic care is not just for adults. In fact, more and more parents just like you are turning to chiropractic care for their children to help them with a variety of ailments such as ear infections, asthma, allergies, anxiety, ADHD, sensory issues and much more. But how does it work? The answer lies in chiropractic care’s ability to remove interference in the nervous system, also called subluxation, and restore clear communication between the brain and the body. Let’s dive into how chiropractic care can help improve your kiddo’s health.

Chiropractic Care Helps Children Grow Stronger and Healthier

Chiropractic care helps improve overall function by removing interference from the spine and nervous system. This reduces stress on the body and allows it to heal naturally or innately. When a chiropractor performs an adjustment on a child, it helps restore balance in the body which improves overall health. Regular adjustments can help promote healthy physical development and nervous system development by preventing misalignment of the spine that can lead to problems later in life.

In addition to promoting physical health and well-being, regular chiropractic adjustments can also support mental development too! A balanced nervous system helps reduce stress levels which enables better concentration and improved moods. Chiropractors are trained to identify areas of tension or stress in the body which can be affecting your kiddo’s behavior or learning ability. By addressing these issues early on with regular adjustments, you can help ensure that your child develops both physically AND mentally!

Chiropractors are Safe & Effective Professionals

When considering whether to bring your kiddo to a chiropractor for treatment, safety should always be at the forefront of your mind. Fortunately, the chiropractors at Impact Chiropractic are highly trained professionals who understand how to safely adjust children’s bodies without causing any harm or discomfort. They use gentle pressure when performing adjustments so that there is no risk of injury or pain for your little one! And because they focus on restoring balance within the body rather than treating specific conditions like some other healthcare professionals do, you can rest assured knowing that your kiddo will receive safe yet effective treatments from an experienced professional who understands their individual needs.

Now that you understand why chiropractic care is so beneficial for children’s health and well-being, why not give it a try? It might very well be one of the best decisions you make for your kiddo’s future! With its natural approach to healing combined with its proven effectiveness in reducing nervous system interference and improving overall wellness, chiropractic care is certainly worth considering if you want to give your child a head start towards lifelong health and happiness! Contact us today if you have any questions about how we can help enhance your kiddo’s health through chiropractic care!

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