You get their teeth, eyes and ears checked. Did you forget their spine and nervous system?

The brain and nervous system control the function of all other cells, glands, organs and systems in the body. The skull protects the brain, the spine the spinal cord. Misalignments in the skull or spine can be caused by minor incidents and upset the very delicate balance in the brain and nerve system. These incidents can follow on from intrauterine constraint, stresses of birth especially if forceps, suction or caesarean has been performed. Add to that the daily stresses from falls, knocks, sport and tussles with siblings, it is easy to see how their system can become unbalanced and not function as well as it could.
Children often don’t develop pain the way adults do but may have symptoms such as colic, reflux, sleeping difficulties, asthma, ear infections, tonsillitis, bedwetting, tummy pains, scoliosis and even learning and behavioural problems.
Gentle chiropractic adjustments help to alleviate the misalignments of spine and skull to allow the nerve system to work as well as possible. Ideally, babies should be checked soon after birth to ensure optimum function of the nervous system.

Research

Guttman, prominent specialist in manual medicine from Germany, studied 1000 infants and found that more than 80% had some form of nerve dysfunction following the birth process. He mentioned that many health problems arise due to this nerve dysfunction such as lowered resistance to infections in ears, nose and throat. He went on to say that adjustments, using the lightest pressure of a finger, could normalise the infant’s clinical picture.

Learning, attention, behaviour and coordination difficulties

If you follow the news, you will be bombarded with how poorly our children are performing at school:

• Almost 30% of yr 3 and yr 5 students don’t pass the Basic Skills Test.
• 10% of school children are on psychotropic medication to help them perform at school (Ritalin is a Class II Narcotic).

It seems that every day there is a new combination of letters that describe a set of symptoms a child may present with:  ADHD, PDD, OCD, ADD, ODD, PDD-NOS, LD, DCD, CD, ASD, MPD, DAMP, DDS as well as Aspergers, Autism, sensory integration difficulties, sensory processing disorder.......When a child is diagnosed, we as parents initially feel relieved, as it has finally been figured out what is wrong with our child.  Then we get disappointed, because too often, there is no solution, no help in sight. We may be advised to use certain types of medication.  Many of us don’t feel there are any alternatives to this path. But there may be:

• Research is starting to indicate that all these children with lots of different symptoms, lots of different difficulties actually have something in common: dysfunction in the central nerve system.
• At Mentor Chiropractic Silverdale – our special interest is in caring for these kids with "Developmental Delay" a term used as a catch all phrase.
  

Reaching full potential

Our potential for functioning optimally in all areas of life is determined shortly after conception. In utero the nervous system starts developing three weeks after conception.  At about five weeks it develops some patterns to protect foetal development, aid in the birth process and enhance our chance of survival. These patterns, also known as Primitive Reflexes, later become integrated as the nervous system matures, to be replaced by more selective responses. Failure of these reflexes to integrate properly can result in learning difficulties, behavioural problems, low attention and concentration, poor posture and altered visual or auditory perception.

There are 5 major primitive reflexes:

Fear Paralysis: Symptoms may include hypersensitivity to noise, fear of new things, shyness, anxiety and difficulty learning to speak.

MORO: also known as the startle reflex.
The child is often labeled ADD or ADHD, may have poor immune function such as recurrent colds/flu/tonsillitis/ear infections or hay fever/asthma, be aggressive, over-reactive and have difficulty relaxing.

Tonic Labyrinthine: Helps develop a sense of balance. Symptoms may include travel sickness, problems with balance and coordination, delayed walking, decreased vision and hearing.

Asymmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex: Helps develop hand-eye coordination and depth perception. Child may have difficulty learning to crawl properly, have poor hand-eye coordination, messy hand writing and be easily distracted.

Spinal Gallant: aids in birth process and is associated with posture and bladder control. Symptoms can include bedwetting, difficulty in sitting still and posture or gait problems.
When we assess your child we will ensure that your child’s nervous system is functioning optimally and that these reflexes have been properly integrated.  If not, specific structural correction will be advised, along with special exercises and nutritional counselling to allow your child to fully develop to his or her innate potential.

Primitive Reflexes are developed in the brainstem of the fetus from about the 5th week in utero and are survival reflexes of the neonate.  A reflex is a behavior that just happens, without us having to think about it, like a knee jerk reflex or withdrawal from heat. They are called primitive because they happen in the reptilian brain, meaning they go so far back in evolution that all animals have them in some form. 

Assessment of the reflexes in babies gives us information about the integrity of the brainstem and the spinal cord.  Absence, asymmetry or delayed integration may indicate developmental delay or neurological disorders.  As the brain develops higher centers in the brain inhibit the stereotypical survival primitive reflexes to allow for unconscious control of posture, balance, coordination and voluntary movements in gravity.  This means that if we find primitive reflexes still present past the useful age, we know that the higher centers in the brain have not taken over its responsibility and that the function of these centers are compromised in some way. 

This gives us a nonspecific tool to asses overall brain fxn and predict learning ability of the child.

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