Understanding Autism
Being a pediatric Chiropractor alone gets plenty of puzzled looks, but plenty more come after they hear that we work with children with Autism. Because there are so many questions to be answered, here’s a general summary to help you learn more. This is the obvious question to ask and the answer can be complex but for simplicity we’ll say that the central focus is on the Central Nervous System. Anyone that has researched Autism will quickly find that the nervous system is greatly effected in this disorder, which contributes to a wide variety of other issues that are associated with Autism such as hyperactivity, social issues, digestive issues, sensory processing issues, sleep issues, and more. The nervous system plays such a large role in digestive and immune system function that issues like bowel and bladder problems, immune challenges, and more become affected.
How Can The Nervous System Becomes Damaged or Interfered With?
There are a wide variety of ways this can happen, but here at Vitality Family Chiropractic a major point of attention and focus is placed on the birth process. The primary method we see this occur is by what is known as Birth Trauma. You can find the full article on birth trauma in the “About Us” section of our site. Here you will find a thorough explanation of birth trauma and it’s causes. To summarize the article, birth trauma has become all too common in our day and age. With intrauterine constraint, C-sections, forceps, vacuums, and induced labor and deliveries becoming much more common, the chances of birth trauma occurring are much higher. Birth trauma can typically occur in these types of interventions because there is abnormal stress being placed on an infant’s delicate upper neck and cranium. The more interventions that take place the chances of birth trauma exponentially go up. Unfortunately medical professionals are not trained to analyze and detect this birth trauma if it is not obvious. A study done by Viola Friedmann found that only 10% of infants have obvious signs of birth trauma, while 80% go unnoticed, and 10% not having any signs of birth trauma. That is why infants being checked after birth for this birth trauma by a trained pediatric Chiropractor is essential.
How Do These Injuries Affect The Nervous System?
Typically these injuries can place pressure on the brain stem and spinal cord, as well as the adjacent nerves that are traveling nearby. This birth trauma creates a misalignment in the spine, that gets fixated or “stuck” in that position creating stress and interference to normal nervous system function. This is called a Subluxation. This subluxation disrupts the normal input and output of the brain and central nervous system leading to a major imbalance. This interruption of the nervous systems ability to communicate properly is a primary reason that children with autism struggle with sensory processing, learning, and social behavior. This subluxation causes the nervous system to get stuck into a chronic state of stress, or “fight or flight” mode. This mode is only intended for short periods of time. In this state, proper digestion, immune function, ability to rest, and most importantly growth and development are slowed down. Imagine being chased by a tiger (fight or flight response), the last thing your body is concerned with is proper digestive function, immune function, rest, and growth and development. It wants to survive.
Neurologically children with autism have gotten stuck in this mode, most of the time beginning from birth. This is why we see such high incidences of asthma, colic, ear infections, and immune challenges as well. If we are able to see kids earlier rather than later, we could help so many more children get off this stress mode earlier in life. It’s such an amazing experience to watch children thrive as we get them off this stress mode. Another aspect of this stress response as we touched on earlier is the poor digestive system function. We see very high rates of constipation, poor mobility, and digestion in children with autism. In a state of chronic neurological stress, digestive function become poor leading to a “back up” in the system. This backup can create inflammation with the digestive system and the body, because the body is not able to properly dispel toxins. This state of chronic neurological stress also affects the immune system. 70% of our immune system lives in our gut so if it is being interfered with, it can play a large role in immune function. Also this immune system is controlled and coordinated through the nervous system and in states of chronic neurological stress brought about by the subluxation, immune system function becomes depressed, which can lead to ear infections, asthma, allergies, eczema, and other conditions.
Addressing the Main Issue
Our focus at Vitality Family Chiropractic is to address the main issue, the underlying issue, of central nervous system imbalance and dysfunction. We say that an over stressed nervous system, is like being stuck on the “gas pedal.” Our focus is to start putting on the brakes so that your child can start healing, functioning, and growing the way they were intended to. If you are ready to take the first steps in helping your child get off the “Gas Pedal” and start pumping the “Brake Pedal,” call (805) 379-3653 to schedule your first visit and start your journey towards healing. Join our newsletter to stay tuned on our next Perfect Storm Workshop, which explains in depth the issues behind Autism, ADHD, Epilepsy, and other neurological disorders.